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W. F. Hardt

Publications and source records attributed to W. F. Hardt.

13 recordsLinked to original sources
USGS1975

Susanville-Honey Lake geothermal reconnaissance, southern Lassen County, California

As part of an appraisal of the nature and economic potential of the geothermal resource in the vicinity of Susanville and Honey Lake, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation has been collecting geologic and hydrologic data, making resistivity surveys, obtaining thermal-infrared imagery, consulting with the U.S. Geological Survey, and drilling shallow temperature-gradientholes. This report, prepared by the Geological Survey in cooperation with the Bureau of Reclamation, presents the results of a brief reconnaissance study of the geothermal resource in the Susanville-Honey Lake area using theavailable geologic and hydrologic data.

California↗
USGS1974

Hydrologic analysis of the Mojave River, California, using a mathematical model

The channel of the Mojave Rive'r in California is normally dry and is highly permeable over much of its length, and large quantities of water from natural floodflows in the channel infiltrate through the channel bed to the underlying ground-water body. From 1930 to 1972 only 18 floods at The Forks produced flow at Barstow, 55 miles (88 kilometres) downstream from The Forks. Peak discharges at Barstow from these floods ranged from 180 cubic feet per second (5 cubic metres per second) in 1967 to 64,300 cubic feet per second (1,820 cubic metres per second) in 1938. Total stream infiltration, primarily as ground-water recharge, ranged from 3,600 acre-feet (4.40 cubic hectometres) in 1935 to 50,400 acre-feet (62.1 cubic hectometres) in 1969 between The Forks and Victorville and from about 7,000 acre-feet (8.61 cubic hectometres) in 1935 to 128,000 acre-feet (158 cubic hectometres) in 1969 between Victorville and Barstow. The Mojave Water Agency is considering the use of the channel of the river to convey water imported from northern California through Silverwood Reservoir (5 miles or 8 kilometres upstream from The Forks) downstream to the Barstow area. The imported water would be used to replenish aquifers underlying the Barstow area. A mathematical model was developed that simulates the advance of discharge down the initially dry channel of the Mojave River, and the model was used to evaluate the potential of the channel to move imported water downstream to Barstow. Results of simulation by modeling indicate that the channel of the Mojave River can be used to efficiently convey imported water to Barstow only when the absorption capacity of the channel has been reduced by an antecedent flood. The volume of imported water that can reach Barstow depends on the volume and duration of the antecedent flood, on the volume of imported water released trom Silverwood Reservoir, and on the rate at which imported water is released. A release of 20,000 acre-feet (24.6 cubic hectometres) of imported water may produce at Barstow a maximum volume of imported water of 2,500, 8,000, 11,000, or 15,000 acre-feet (3.08, 9.86, 13.6, or 18.4 cubic hectometres) for a release rate of 500, 750, 1,000, or 2,000 cubic feet per second (14.2, 21.2, 28.3, or 56.8 cubic metres per second). For planning purposes in evaluating some of the hydraulic effects of recharge on the aquifer, a simulation of the aquifer near the Barstow area using an electrical analog model showed that a combination of no pumping and a yearly recharge of 5,000 acre-feet (6.17 cubic hectometres) for 10 years could raise ground-water levels at least 10 feet (3 metres) over an area of about 10 square miles (25 square kilometres). To obtain the water-level changes due to the combined effects of pumping and recharge, the above water-level changes should be superimposed on the separate effects of pumping.

California↗
USGS1971

Hydrologic analysis of Mojave River Basin, California, using electric analog model

The water needs of the Mojave River basin will increase because of population and industrial growth. The Mojave Water Agency is responsible for providing sufficient water of good quality for the full economic development of the area. The U.S. Geological Survey suggested an electric analog model of the basin as a predictive tool to aid management. About 1,375 square miles of the alluvial basin was simulated by a passive resistor-capacitor network. The Mojave River, the main source of recharge, was simulated by subdividing the river into 13 reaches, depending on intermittent or perennial flow and on phreatophytes. The water loss to the aquifer was based on records at five gaging stations. The aquifer system depends on river recharge to maintain the water table as most of the ground-water pumping and development is adjacent to the river. The accuracy and reliability of the model was assessed by comparing the water-level changes computed by the model for the period 1930-63 with the changes determined from field data for the same period. The model was used to predict the effects on the physical system by determining basin-wide water-level changes from 1930-2000 under different pumping rates and extremes in flow of the Mojave River. Future pumping was based on the 1960-63 rate, on an increase of 20 percent from this rate, and on population projections to 2000 in the Barstow area. For future predictions, the Mojave River was modeled as average flow based on 1931-65 records and also as high flow, 1937-46, and low flow, 1947-65. Other model runs included water-level change 1930-63 assuming aquifer depletion only and no recharge, effects of a well field pumping 10,000 acre-feet in 4 months north of Victorville and southeast of Yermo, and effects of importing 10,000, 35,000, and 50,800 acre-feet of water per year from the California Water Project into the Mojave River for conveyance downstream.

Open-File Report↗
USGS1969

Regional hydrogeology of the Navajo and Hopi Indian Reservations, Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah, with a section on vegetation

The Navajo and Hopi Indian Reservations have an area of about 25,000 square miles and are in the south-central part of the Colorado Plateaus physiographic province. The reservations are underlain by sedimentary rocks that range in age from Cambrian to Tertiary, but Permian and younger rocks are exposed in about 95 percent of the area. Igneous and metamorphic basement rocks of Precambrian age underlie the sedimentary rocks at depths ranging from 1,000 to 10,000 feet. Much of the area is mantled by thin alluvial, eolian, and terrace deposits, which mainly are 10 to 50 feet thick. The Navajo country was a part of the eastern shelf area of the Cordilleran geosyncline during Paleozoic and Early Triassic time and part of the southwestern shelf area of the Rocky Mountain geosyncline in Cretaceous time. The shelf areas were inundated frequently by seas that extended from the central parts of the geosynclines. As a result, complex intertonguing and rapid facies changes are prevalent in the sedimentary rocks and form some of the principal controls on the ground-water hydrology. Regional uplift beginning in Late Cretaceous time , destroyed. the Rocky Mountain geosyncline and formed the structural basius that influenced sedimentation and erosion throughout Cenozoic time.

Arizona, New Mexico, Utah↗
USGS1966

Salinity of the ground water in western Pinal County, Arizona

The chemical quality of the ground water in western Pinal County is nonuniform areally and stratigraphically. The main areas of highly mineralized water are near Casa Grande and near Coolidge. Striking differences have been noted in the quality of water from different depths in the same well. Water from one well, (D-6-7) 25cdd, showed an increase in chloride content from 248 ppm (parts per million) at 350 feet below the land surface to 6,580 ppm at 375 feet; the concentration of chloride increased to 10,400 ppm at 550 feet below the land surface. This change was accompanied by an increase in the total dissolved solids as indicated by conductivity measurements. The change in water quality can be correlated with sediment types. The upper and lower sand and gravel units seem to yield water of better quality than the intermediate silt and clay unit. In places the silt and clay unit contains zones of gypsum and common table salt. These zones yield water that contains large amounts of the dissolved minerals usually associated with water from playa deposits. Highly mineralized ground water in an area near Casa Grande has moved southward and westward as much as 4 miles. Similar water near Coolidge has moved a lesser distance. Good management practices and proper use of soil amendments have made possible the use of water that is high in salinity and alkali hazard for agricultural purposes in western Pinal County. The fluoride content of the ground water in western Pinal County is usually low; however, water from wells that penetrate either the bedrock or unconsolidated sediments that contain certain volcanic rocks may have as much as 9 ppm of fluoride.

Water Supply Paper↗
USGS1965

Preliminary report on investigation of salt springs and seeps in a portion of the Permian Basin in Texas

The Permian Basin (fig. 1) comprises a large area in the southern midcontinent region and includes major portions of Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Kansas. Within this basin brine springs and seeps discharge more than 20,000 tons per day of sodium chloride (common table salt). This brine contaminates many streams greatly impairing the utility of their waters. The water in some streams is of such poor quality it cannot be used for municipal and industrial purposes and for irrigation. Nor is the problem limited to the Permian Basin. The contaminated streams leaving the Permian Basin bring salty water to downstream areas of Arkansas and Louisiana, as well as to other parts of Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Kansas. In no comparable area of the interior United States are natural sources of salt water so widespread or deleterious to the fresh water supply of so large a segment of the nation's population and industry. The Brazos River traverses the eastern part of the Permian Basin, and is potentially one of the principal sources of water in Texas. It carries an average daily load of 1,650 tons of sodium chloride (common table salt) into Possum Kingdom Reservoir, about 110 miles west of Dallas. More than 85 percent of this salt is contributed by the Salt Fork Brazos River, and more than one-half originates from Springs and seeps in Croton and Salt Croton Creeks, tributaries to the Salt Fork Brazos River. The undesirably high chloride content of the water impounded in Possum Kingdom Reservoir limits the utility of this water, although it is used for irrigation and by some industries. Understanding of the origin and hydrology of the natural brine is fundamental to consideration of engineering measures to control the flow of salt water to streams, or to general plans to alleviate the situation in any way that includes altering the brine-discharge system. Previous investigations of natural brine features have been directed toward describing the local details of individual problem areas. Thus the occurrence of brine features has been described strictly in terms of the local environment. The origin and discharge of brine have been ascribed invariably to local sources and to local hydraulic controls. The case for local origin of the brine has been stated by Ward and Leonard (1961). According to their hypothesis brines evolve in the circulation of ground water in local hydraulic systems which feature the following conditions: (a) halite deposits or halite-bearing rocks at relatively shallow depth; (b) ground water that circulates to the halite-bearing zones; and (c) a local topographically low area where the water can emerge as a mineral spring. An alternate hypothesis (Greenman and Stevens, 1963) is that the salt springs originate as outcrops of a regional body of brine and that the primary factors determining their distribution are regional hydrologic controls, such as physiography, geology, and climate. The precise location of springs, the nature and amount of discharge, as well as their salinity, depend on secondary hydrologic factors, such as local geologic conditions, local topography that governs the movement of the overlying fresh water, and the hydrologic environment in the vicinity of the springs, which determines the amount of mixing of the brine and the fresh water at each locality. In general, the brine is a water body separate and distinct from the overlying fresh water. The salinity of individual springs is determined by the amount of mixing of the brine with the fresh water not by solution of salt-bearing materials in local hydraulic systems. The geographic zone in which all of the brine springs and seeps occur is determined by regional topographic and perhaps climatic conditions. If the regional hypothesis is true, remedial measures must take into account a set of hydraulic and hydrologic circumstances that is fundamentally different from that postulated previously.

Texas↗
USGS1965

Description and analysis of the geohydrologic system in western Pinal County, Arizona

Western Pinal County is between Phoenix and Tucson in the Basin and Range physiographic province of southern Arizona and consists of about 2,000 square miles of valley floor with low relief surrounded by mountains. It is the second largest agricultural area in the State, and about 25 percent of the ground water pumped in the State is from this area. The study area has been divided into four parts. Three of these--the Casa Grande-Florence area, the Eloy area, and the Stanfield-Maricopa area--are in the lower Santa Cruz basin; the fourth--the Gila River area--is a long narrow strip along the Gila River from the Ashurst-Hayden Dam to the confluence of the Gila and Santa Cruz Rivers. The project was undertaken to provide a better understanding of the ground-water supply in relation to the present and potential water use in this area of extensive ground-water development. The arid climate of western Pinal County--combining high temperatures and low humidity--causes most of the precipitation to be returned to the atmosphere by evapotranspiration, which leaves only a very small part for recharge to the ground-water reservoir. The computed potential evapotranspiration--44. 97 inches--is five times greater than the average precipitation. In general, the subsurface materials in western Pinal County are unconsolidated alluvial deposits underlain by consolidated alluvium and crystalline rocks and bounded by mountains consisting of crystalline and minor sedimentary rocks. The crystalline and sedimentary rocks of the mountains are not known to be water bearing in western Pinal County. The impermeable rocks underlying the basin are called the hydrologic bedrock unit in this report. Although the unit may consist of several different rock types, the distinction between them is relatively unimportant in this study because none of them yield appreciable amounts of water. The lower Santa Cruz basin in western Pinal County is divided into two sections by a buried ridge of the hydrologic bedrock unit, referred to in this report as the Casa Grande ridge. The ridge trends in a north-south direction from the Sacaton to the Silver Reef Mountains. The unconsolidated deposits constitute the main storage reservoir for ground water in western Pins/ County. The deposits are divided into four units---the local gravel unit, the lower sand and gravel unit, the silt and clay unit, and the upper sand and gravel unit--all of which are major water-yielding units except the silt and clay unit. The local gravel unit, which is present only in the western section of the lower Santa Cruz basin, ranges in thickness from 0 to nearly 1,000 feet and is generally a productive aquifer. The lower sand and gravel unit, Which is a heterogeneous mixture of sand, gravel, and clay, ranges in thickness from 0 to about 500 feet. Where the lower sand and gravel unit is overlain by the silt and clay unit, it generally contains water under artesian conditions; where it is not overlain by the silt and clay unit, it is indistinguishable from the upper sand and gravel unit, and the water is under water-table conditions. The silt and clay unit is the least permeable deposit of the unconsolidated alluvium, and ranges in thickness from 0 to about 2, 000 feet. Generally it is less productive than the other units of the unconsolidated alluvium, although it yields moderate amounts of water from numerous thin stringers and lenses of highly permeable sand and gravel. The upper sand and gravel unit is at the land surface in most of the area; it ranges in thickness from less than 50 to about 600 feet. The unit has the highest average permeability of all the unconsolidated alluvial units; however, the permeability of the unit varies vertically and laterally, which results in a wide range of well yields. As of 1964, the static water levels in most wells in the basin were still in the upper sand and gravel unit. However, the unit is being dewatered in most of the basin, and water levels in

Open-File Report↗