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R. W. Mower

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

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Ground-water data for the Beryl-Enterprise area, Escalante Desert, Utah

This report contains a compilation of selected ground-water data for the Beryl-Enterprise area, Iron and Washington Counties, Utah. The records of the wells include such information as driller's logs, yield, drawdown, use, and temperature of the well water. There are also records of water levels in selected wells for the period 1973-79, chemical analyses of ground water, records of selected springs, and a tabulation of ground-water withdrawals for 1937-78.

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Digital-computer model of the principal ground-water reservoir in Beryl-Enterprise area, Escalante Desert, Utah

The computer model presented in this report was used to simulate the principal ground-water reservoir in the Beryl-Enterprise area, Escalante Desert, Beaver, Iron, and Washington Counties, Utah (Mower, 1981). The details of the formulation of the model, testing of its validity, and the results of predictions are discussed in the cited report. This report was prepared as part of a cooperative program with the Utah Department of Natural Resources, Division of Water Rights, to investigate the water resources of the State. It is an addendum to the principal interpretive report, and it is presented in order to make the model available to anyone desiring to use it for additional predictions. The main program used was the finite-difference model for aquifer simulation in two dimensions documented by Trescott, Pinder, and Larson, (1976). Minor modifications were made to adapt the program to the principal ground-water reservoir in the Beryl-Enterprise area. All the modifications are listed at the top of table 1, and were related to parameter input and output, thus none of the computational subroutines were affected. The parameter arrays (table 1) and map of the area with a grid overlay (pi. 1) are given on following pages. The model simulates an aquifer- under water-table conditions, mostly composed of unconsoliuated basin-fill deposits. The boundaries of the modeled area (pi. 1) generally coincide with the boundaries of the saturated basin fill. However, in the southwest-central part of the model, permeable consolidated rock is included; and that part of the northern boundary between the Black and Wah Wah Mountains is an arbitrary boundary in basin fill between the Beryl-Enterprise area and the Milford area that lies to the northeast. The ignimbrite at Table Butte also was included in the active part of the model. The model includes simulation of discharge by evapotranspiration from phreatophytes. The areal recharge array was used to simulate recharge entering the modeled area at its boundaries and from stream infiltration in the southern corner near Enterprise. In addition, this array included discharge by wells operated during the period simulated as being under steady-state conditions (virtually 1937), and discharging wells simulating flow of water northeast to the Milford area. These wells also were included in the transient-state simulation (1937-77), although any changes in this discharge were modeled using the pumpage array (Group IV, table 1). The wells simulating outflow to the Milford area are shown on plate 1, but the wells pumping in 1937 are not shown unless they also were pumped during 1937-77. The pumpage array was used to simulate: (1) Discharge from wells, (2) discharge after 1977 from a mine in the southwest-central part of the model and recharge resulting form the mine discharge (pi. 1), and (3) changes in discharge in wells operated during the steady-state period. Recharge from irrigation was simulated by reducing pumpage from nodes where irrigation occurs. Discharge from all wells was reduced by 5 percent by multiplying all pumpage by 0.95 in the computer program. North of Newcastle, in T. 35 S., R. 15 W., pumpage was reduced by 35 percent because surface materials are very permeable.

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Developing a state water plan: Ground-water conditions in Utah, spring of 1979

This report is the sixteenth in a series of annual reports that describe ground-water conditions in Utah. Reports in this series, prepared cooperatively by the U.S. Geological Survey and the Utah Division of Water Resources, provide data to enable interested parties to keep abreast of changing ground-water conditions. This report, like the others in the series, contains information on well construction, ground-water withdrawals, water-level changes, and related changes in precipitation and streamflow. Supplementary data such as graphs showing chemical quality of water and maps showing water-table configuration are included in reports of this series only for those years or areas for which applicable data are available and are important to a discussion of changing ground-water conditions. This report includes individual discussions of selected major areas of ground-water withdrawal in the State for the calendar year 1978. Water-level fluctuations, however, are described for the period spring 1978 to spring 1979. Much of the data used in this report were collected by the U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with the Division of Water Rights, Utah Department of Natural Resources.

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Hydrology of the Beaver Valley area, Beaver County, Utah, with emphasis on ground water

Beaver Valley includes 534 square miles in southwestern Utah, in the Basin and Range physiographic province. The project area consists of a valley plain underlain by unconsolidated to partly consolidated material. The valley plain is bounded by mountains that are composed of partly consolidated to consolidated rocks of Pennsylvanian through Tertiary age except for local thin unconsolidated surficial deposits of Quaternary age. The water needs of the valley are supplied mainly by four streams rising in the Tushar Mountains along the eastern side of the valley and by wells in the unconsolidated to partly consolidated materials of the valley plain. The objectives of this study were (1) to measure and analyze the discharge/recharges rates and (2) to measure and analyze the total amount of water in storage in the ground-water reservoirs.

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Developing a state water plan: Ground-water conditions in Utah, spring of 1978

This report is the fifteenth in a series of annual reports that describe ground-water conditions in Utah. Reports in this series, prepared cooperatively by the U.S. Geological Survey and the Utah Division of Water Resources, provide data to enable interested parties to keep abreast of changing ground-water conditions. This report, like the others (see References, p. 13), contains information on well construction, ground-water withdrawals, water-level changes, and related changes in precipitation and streamflow. Supplementary data such as graphs showing chemical quality of water and maps showing water-table configuration are included in reports of this series only for those years or areas for which applicable data are available and are important to a discussion of changing ground-water conditions. This report includes individual discussions of selected major areas of ground-water withdrawal in the State for the calendar year 1977. Water-level fluctuations, however, are described for the period spring 1977 to spring 1978. Much of the data used in this report were collected by the U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with the Division of Water Rights, Utah Department of Natural Resources.

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Developing a state water plan: Ground-water conditions in Utah, spring of 1977

This report is the fourteenth in a series of annual reports that describe ground-water conditions in Utah. Reports in this series, prepared cooperatively by the U.S. Geological Survey and the Utah Division of Water Resources, provide data to enable interested parties to keep abreast of changing ground-water conditions. This report, like the others (see references, p. 16), contains information on well construction, ground-water withdrawals, water-level changes, and related changes in precipitation and streamflow. Supplementary data such as graphs showing chemical quality of water and maps showing water-table configuration are included in reports of this series only for those years or areas for which applicable data are available and are important to a discussion of changing ground-water conditions. This report includes individual discussions of selected major areas of ground-water withdrawal in the State for the calendar year 1976. Water-level fluctuations, however, are described for the period spring 1976 to spring 1977. Much of the data used in this report were collected by the U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with the Division of Water Rights, Utah Department of Natural Resources.

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Seepage study of canals in Beaver Valley, Beaver County, Utah

A study of the gains or losses of nine canals near Beaver, Utah, was made to aid in the water allocation of the canal systems. The canals included in this study are Manderfield Ditch, Last Chance Canal, Christiansen Ditch, Mammoth Canal, City Ditch, Owens Ditch, South Field Ditch, Patterson Ditch, and Aberdare Canal. Four sets of seepage measurements were made during 1974, but flow was observed in all nine canals only during the set of measurements made in June. Adjustments for fluctuations in flow in the canals were made from information obtained from water-stage recorders operated at selected locations along the canals during the time of each seepage run.

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Seepage study of canals in Beaver Valley, Beaver County, Utah

A study of the gains or losses of nine canals near Beaver, Utah, was made to aid in the water allocation of the canal systems. The canals included in this study are Manderfield Ditch, Last Chance Canal, Christiansen Ditch, Mammoth Canal, City Ditch, Owens Ditch, South Field Ditch, Patterson Ditch and Aberdare Canal. Four sets of seepage measurements were made during 1974, but flow was observed in all nine canals only during the set of measurements made in June. Adjustments for fluctuations in flow in the canals were made from information obtained from water-stage recorders operated at selected locations along the canals during the time of each seepage run.

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Fracturing and subsidence of the land surface caused by the withdrawal of ground water in the Milford area, Utah

Fracturing and subsidence of the land surface in the Milford area of Utah have resulted from the decline of water levels due to pumping in unconsolidated deposits of Quaternary age. To the writers' knowledge, these are the first such effects of ground-water withdrawal reported in Utah. The fracturing is in an area about 1 mile (1.6 km) wide and 11 miles (18 km) long near Milford, in an unsaturated clay-silt zone (locally peaty at top) in the upper part of the principal ground-water reservoir. The fractures range in length from several feet to more than 100 feet (30 m), and their maximum measured depth in 1972 was 4 feet (1.2 m). Land subsidence in the Milford area is demonstrated by three lines of evidence: (1) collapse structures, (2) well casings that protrude higher above the land surface than when first placed in the borehole, and (3) lower elevations at National Ocean Survey (formerly U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey) bench marks in 1970 than in 1908. This evidence shows that land subsidence in the Milford area is of two types, each having a different origin. One type has a near-surface origin in the clay-silt zone in the upper part of the principal groundwater reservoir, and the other is in the lower artesian aquifers of the principal ground-water reservoir. The amount of observed subsidence ranges from 0.05 foot (0.015 m) at the bench mark at Read to about 6 feet (1.8 m) at collapse structures in the Hay Springs area.

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Developing a state water plan: Ground-water conditions in Utah, spring of 1976

This report is the thirteenth in a series of annual reports that describe ground-water conditions in Utah. Reports in this series, prepared cooperatively by the U.S. Geological Survey and the Utah Division of Water Resources, provide data to enable interested parties to keep abreast of changing ground-water conditions. This report, like the others (see references, p. 16), contains information on well construction, ground-water withdrawals, water-level changes, and related changes in precipitation and streamflow. Supplementary data such as graphs showing chemical quality of water and maps showing water-table configuration are included in reports of this series only for those years or areas for which applicable data are available and are important to a discussion of changing ground-water conditions. This report includes individual discussions of selected major areas of ground-water withdrawal in the State for the calendar year 1975. Water-level fluctuations, however, are described for the period spring 1975 to spring 1976. Much of the data used in this report were collected by the U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with the Division of Water Rights, Utah Department of Natural Resources.

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Developing a state water plan: Ground-water conditions in Utah, spring of 1975

This report is the twelfth in a series of annual reports that describe ground-water conditions in Utah. Reports in this series, prepared cooperatively by the U.S. Geological Survey and the Utah Division of Water Resources, provide data to enable interested parties such as legislators, administrators, and planners to keep abreast of changing ground-water conditions. This report, like the others (see references, p. 16), contains information on well construction, ground-water withdrawals, water-level changes, and related changes in precipitation and streamflow. Supplementary data such as graphs showing chemical quality of water and maps showing water-table configuration are included in reports of this series only for those years or areas for which applicable data are available and are important to a discussion of changing ground-water conditions. The report includes individual discussions of the most important areas of ground-water withdrawal in the State for the calendar year 1974. Water-level fluctuations, however, are described for the period spring 1974 to spring 1975. Many of the data used in the report were collected by the U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with the Division of Water Rights, Utah Department of Natural Resources.

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Water resources of the Milford area, Utah, with emphasis on ground water

The investigation of the water resources of the Milford area was made as part of a cooperative program with the Utah Department of Natural Resources, Division of Water Rights, to investigate the water resources of the State. The primary purpose of this report is to provide basic hydrologic information needed for the effective administration and adjudication of water rights in the valley.

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Developing a state water plan: Ground-water conditions in Utah, spring of 1974

This report is the eleventh in a series of annual reports that describe ground-water conditions in Utah. Reports in this series, prepared cooperatively by the U.S. Geological Survey and the Utah Division of Water Resources, provide data to enable interested parties such as legislators, administrators, and planners to keep abreast of changing ground-water conditions. This report, like the others (see references, p. 18), contains information on well construction, ground-water withdrawals, water-level changes, and related changes in precipitation and streamflow. Supplementary data such as graphs showing chemical quality of water and maps showing water-table configuration are included in reports of this series only for those years or areas for which applicable data are available and are important to a discussion of changing ground-water conditions. The report includes individual discussions of the most important areas of ground-water withdrawal in the State for the calendar year 1973. Water-level fluctuations, however, are described for the period spring 1973 to spring 1974. Many of the data used in the report were collected by the Geological Survey in cooperation with the Division of Water Rights, Utah Department of Natural Resources.

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Map showing thickness of saturated Quaternary deposits, Sugar House quadrangle, Salt Lake County, Utah, February 1972

Saturated Quaternary deposits in the Sugar Horse quadrangle supply significant quantities of water to wells from which water is withdrawn for domestic, municipal, industrial, and irrigation uses. The deposits consist of clay, silt, sand, and gravel; individual beds range from a few inches to several tens of feet thick. The principal aquifer, which is almost completely within the Quaternary deposits, supplied about 4 percent, or 9,000 acre-feet, of the municipal and industrial water used annually in Salt Lake County during 1964-68. As a general rule, more water is stored and more water will be yielded to a well where aquifers are thicker. This map can be used as a general guide to those areas where greatest amounts of water are stored in the aquifer, and where yields to wells may be greater. Local variations in the ability of saturated deposits to transmit water can alter the general relationship between aquifer thickness and yield of wells. The thickness of saturated Quaternary deposits within the area of the Sugar Horse quadrangle ranges from zero to about 650 feet, as shown on the map. The thickest section of these deposits is near the southwestern corner of the quadrangle, and the thinnest section is along the mountain front adjacent to the approximate eastern limit of saturated Quaternary deposits. The thickness of saturated Quaternary deposits shown on this map is based on drillers’ logs for 55 deep wells (which show the thickness of the Quaternary deposits) and on water-level measurements made in February 1972 in wells in unconfined shallow aquifers. Reports in the following list of selected references contain other information about the saturated Quaternary deposits in this and adjacent parts of Jordan Valley, Utah. The basic-data reports and releases contain well logs, water-level measurements, and other types of basic ground-water data. The interpretive repots contain discussions of the occurrence of ground water, tests to determine hydraulic properties of the aquifer, and related information. Ground-water terms used in this report have been defined by Lohman and others (1972).

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Map showing minimum depth to water in shallow aquifers (1963-72) in the Sugar House quadrangle, Salt Lake County, Utah

The depth to ground water in shallow aquifers in the Sugar Horse quadrangle ranges from zero in areas of springs and seeps to more than 10 feet beneath most of the area shown on the map. The depth to water differs from place to place because of irregular topography, and the varying capability of different rock materials to transmit water. Ground water also occurs under unconfined and confined conditions in deep aquifers beneath the Sugar Horse quadrangle, as shown by the block diagram and as described by Hely, Mower, and Harr (1971a, p. 17-111).

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Map showing depth to top of the principal aquifer, Sugar House quadrangle, Salt Lake County, Utah, February 1972

The depth to the top of the principal aquifer in the Sugar House quadrangle ranges from about 50 feet to more than 400 feet below land surface. The principal aquifer supplied about 4 percent, or 9,000 acre-feet, of the municipal and industrial water used annually in Salt Lake County curing 1964-68. The least depths occur in topographically low areas of the Jordan Valley, such as near Murray in the southwest corner of the Sugar House quadrangle. The greatest depths occur near the mountain front in the vicinity of Mill creek and Neffs Canyons where thick alluvial-fan deposits overlie the principal aquifer.

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