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Eugene H. Walker

Publications and source records attributed to Eugene H. Walker.

17 recordsLinked to original sources
USGS1983

Water resources in the Blackstone River basin, Massachusetts

The Blackstone River heads in brooks 6 miles northwest of Worcester and drains about 330 square miles of central Massachusetts before crossing into Rhode Island at Woonsocket. The primary source of the Worcester water supply is reservoirs, but for the remaining 23 communities in the basin, the primary source is wells. Bedrock consists of granitic and metamorphic rocks. Till mantles the uplands and extends beneath stratified drift in the valleys. Stratified glacial drift, consisting of clay, silt, and fine sand deposited in lakes and coarse-textured sand and gravel deposited by streams, is found in lowlands and valleys. The bedrock aquifer is capable of sustaining rural domestic supplies throughout the Blackstone River basin. Bedrock wells yield an average of 10 gallons per minute, but some wells, especially those in lowlands where bedrock probably contains more fractures and receives more recharge than in the upland areas, yield as much as 100 gallons per minute. Glacial sand and gravel is the principal aquifer. It is capable of sustaining municipal supplies. Average daily pumpage from this aquifer in the Blackstone River basin was 10.4 million gallons per day in 1978. The median yield of large-diameter wells in the aquifer is 325 gallons per minute. The range of yields from these wells is 45 to 3,300 gallons per minute. The median specific capacity is about 30 gallons per minute per foot of drawdown.

Massachusetts↗
USGS1975

Hydrology and water resources of the Charles River basin, Massachusetts

The Charles River basin encompasses about 300 square miles of gently rolling to hilly terrain, with altitudes ranging from 586 feet in Hopkinton to below 10 feet in Boston, Mass. The area is essentially urban, although the towns in the upper basin still retain some rural character. The population of the middle and upper parts increased 80 percent between 1950 and 1970, while the population in the lower part declined 4 percent. This atlas summarizes the water resources and associated water problems of the area. The investigation upon which the atlas is based was made from 1968 to 1971 and is part of a series covering the major river basins in Massachusetts. The study area includes 251 sq mi of drainage area above the gaging station at Waltham. (Woodard-USGS)

Hydrologic Atlas↗
USGS1970

Ground-water aspects of the lower Henrys Fork region, eastern Idaho

The lower Henrys Fork region in eastern Idaho includes the plains and low benches between Ashton and the junction of Henrys Fork and Snake River. The northwestern and western parts of the area are part of the Snake River basalt plain. The central part of the area is occupied by alluvial plains of the Snake, Teton, and Falls Rivers and of Henrys Fork. The alluvial deposits are underlain by basalt. The southeastern part of the area is a bench (Rexburg Bench), chiefly on silicic and basaltic volcanic rocks, which rises gradually to mountain peaks (Big Hole Mountains) southeast of the area. Irrigation wells open to the basalt under the Snake River Plain and the basalt and sands and gravels under the alluvial plains yield large amounts of water with small drawdowns. Irrigation wells in the silicic volcanic rocks and the interbedded ash, pyroclastics, and sedimentary deposits beneath the Rexburg Bench generally yield much less water. The regional water table slopes southwestward beneath the basalt and alluvial plains. It is recharged by precipitation that infiltrates into the ground in the headwaters of Henrys Fork and Falls, and Teton Rivers and by water that moves downward from an extensive perched water body caused by seepage from stream channels and surface-water irrigation. The perched water in part moves vertically down to the regional water table and in part laterally to the streams. Ground water beneath the Rexburg Bench moves generally northwestward to join the regional ground-water body beneath the alluvia,1 and basalt plain, but this area contributes very little recharge to the main aquifer body. Recharge to the regional water table is estimated to average 725,000 acre-feet annually. The regional water table is below the level of the streams in the area, and ground water in the main aquifer, therefore, is not tributary to the streams. Pumping from the regional ground-water reservoir for irrigation or other uses would have no effect on streamflow or surface-water rights within the study area. However, depletion of the underflow would eventually reduce the inflow to American Falls Reservoir, unless the depletion was offset by additional recharge. Total withdrawals of ground water for irrigation in 1962, principally in the Rexburg Bench, were estimated to be 25,000 acre-feet. About 10,000 acre-feet was withdrawn for domestic, municipal, and stock supplies. These withdrawals caused no significant decline in the water table. In the Ashton area, surface-water irrigation has caused water to be perched in basalt above the silicic volcanic rocks, and much of' this perched water contributes to streamflow. Some ground water can be pumped from the basalt for irrigation and other uses. If ground water were pumped for irrigation, the flow of Henrys Fork would be decreased by the amount of pumped water consumed by crops. Water pumped for nonconsumptive use would have little effect on streamflow. Ground-water prospects for irrigation in the Falls River area are not encouraging.

Water Supply Paper↗
USGS1965

Ground-water in the upper Star Valley, Wyoming

The upper Star Valley covers about 55 square miles of lowland in the westernmost part of Wyoming. The altitude of the floor of the valley is 6,000-6,700 feet. The climate is cool; the growing season, short. Annual precipitation averages about 18 inches, and total precipitation in July and August averages 2.2 inches. Additional supplies of water are needed for irrigation of pasture and hay. The principal water-bearing formation is a thick body of gravel of Pleistocene age. Consolidated to semiconsolidated sedimentary formations of Paleozoic to Tertiary age form the surrounding mountains and underlie the gravel. These bedrock formations yield small amounts of water to wells on the margins of the valley. Most of the recharge to the gravel aquifer is received at the heads of alluvial fans by infiltration from tributaries that drain the surrounding mountains. Snow upon the valley floor provides a significant amount of recharge. Water moves toward the Salt River, which flows northward through the valley and which has large gains due to ground-water inflow. On the east side of the valley, the water table is 100-200 feet below land surface at a distance of half a mile from the mountain front. On the west side of the valley, the depth to water is rarely more than 30 feet. Depth to water decreases toward the center of the valley. The gravel aquifer can provide sufficient water for supplemental irrigation. Irrigation supplies of several hundreds of gallons per minute have been developed at two localities on the west side of the valley. Two pumping tests showed values for transmissibility of 82,500 and 370,000 gallons per day per foot in the vicinity of a well on the east side of the valley and a well on the west side, respectively. The ground water is of good quality for irrigation usage through most of the valley. Hardness of the water exceeds 200 parts per million, however, and this characteristic makes the water somewhat undesirable for domestic and industrial use. Water beneath the northwestern part of the valley has relatively high content of sodium and chloride.

Water Supply Paper↗
USGS1957

The deep channel and alluvial deposits of the Ohio Valley in Kentucky

The alluvial deposits of Pleistocene age in the Ohio Valley form a ground-water reservoir of large storage capacity and yield. In this region it is the only source of large supplies of water that are both cool and of good quality the year round. The reservoir is heavily drawn upon, yet has very large potentialities for future development because of the favorable conditions for both natural and artificially induced infiltration of water from the river into the alluvial deposits. The principal features of the Ohio Valley were formed during the Pleistocene, or glacial, epoch. The drainage area upriver from Cincinnati was added when ice first advanced south, blocked rivers draining northwestward off the Appalachians, and diverted their waters southwest into the headwaters of the early Ohio River. A deep channel, the bottom of which is at a lower altitude than the present river bed, was excavated before the third (Illinoian) glacial stage. The thick body of sand and gravel that now lies in the deep channel was deposited by floods of melt water as the ice sheet of the Wisconsin stage melted away from the Ohio basin. The vertical distance between river pool level and the base of the old channel increases from 25 feet at Ashland, Ky., to 110 feet at the mouth of the river, for the old channel has a steeper gradient than the present river. The width of the bedrock valley ranges from half a mile at one point near Cincinnati to almost 10 miles near Uniontown, Ky. Where the valley is narrow, the flat-floored deep channel extends from one side of the valley to. the other. Where the valley is wide, the deep channel occupies only part of the width of the valley, the rest being underlain by rock benches mantled with alluvium. The alluvium consists of a sheet of sand and gravel overlain by a thinner layer of silt and clay. The sheet of sand and gravel is continuous across and up and down the valley, and at most places along the valley it is exposed in part of the river channel. The gravel is coarse and cobbly near Cincinnati but finer downstream, and near Paducah most of it is no larger than pea size. The thickness of water-saturated sand and gravel increases downvalley in the same way as does the distance between river level and the base of the old channel, roughly from 2b to 110 feet. The storage coefficient is likely to about 0.2, or 1.5 gallons of water per cubic foot of sand and gravel.

Water Supply Paper↗
USGS1956

Reservoir capacity of mississippian limestones in the hopkinsville Quadrangle, Kentucky

Beds composed of oölites or of shell fragments are more soluble than beds of fine-grained or earthy limestone. Vertical crevices are most likely to develop where joints traverse the more soluble beds; bedding-plane crevices in the same beds are likely to form directly above shale partings that are somewhat thicker than average. In the Hopkinsville quadrangle 80 per cent of the wells drilled in limestone of Mississippian (Carboniferous) age obtain adequate water supplies for home or farm needs, because of the extensive development of the bedding-plane crevices. Data from 146 wells reveal a fairly uniform distribution of crevices to an average depth of about 80 feet; the frequency of crevices declines rapidly at greater depth. A rapid increase in mineral content of water below 100 feet signals a decrease in rate of circulation that must be attributed to a decrease either in number of or size of crevices, or to a combination of both. Ratio between the lowering of water level in observation wells and the gaged stream discharge during rainless periods (base flow) gives a storage coefficient of 0.005—that is, 0.5 per cent of drainable open space in creviced limestone. The average seasonal range of fluctuation of the water table is about 13 feet; thus the ground-water reservoir stores less than an inch of water in the interval between high and low water levels.

Kentucky↗