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At least 775 records · Page 43Linked to original sources
USGS1964

Availability of ground water in parts of the Acoma and Laguna Indian Reservations, New Mexico

The need for additional water has increased in recent years on the Acoma and Laguna Indian Reservations in west-central New Mexico because the population and per capita use of water have increased; the tribes also desire water for light industry, for more modern schools, and to increase their irrigation program. Many wells have been drilled in the area, but most have been disappointing because of small yields and poor chemical quality of the water. The topography in the Acoma and Laguna Indian Reservations is controlled primarily by the regional and local dip of alternating beds of sandstone and shale and by the igneous complex of Mount Taylor. The entrenched alluvial valley along the Rio San Jose, which traverses the area, ranges in width from about 0.4 mile to about 2 miles. The climate is characterized by scant rainfall, which occurs mainly in summer, low relative humidity, and large daily fluctuations of temperature. Most of the surface water enters the area through the Rio San Jose. The average annual streamflow past the gaging station Rio San Jose near Grants, N. Mex. is about 4,000 acre-feet. Tributaries to the Rio San Jose within the area probably contribute about 1,000 acre-feet per year. At the present time, most of the surface water is used for irrigation. Ground water is obtained from consolidated sedimentary rocks that range in age from Triassic to Cretaceous, and from unconsolidated alluvium of Quaternary age. The principal aquifers are the Dakota Sandstone, the Tres Hermanos Sandstone Member of the Mancos Shale, and the alluvium. The Dakota Sandstone yields 5 to 50 gpm (gallons per minute) of water to domestic and stock wells. The Tres Hermanos sandstone Member generally yields 5 to 20 gpm of water to domestic and stock wells. Locally, beds of sandstone in the Chinle and Morrison Formations, the Entrada Sandstone, and the Bluff Sandstone also yield small supplies of water to domestic and stock wells. The alluvium yields from 2 gpm to as much as 150 gpm of water to domestic and stock wells. Thirteen test wells were drilled in a search for usable supplies of ground water for pueblo and irrigation supply and to determine the geologic and hydrologic characteristics of the water-bearing material. The performance of six of the test wells suggests that the sites are favorable for pueblo or irrigation supply wells. The yield of the other seven wells was too small or the quality of the water was too poor for development of pueblo or irrigation supply to be feasible. However, the water from one of the seven wells was good in chemical quality, and the yield was large enough to supply a few homes with water. The tests suggest that the water in the alluvium of the Rio San Jose valley is closely related to the streamflow and that it might be possible to withdraw from the alluvium in summer and replenish it in winter. The surface flow in summer might be decreased by extensive pumpage of ground water, but on the other hand, more of the winter flow could be retained in the area by storage in the ground-water reservoir. Wells could be drilled along the axis of the valley, and the water could be pumped into systems for distribution to irrigated farms. The chemical quality of ground water in the area varies widely from one stratigraphic unit to another and laterally within each unit and commonly the water contains undesirably large amounts of sulfate. However, potable water has been obtained locally from all the aquifers. The water of best quality seemingly is in the Tres Hermanos Sandstone Member of the Mancos Shale and in the alluvium north of the Rio San Jose. The largest quantity of water that is suitable for irrigation is in the valley fill along the Rio San Jose. Intensive pumping of ground water from aquifers containing water of good quality may draw water of inferior chemical quality into the wells.

Water Supply Paper↗
USGS1969

Ground-water resources of the Wind River Indian Reservation, Wyoming

The area of this investigation is in the western part of the Wind River Basin and includes parts of the Absaroka, Washakie, Wind River, and Owl Creek Mountains. The purposes of the study were to determine the general hydrologic properties of the rocks in the area and the occurrence and quality c f the water in them. Structurally, the area is a downfolded basin surrounded by upfolded mountain ranges. Igneous and metamorphic rocks of Precambrian age are exposed in the mountains: folded sedimentary rocks representing all geologic periods, except the Silurian, crop out along the margins of the basin; and relatively flat-lying Tertiary rocks are at the surface in the central part of the basin. Surficial sand and gravel deposits of Quaternary age occur along streams and underlie numerous terraces throughout the basin. The potential yield and quality of water from most rocks in the area are poorly known, but estimates are possible, based on local well data and on data concerning similar rocks in nearby areas. Yields of more than 1,000 gpm are possible from the rocks comprising the Bighorn Dolomite (Ordovician), Darby Formation (Devonian), Madison Limestone (Mississippian), and Tensleep Sandstone (Pennsylvanian). Total dissolved solids in the water range from about 300 to 3,000 ppm. Yields of as much as several hundred gallons per minute are possible from the Nugget Sandstone (Jurassic? and Triassic?). Yields of 20 gpm or more are possible from the Crow Mountain Sandstone (Triassic) and Sundance Formation (Jurassic). Dissolved solids are generally high but are less than 1,000 ppm near outcrops in some locations. The Cloverly and Morrison (Cretaceous and Jurassic), Mesaverde (Cretaceous) and Lance(?) (Cretaceous) Formations may yield as much as several hundred gallons per minute, but most wells in Cretaceous rocks yield less than 20 gpm. Dissolved solids generally range from 1,000 to 5,000 ppm but may be higher. In some areas, water with less than 1,000 ppm dissolved solids may be available from the Cloverly and Morrison Formations. Tertiary rocks yield a few to several hundred gallons per minute and dissolved solids generally range from 1,000 to 5,000 ppm. Wells in the Wind River Formation (Eocene) yield about 1.-500 gpm of water having dissolved solids of about 200-5,000 ppm. Yields of a few to several hundred gallons per minute are available from alluvium (Quaternary). Dissolved solids range from about 200 to 5,000 ppm. Many parts of the Wind River Irrigation Project have become waterlogged. The relation of drainage problems to geology and the character and thickness of rocks in the irrigated areas are partly defined by sections drawn on the basis of test drilling. The drainage-problem areas are classified according to geologic similarities into five general groups: flood plains, terraces, underfit-stream valleys, slopes, and transitional areas. Drainage can be improved by open drains, buried drains, relief wells, and pumped wells or by pumping from sumps or drains. The methods that will be most successful depend on the local geologic and hydrologic conditions. In several areas, the most effective means of relieving the drainage problem would be to reduce the amount of infiltration of water by lining canals and ditches and by reducing irrigation water applications to the optimum. Water from underground storage in alluvium could supplement water from surface storage in some areas. A few thousand acre-feet of water per square mile are in storage in some of the alluvium. The use of both surface and underground storage would reduce the need for additional surface-storage facilities and also would alleviate drainage problems in the irrigated areas.

Water Supply Paper↗
USGS1963

Ground-water geology and pump irrigation in Frenchman Creek Basin above Palisade, Nebraska

This report describes the geography, geology, and ground-water resources of that part of the Frenchman Creek basin upstream from Palisade, Nebr., an area of about 4,900 square miles. The basin includes all of Phillips County, Colo., and Chase County, Nebr., and parts of Logan, Sedgwick, Washington, and Yuma Counties, Colo., and Dundy, Hayes, Hitchcock, and Perkins Counties, Nebr. The land surface ranges from nearly flat to rolling; choppy hills and interdune saddles are common in the areas of dune sand, and steep bluffs and gullies cut the edges of the relatively flat loess plateaus. Most of the basin is drained by tributaries of Frenchman Creek, but parts of the sandhills are undrained. Farming and livestock raising are the principal industries. Irrigation with ground water has expanded rapidly since 1934. The rocks exposed in the basin are largely unconsolidated and range in age from Pliocene to Recent. They comprise the Ogallala formation (Pliocene), the Sanborn formation (Pleistocene and Recent?), dune sand (Pleistocene and Recent), and alluvium (Recent). The rocks underlying the Ogallala are the Pierre shale (Late Cretaceous) and the White River group (Oligocene). The Pierre shale is relatively impermeable and yields little or no water to wells. The White River group also is relatively impermeable and yields little or no water to wells; however, small to moderate quantities of water possibly may be obtained from wells that penetrate fractured or 'porous' zones in the upper part of the White River group or permeable channel deposits within the group. The Ogallala formation is the main aquifer in the basin and yields moderate to large quantities of water to wells. The Sanborn formation and the dune sand generally lie above the water table, but in areas of high water table the dune sand yields small quantities of water to wells for domestic and stock supplies. The alluvium, which includes the low terrace deposits bordering the major streams, yields small to large quantities of water to wells. The ground-water reservoir is recharged only from precipitation on the basin. Of the average annual precipitation of 19.5 inches, about 0.9 inch infiltrates to the water table, thereby contributing about 220,000 acre-feet of water annually to the ground-water reservoir. About 81 million acre-feet of water that could drain under gravity, and thus theoretically is available to wells, is held in groundwater storage in the basin. Water is discharged from the ground-water reservoir by wells, evaporation and transpiration, springs, seepage into streams, and movement into adjacent areas to the east and southeast. Most of the domestic, stock, and irrigation water supplies and all the public supplies are pumped from wells. During 1953, 96 wells were used to irrigate 10,000 acres of land with 19,000 acre-feet of water. About 34,000 acre-feet of water is evaporated and transpired annually in the valleys of the main streams and in areas of shallow water table in the sandhills. From the projection of base-flow measurements made during 1952, it was estimated that the average annual flow of Frenchman Creek into the reservoir above Enders Dam is about 57,000 acre-feet. By similar determinations, the average annual flow of Frenchman Creek at the gaging station at Palisade, Nebr., about 22 miles downstream from Enders Dam, is about 76,000 acre-feet, and the flow of Stinking Water Creek at the gaging station near Palisade is about 22,000 acre-feet. The combined flow of Frenchman and Stinking Water Creeks at their confluence near Palisade thus is about 98,000 acre-feet per year. About 90,000 acre-feet of ground water is estimated to move eastward each year across the Colorado-Nebraska State line within the basin. Additional irrigation wells that will tap the Ogallala formation and the alluvium in the major valleys undoubtedly will be drilled. On the basis of current estimates of future irrigation.withdrawals, it is concluded that by the

Water Supply Paper↗
USGS1964

Geology and ground-water resources of the Bristol-Plainville-Southington area, Connecticut

The Bristol-Plainville-Southington area straddles the boundary between the New England Upland and the Connecticut Valley Lowland sections of the New England physiographic province. The western parts of Bristol are Southington lie in the New England Upland section, an area of rugged topography underlain by metamorphic rocks of Palezoic age. The eastern part of the area, to the east of a prominent scarp marking the limit of the metamorphic rocks, is in the Connecticut Valley Lowland and is underlain by sedimentary rocks and interbedded basaltic lava flows of Triassic age. The lowland is characterized for the most part by broad valleys and low intervening linear hills, but in the eastern parts of Plainville and Southington, basaltic rocks form a rugged highland. The bedrock is largely mantled by glacial deposits of Wisconsin age. On hills the glacial deposits are mainly ground moraine, and in valleys mainly stratified. The metamorphic rocks comprise the Hartland Formation, Bristol Granite Gneiss of Gregory (1906), and Prospect Gneiss. These formations contain water in fractures, principally joints occurring in regular sets. The rocks generally yield supplies of 5 to 15 gpm (gallons per minute) to drilled wells averaging about 140 feet in depth. The rocks of Triassic age in the area are the New Haven Arkose, Talcott Basalt, Shuttle Meadow Formation, Holyoke Basalt, and East Berlin Formation. The formations contain water principally in joints and other fractures and, to a lesser extent, in bedding-plane openings and pore spaces. Drilled wells penetrating these rocks generally range from 100 to 200 feet in depth and yield an average of nearly 20 gpm. The maximum yield obtained from a well in these rocks is 180 gpm. The ground moraine of Pleistocene age is composed principally of till. The deposit averages about 24 feet in thickness, and wells penetrating it average about 16 feet in depth. The ground moraine yields small supplier of water suitable for household use when tapped by shallow large-diameter wells. The stratified glacial deposits, which are as much as 300 feet thick, comprise ice-contact and proglacial deposits and deposits of generally obscure origin termed 'undifferentiated stratified deposits.' The ice-contact and undifferentiated stratified deposits, some of which underlie proglacial deposits, are coarse grained and contain gravel beds from which supplies of as much as 1,400 gpm can be obtained. The proglacial deposits are, on the whole, finer grained than the other stratified deposits, but in places they allow development of wells producing as much as 500 gpm. However, the stratified glacial deposits throughout much of the Bristol-Plainville-Southington area are fine grained and provide only small supplies.

Connecticut↗
USGS1963

Progress report on the ground-water resources of the Louisville area, Kentucky, 1949-55

In the Louisville area, the principal water-bearing formations are the glacial-outwash sand and gravel and, in places, the underlying limestone. During the period 1949 through 1955 pumpage from the two aquifers averaged about 30 mgd (million gallons per day). The pumpage was approximately in balance with the normal net recharge to the area but was only about 8 percent of the estimated potential supply of ground water, including induced infiltration from the river. In the Louisville area, ground water is used chiefly for air conditioning and for industrial cooling. In the part of the area southwest of the city, ground water is used also for public supply. High ground-water levels in 1937 resulted from the greatest flood of record. Subsequently, water levels generally declined in the entire Louisville area. In downtown Louisville, where ground water is used for air conditioning, the water level fluctuates seasonally in response to variations in the rate of pumping. In the heavily pumped industrial areas, where ground water is used for cooling, water-level fluctuations correlate with changes in rates of pumping caused by variations in production schedules. Levels were lowest during the years of World War II. During the period 1952-55, relatively low levels throughout the area reflected the effects of less than normal rainfall, summer drought, and sustained pumping. Ground water in the Louisville area is very hard and generally of the calcium bicarbonate or calcium sulfate type. It is high in iron and sulfate content but is moderately low in chloride content. In water of the sand and gravel aquifer, the concentration of sulfate has increased gradually during the period 1949-54.

Water Supply Paper↗
USGS1962

Evolution of methods for evaluating the occurrence of floods

A brief summary is given of the history of methods of expressing flood potentialities, proceeding from simple flood formulas to statistical methods of flood-frequency analysis on a regional basis. Current techniques are described and evaluated. Long-term flood records in the United States show no justification for the adoption of a single type of theoretical distribution of floods. The significance and predictive values of flood-frequency relations are considered. Because of the length of flood records available and the interdependence of flood events within a region, the probable long-term average magnitudes of floods of a given recurrence interval are uncertain. However, if the magnitudes defined by the records available are accepted, the relative effects of drainage-basin characteristics and climatic variables can be determined with a reasonable degree of assurance.

Water Supply Paper↗
USGS1962

Effect of reservoir storage on peak flow

For observation of small-basin flood peaks, numerous crest-stage gages now are operated at culverts in roadway embankments. To the extent that they obstruct the natural flood plains of the streams, these embankments serve to create detention reservoirs, and thus to reduce the magnitude of observed peak flows. Hence, it is desirable to obtain a factor, I/O, by which the observed outflow peaks may be adjusted to corresponding inflow peaks. The problem is made more difficult by the fact that, at most of these observation sites, only peak stages and discharges are observed, and complete hydrographs are not available. It is postulated that the inflow hydrographs may be described in terms of Q, the instantaneous discharge; A, the size of drainage area; Pe, the amount of rainfall excess; H, the time from beginning of rainfall excess; D, the duration of rainfall excess; and T and k, characteristic times for the drainage area, and indicative of the time lag between rainfall and runoff. These factors are combined into the dimensionless ratios (QT/APe), (H/T), (k/T), and (D/T), leading to families of inflow hydrographs in which the first ratio is the ordinate, the second is the abscissa, and the third and fourth are distinguishing parameters. Sixteen dimensionless inflow hydrographs have been routed through reservoir storage to obtain 139 corresponding outflow hydrographs. In most of the routings it has been assumed that the storage-outflow relation is linear; that is, that storage is some constant, K, times the outflow. The existence of nonlinear storage is recognized, and exploratory nonlinear routings are described, but analyses and conclusions are confined to the problems of linear storage. Comparisons between inflow hydrographs and outflow hydrographs indicate that, at least for linear storage, I/O=f(k/T, D/T, K/T) in which I and O are, respectively, the magnitudes of the inflow and the outflow peaks, and T, k, D, and K are as defined above. Diagrams are presented to show the functional relation indicated by the foregoing equation.

Water Supply Paper↗