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W. R. Hotchkiss

Publications and source records attributed to W. R. Hotchkiss.

12 recordsLinked to original sources

Hydrogeology and simulation of water flow in strata above the Bearpaw Shale and equivalents of eastern Montana and northeastern Wyoming

The Powder River, Bull Mountains, and Williston basins of Montana and Wyoming were investigated to understand the geohydrology and subsurface water flow. Rocks were separated into: Fox Hills-lower Hell Creek aquifer (layer 1), upper Hell Creek confining layer (layer 2), Tullock aquifer (layer 3), Lebo confining layer (layer 4), and Tongue River aquifer (layer 5). Aquifer transmissivities were estimated from ratios of sand and shale and adjusted for kinematic viscosity and compaction. Vertical hydraulic conductance per unit area between layers was estimated. Potentiometric surface maps were drawn from limited data. A three-dimensional finite-difference model was used for simulation. Five stages of simulation decreased and standard error of estimate for hydraulic head from 135 to 110 feet for 739 observation nodes. The resulting mean transmissivities for layers 1-5 were 443, 191, 374, 217, and 721 sq ft/d. The corresponding mean vertical hydraulic conductances per unit area between the layers were simulated; they ranged from 0.000140 to 0.0000150. Mean annual recharge across the study area was about 0.26 percent of average annual precipitation. Large volumes of interlayer flow indicate the vertical flow may be significant.

Montana, Wyoming↗

Water Resources Division training catalog

The National Training Center provides technical and management sessions nesessary for the conductance of the U.S. Geological Survey 's training programs. This catalog describes the facilities and staff at the Lakewood Training Center and describes Water Resources Division training courses available through the center. In addition, the catalog describes the procedures for gaining admission, formulas for calculating fees, and discussion of course evaluations. (USGS)

Open-File Report↗

Selective annotated bibliography of geology and ground-water resources for the Montana part of the Northern Great Plains regional aquifer-system analysis

Increasing demand for water to meet needs for energy, industry, irrigation, domestic, and municipal uses has resulted in a study of the geology and hydrology of rocks of Mesozoic and Cenozoic age. This report presents the results of a literature search for the part of the study area in Montana. It consists of an annotated listing of pertinent published reports, a partial subject and area index of the reports, and a correlation chart of geologic and aquifer units listed in the annotations. (USGS)

Open-File Report↗

Map showing flood-prone areas, greater Denver area, Front Range Urban Corridor, Colorado

The rapid growth of population in the Front Range Urban Corridor of Colorado is causing intense competition for available land resources. One form of competition posing serious problems in indiscriminate development on flood plains along creeks and rivers. Flood plains are natural features of the landscape developed by streams in carry water in excess of channel capacity. Although not used as often by the stream, flood plains are as much a part of the stream system as is the channel. Whenever man competes with this natural function of the flood plain he must inevitably pay the price through property damage and varying degrees of human suffering Flood damages in the United States have been estimated to average about \$1 billion annually (American Public Works Association, 1966.) This tremendous waste of national resources is borne not only by those citizens in direct contact with floods but also to a lesser degree by all citizens through increased cost of public services. Thus, floods are of concern to the entire community, and solutions to existing or potential problems should be a community effort.

Colorado↗

Generalized subsurface geology of the water-bearing deposits, northern San Joaquin Valley, California

The study area includes about 5,000 square miles of the northern part of the San Joaquin Valley, a broad structural trough drained by the San Joaquin River. Fresh ground water is mostly in unconsolidated deposits derived from the Coast Ranges on the west and the Sierra Nevada on the east.. The interfingering of Coast Range and Sierran alluvium, together with the variability and lenticularity of each, causes variation in the hydrologic properties both vertically and horizontally in San Joaquin Valley deposits. A persistent confining stratum, the Corcoran Clay Member of the Tulare Formation, can be correlated through most of the study area. Informally, the deposits above the clay are termed the upper units the clay is termed the confining clay stratums and the deposits from the bottom of the clay to the base of fresh water, where known, are termed the lower unit. The upper unit is composed of beds, lenses, and tongues of gravel, sand, and clay ranging in thickness from about 100 feet in the north to 500 feet at the south end of the study area. A distinctive white clay, at or near the base of the upper unit, can be traced across the center of the valley. The confining clay stratum is the greenish to bluish gray lacustrine Corcoran Clay Member of the Tulare Formation; it ranges from 0 to 130 feet in thickness. No attempt to delineate the top and bottom of the Tulare Formation was made because of the thickness and similarity of deposits overlying and underlying the Corcoran. The lower unit is lithologically similar to the upper unit and ranges in thickness, where the base of fresh water has been mapped, from 90 to more than 1,400 feet.

California↗

Geology, hydrology, and water quality of the Tracy-Dos Palos area, San Joaquin Valley, California

The Tracy-Dos Palos area includes about 1,800 square miles on the northwest side of the San Joaquin Valley. The Tulare Formation of Pliocene and Pleistocene age, terrace deposits of Pleistocene age, and alluvium and flood-basin deposits of Pleistocene and Holocene age constitute the fresh ground-water reservoir Pre-Tertiary and Tertiary sedimentary and crystalline rocks, undifferentiated, underlie the valley and yield saline water. Hydrologically most important, the Tulare Formation is divided into a lower water-bearing zone confined by the Corcoran Clay Member and an upper zone that is confined, semiconfined, and unconfined in different parts of the area. Alluvium and flood-basin deposits are included in the upper zone. Surficial alluvium and flood-basin deposits contain a shallow water-bearing zone. Lower zone wells were flowing in 1908, but subsequent irrigation development caused head declines and land subsidence. Overdraft in both zones ended in 1951 with import of surface water. Bicarbonate water flows into the area from the Sierra Nevada and Diablo Range. Diablo Range water is higher in sulfate, chloride, and dissolved solids. Upper zone water averages between 400 and 1,200 mg/l (milligrams per liter) dissolved solids and water hardness generally exceeds 180 mg/l as calcium carbonate. Nitrate, fluoride, iron, and boron occur in excessive concentrations in water from some wells. Dissolved constituents in lower zone water generally are sodium chloride and sodium sulfate with higher dissolved solids concentration than water from the upper zone. The foothills of the Diablo Range provide favorable conditions for artificial recharge, but shallow water problems plague about 50 percent of the area and artificial recharge is undesirable at this time.

Open-File Report↗

A geologic and hydrologic reconnaissance of Lava Beds National Monument and vicinity, California

Lava Beds National Monument is on the Modoc Plateau in Modoc and Siskiyou Counties. The principal geologic units in the vicinity are volcanic rocks, which in places are highly permeable and poorly permeable lake sedimentary deposits, all probably post-Oligocene in age. Yields and specific capacities of wells in the unconfined water body within volcanic rocks and lake deposits range widely, but in general are low in the lake deposits and higher in the volcanic rocks. A confined water body occurring in volcanic rocks underlying the lake deposits yields large quantities of water to three wells in the study area. Dissolved-solids content of ground water generally increases in proportion to the thickness of lake deposits penetrated and to proximity of the lake deposits. Water from wells drilled in the volcanic rocks several miles from the lake deposits and from wells penetrating the confined water body in volcanic rocks underlying the lake deposits contains small to moderate quantities of dissolved solids. Ground-water supplies can be developed almost anywhere in the study area by drilling wells to depths below the water table. In addition, there is a reasonable possibility of developing wells in a confined water body underlying the water-table system.

Open-File Report↗