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At least 289 records · Page 16Linked to original sources
USGS1955

Preliminary report on the potential waterpower of Grant, Ptarmigan, Cooper and Crescent lakes on the Kenai Peninsula, near Seward, Alaska

Grant, Ptarmigan, Cooper, and Crescent Lakes, located in the Kenai Mountains in the upper portion of the Kenai River Basin, approximately 25 miles to the north of Seward, present favorable opportunities for the development of waterpower. Grant and Ptarmigan Lakes can be made readily accessible by roads from the Seward-Anchorage Highway which in this area practically parallels the Alaska Railroad; and Cooper and Crescent Lakes by access roads from the Sterling Highway. Geologic conditions are favorable for the construction of the various elements of a power development although some special problems may be encountered. The power sites are located in areas of severe winter temperatures, -30° to -40° or less in most winters. This climatic feature must be given due consideration in the design of the various structures required for a power development. Streamflow records are available for a 7-year period for Grant and Ptarmigan Creeks and for a 5-year period for Cooper and Crescent Creeks. Only short and incomplete records of precipitation are available in the area of the power sites but records have been kept at Seward for 30 years. The precipitation at Seward during the periods for which streamflow records are available was, in general, less than average. It seems reasonable that similar conditions would prevail over the upper Kenai Basin. Consequently, the available stream-flow records cover a period of less than average precipitation and estimates of potential power based on these figures probably are on the conservative side. Only regulated flow is considered in this report. Each of the four lakes is a favorable storage site. Adequate capacity for complete regulation of the flow on a year-to-year basis or over a period of several years can be obtained by the construction of dams ranging in height from 20 to 50 feet. Water from the reservoirs can be conveyed to the powerhouses through conduits, tunnels, or pipelines of reasonable length. The total estimated potential power for the four lakes is 11,000 kilowatts for 90 percent of the time and 14,000 kilowatts for 50 percent of the time. Transmission line distances to Seward range from 22 miles for the Ptarmigan Lake power site to as much as 50 miles for the Cooper Lake power site that would be located on the Kenai River. The transmission line distance to Anchorage will approximate 100 miles, depending on the route selected.

Alaska↗
USGS1958

Preliminary report on ground water in the Bonanza Lake area, Power and Blaine counties, Idaho

The investigation in the Bonanza Lake area of northwestern Power and southeastern Blaine Counties was made to determine the direction of ground-water movement and to ascertain the relation of the regional ground-water body to the Snake River. The surface of the area is nearly flat to gently rolling, and slopes to the west. Lake Channel, an abandoned channel of the Snake River, and a few volcanic cones modify the gentle relief. The climate is semiarid, the annual precipitation ranging from 10 to 15 inches. Most of the area is uncultivated and covered with sagebrush, the predominate vegetation. A significant amount of the area is dry farmed; about 500 to 650 acres is irrigated with ground water pumped from wells or from ponds in Lake Channel. The Bonanza area and vicinity are underlin by windblown deposits of Recent age (not shown on the geologic map); alluvium with admixed windblown material and black basalt, both also of Recent age; undifferentiated Snake River basalt, of Pliocene to Recent age; the American Falls lake beds and Cedar Butte basalt, or Pleistocene age; of the Raft Lake beds and Massacre volcanic and associated rocks, of Pliocene(?) age. The alluvium contains ground water at shallow depth, but because of its limited areal extent it is not an important aquifer, The Snake River basalt is the most important aquifer in the area and yields water to irrigation, domestic, and stock wells. Several springs discharge from the basalt into Lake Walcott. The Cedar Butte basalt is a major aquifer supplying water to a number of stock and domestic wells and to Bonanza Lake. Ground water moves southward and southwestward through the area from the Aberseen-Springfield tract on the northeast and possibly from the downstream end of American Falls Reservoir. Part of the ground water is discharged to the Snake River and Lake Walcott and part moves westward out of the area of the main ground-water body. The amount of ground water can not be determined from the data bow available. Data from dam-site borings and wells suggest the possibility that a part of the ground water in the area may be perched above the regional water table.

Idaho↗
USGS1958

Preliminary report on the ground-water resources of the Klamath River basin, Oregon

The Klamath River basin, including the adjacent Lost River basin, includes about 5,500 square miles of plateaus, mountain-slopes and valley plains in south-central Oregon. The valley plains range in altitude from about 4,100 feet in the south to more than 4,500 feet at the northern end; the mountain and plateau lands rise to an average altitude of 6,000 feet at the drainage divide, some peaks rising above 9,000 feet. The western quarter of the basin is on the eastern slope of the Cascade Range and the remainder consists of plateaus, mountains, and valleys of the basin-and-range type. The rocks of the Klamath River basin range in age from Recent to Mesozoic. At the southwest side of the basin in Oregon, pre-Tertiary metamorphic, igneous, and sedimentary rocks, which form extensive areas farther west, are overlain by sedimentary rocks of Eocene age and volcanic rocks of Eocene and Oligocene age. These early Tertiary rocks dip east toward the central part of the Klamath River basin. The complex volcanic rocks of high Cascades include three units: the lowest unit consists of a sequence of basaltic lava flows about 800 feet thick; the medial unit is composed of volcanic-sedimentary and sedimentary rocksthe Yonna formation200 to 2,000 feet thick; the uppermost unit is a sequence of basaltic lava flows commonly about 200 feet thick. These rocks dip east from the Cascade Range and are the main bedrock formations beneath most of the basin. Extensive pumice deposits, which emanated from ancestral Mount Mazama, cover large areas in the northwestern part of the basin. The basin has an overall synclinal structure open to the south at the California boundary where it continues as the Klamath Lake basin in California. The older rocks dip into the basin in monoclinal fashion from the adjoining drainage basins. The rocks are broken along rudely rectangular nets of closely spaced normal faults, the most prominent set of which trends northwest. The network of fault displacements includes two main grabens, the Klamath and the Langell, which were downthrown approximately 50 and 1,000 feet, respectively. The average annual precipitation varies with the altitude, the higher parts of the Cascade Range getting more than 60 inches, and the semiarid valley plains receive as little as 13 inches in some places. Most precipitation occurs in the winter. The principal tributaries, Williamson and Sprague Rivers, rise near the higher parts of the eastern rim of the basin, flow through narrow valley plains to the western part, and discharge into Upper Klamath Lake. Wood River and associated creeks also empty into Upper Klamath Lake after draining southward along along the eastern foot of the Cascade Range. The Klamath River receives the outflow from Upper Klamath Lake, via Link River and Lake Ewauna, and flows southwestward through Keno Gap and hance through a youthful canyon, to its lower valley in California. The ground water occurs largely in an unconfined, or water-table, condition, though areas of local confinement are present. The regional water table is graded to a base level about equal to that of the major drainage on the valley plains. The slop of the water table, where water is confined, or the piezometric surface is downstream at about the same grade as that of the surface drainage in each of the larger valleys, and ground-water divides occur between the upper parts of adjacent major valleys. The principal water-bearing units are the lower lava rocks and upper lava rocks of the volcanic rocks of high Cascades, the pumice of Quaternary age, and the alluvium. In places layers of coarse fragmental material in the Yonna formation (Newcomb, 1958) also transmit water. The water-bearing units, especially the breccia layers of the lava rocks and the pumice, yield large amounts of water to wells and provide natural discharge outlets for the ground water. The spring outflows to the Williamson and Wood Rivers-Crooked Creek drainage, mea

Open-File Report↗
USGS1960

Gravity survey in part of the Snake River Plain, Idaho — A preliminary report

During the early summer of 1959, a total of 1,187 gravity stations were occupied on the western part of the Snake River plain in Idaho. An area of 2,000 square miles extending from Glenns Ferry, Idaho, to Caldwell, Idaho, was covered with a station density of one station per two square miles. An additional 1,200 square miles of surrounding area, mainly from Caldwell, Idaho, to the Oregon-Idaho state line, was covered with a density of one station per seven square miles. The mean reproducibility of the observed gravities of these stations was 0.05 milligal, with a maximum discrepancy of 0.2 milligal. Gravity data were reduced to simple Bouguer values using a combined free-air and Bouguer correction of 0.06 milligal per foot. The only anomalies found with closure in excess of 10 milligals are two elongated highs, orientated northwest-southeast, with the northwestern high offset to the northeast by 10 miles. The smaller of these highs extends from Meridian, Idaho, to Nyssa, Oregon, and the larger extends from Swan Falls, Idaho, to Glenns Ferry, Idaho. The maximum value recorded is a simple Bouguer value of -66.5 milligals with respect to the International Ellipsoid. Gradients on the sides of these highs are largest on the northeast sides, reaching six milligals per mile in places. Graticule interpretations of a profile across the southeastern high using a density contrast of 0.3 gm per cubic centimeter indicate an accumulation of lava reaching a thickness of at least 28,000 feet. The Snake River investigation was made for the purpose of searching out, defining, and interpreting gravity anomalies present on the western part of the Snake River lava plain in Idaho. In particular, it was desired to further define gradients associated with the gravity high shown by the regional work of Bonini and Lavin (1957). It was not planned to cover any specific area, but rather to let the observed anomalies determine the course of the field work. The study was undertaken as part of a project on Volcanism and Crustal Deformation, supervised by L. C. Pakiser of the U.S. Geological Survey. Professor Rodgers of the Geophysics Department of the Colorado School of Mines acted as an advisor.

Idaho↗