Geology Reports⌕ Search

Geology topics

Research about Tooele Valley

Source-linked reports with geographic coverage including Tooele Valley.

10 recordsLinked to original sources
USGS1999

Ground-water resources of Tooele Valley, Utah

Ground water provides much of the water supply for residents of Tooele Valley (fig. 1). The protection, development, and wise management of ground-water resources are important to support community growth and to ensure the continued availability of ground water for all users. The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with Tooele County, Tooele City, Grantsville City, the U.S. Army, and the State of Utah, has been studying the water resources of Tooele Valley since 1913 to define the quality and amount of water in the principal ground-water aquifers. The most recent studies in the 1990s have provided new insights into the hydrology of the valley. This fact sheet presents a synopsis of the recent studies and describes ground-water occurrence and movement, water quality, and a water budget for the principal basin-fill aquifer in Tooele Valley.

Utah↗
USGS1994

Hydrology and potential for ground-water development in southeastern Tooele Valley and adjacent area in the Oquirrh Mountains, Tooele County, Utah

Communities in southeastern Tooele Valley, Utah, are growing, and future demand for water is expected to increase. To prepare for this demand, local surface- and ground-water resources were evaluated. Average streamflow in Settlement, Middle, and Soldier Canyons is about 6,000, 2,100, and 3,900 acre-feet per year, respectively. The combined average perennial streamflow of Pine, Pole, Swensons, Leavetts, and Pass Canyons is about 700 acre-feet per year. Average ground-water recharge to basin-fill deposits in southeastern Tooele Valley is about 44,000 acre-feet per year. Discharge approximately equals recharge. Specific capacity of wells in the basin fill ranges from less than 1 to 180 gallons per minute per foot of drawdown, and dissolved-solids concentration ranges from 363 to 1,550 milligrams per liter. Stream-channel deposits are recharged mainly by streamflow losses and subsurface inflow. Average discharge from stream-channel deposits in Settlement and Middle Canyons is about 2,100 and 3,400 acre-feet per year, respectively. Specific capacity of wells in the stream-channel deposits ranges from less than 1 to 45 gallons per minute per foot of drawdown, and dissolved-solids concentration ranges from 320 to 350 milligrams per liter. Average ground-water recharge to consolidated rock is about 42,000 acre-feet per year. Discharge, mainly by subsurface outflow to southeastern Tooele Valley, approximately equals recharge. Locations of springs in consolidated rock are not correlated with known topographic or geologic features. Specific capacity of wells in the consolidated rock ranges from less than 1 to 97 gallons per minute per foot of drawdown, and dissolved-solids concentration ranges from 220 to 1,400 milligrams per liter. Areas southwest of Tooele City and near Lincoln are considered to have potential for additional ground-water withdrawal.

Utah↗
USGS1981

Test drilling for fresh water in Tooele Valley, Utah

A test-drilling program in Tooele Valley, Utah, was conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with the Utah Department of Natural Resources, Division of Water Rights. The basic data and interpretation of each test hole are included in this report. Results obtained from the test drilling were used in a comprehensive ground-water investigation of the valley fill (Razem and Steiger, 1981).

Utah↗
USGS1980

Digital-computer model of ground-water flow in Tooele Valley, Utah

A two-dimensional, finite-difference digital-computer model was used to simulate the ground-water flow in the principal artesian aquifer in Tooele Valley, Utah. The parameters used in the model were obtained through field measurements and tests, from historical records, and by trial-and-error adjustments. The model was calibrated against observed water-level changes that occurred during 1941-50, 1951-60, 1961-66, 1967-73, and 1974-78. The reliability of the predictions is good in most parts of the valley, as is shown by the ability of the model to match historical water-level changes.

Utah↗
USGS1970

Ground water in Tooele Valley, Utah

This short report was written by condensing parts of a technical report on the ground water in Tooele Valley, which was prepared as part of a cooperative program between the Utah Department of Natural Resources, Division of Water Rights, and the U. S. Geological Survey to study water in Utah. If you would like to read the more detailed technical report, write for a copy of the Utah State Engineer Technical Publication 12, “Reevaluation of the ground-water resources of Tooele Valley, Utah” by J. S. Gates. Copies can be obtained free of charge from the Division of Water Rights, State Capitol, Salt Lake City, Utah 84114.

Utah↗
USGS1963

Selected hydrologic data, Tooele Valley, Tooele County, Utah

This report is intended to serve two purposes: (1) to make available to the public basic ground-water data useful in planning and studying development of water resources, and (2) to supplement an interpretive report that will be published later. Records were collected during the period 1958-63 by the U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with the Utah State Engineer as part of the investigation of ground-water conditions in Tooele Valley, Tooele County, Utah. Additional data, collected prior to this study, can be found in the reports listed in the bibliography, and in the Water-Supply Papers of the Geological Survey listed at the beginning of table 2. The interpretive material will be published in a companion report by Joseph S. Gates. This report is most useful in predicting conditions likely to be found in areas that are being considered as well sites. The person considering the new well can spot the proposed site on plate 1 and examine the records of nearby wells as shown in the tables and figures. From table I he can note such things as depth, diameter, water level, yield, drawdown, use of water, temperature of water, and depth of perforations. By comparing the depth of perforations with the drillers' logs in table 3 he can note the type of material that yields water to the wells. Table 2 and figures 2, 3, and 4 show the historic fluctuations and trends of water levels in the vicinity. From table 4 he can note the chemical quality of the water from wells in the vicinity. Table 5 shows the amount of water discharged during 1962 from the pumped wells. If the reader decides from his examination that conditions are favorable he can place an application to drill a well with the State Engineer. If the State Engineer believes unappropriated water is available, the application may be approved after minimum statutory requirements have been satisfied. The report is also useful when planning large-scale developments of water supply. This and other uses of the report will be helped by use of the interpretive report upon its release.

Utah↗
USGS1946

Ground water in Tooele Valley, Tooele County, Utah

Tooele Valley is a typical basin of the Basin and Range Province located about 30 miles southwest of Salt Lake City. It is roughly 15 miles long and 10 miles wide and has a population of about 7,000. Bordered on the west by the Stansbury Range, on the east by the Oquirrh Range, and on the south by South Mountain, it opens northward to Great Salt Lake. The bordering mountain ranges are formed by Paleozoic rocks ranging in age from Lower Cambrian to Pennsylvanian but with the Ordovician and Silurian periods unrepresented. There is no sedimentary record of the interval between Pennsylvanian and Tertiary times, and the Tertiary, Quaternary, and Recent sediments are of continental origin. These continental deposits play the dominant role in the ground-water hydrology of the basin, and were mapped and studied in detail. Pleistocene sediments are of major importance because they form the surface rock over most of the area, and give rise to conditions which yield water by artesian flow in the lower part of the valley. The development of the present land forms in this area began with the folding of Paleozoic and probably Mesozoic sediments during the Laramide revolution. The cycle of highland erosion and lowland deposition thus initiated has continued through recurrent uplift along Basin-Range faults to the present day. The principal physiographic subdivisions of the valley were developed as a result of the Basin-Range faulting, which began early in the Tertiary and has continued to Recent times. There are about 1,100 wells in Tooele Valley, about 90 per cent of which yield or have yielded water by artesian flow. Most of them are located in the lower part of the valley below an altitude of 4,400 feet. These wells and many of the springs derive their water from the unconsolidated Quaternary sediments, which include discontinuous, lenticular and commonly elongated bodies of sand, clay, gravel, and boulders of alluvial origin alternating and inter-fingered with lacustrine beds of the same materials which are more regularly stratified and better assorted. The larger springs are intimately related to the bedding planes and faults in the bedrock and alluvial formations. The well assorted sands and gravels deposited along the shore lines of Lake Bonneville are important as recharge areas for the artesian reservoir.

Utah↗