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At least 775 records · Page 43Linked to original sources
USGS1980

Paleohydrology of the southern Great Basin, with special reference to water table fluctuations beneath the Nevada Test Site during the late(?) Pleistocene

Knowledge of the magnitude of water-table rise during Pleistocene pluvial climates, and of the resultant shortening of groundwater flow path and reduction in unsaturated zone thickness, is mandatory for a technical evaluation of the Nevada Test Site (NTS) or other arid zone sites as repositories for high-level or transuranic radioactive wastes. The distribution of calcitic veins filling fractures in alluvium, and of tufa deposits between the Ash Meadows spring discharge area and the Nevada Test Site indicates that discharge from the regional Paleozoic carbonate aquifer during the Late( ) Pleistocene pluvial periods may have occurred at an altitude about 50 meters higher than at present and 14 kilometers northeast of Ash Meadows. Use of the underflow equation (relating discharge to transmissivity, aquifer width, and hydraulic gradient), and various assumptions regarding pluvial recharge, transmissivity, and altitude of groundwater base level, suggest possible rises in potentiometric level in the carbonate aquifer of about -90 meters beneath central Frenchman Flat. During Wisconsin time the rise probably did not exceed 30 meters. Water-level rises beneath Frenchman Flat during future pluvials are unlikely to exceed 30 meters and might even be 10 meters lower than modern levels. Neither the cited rise in potentiometric level in the regional carbonate aquifer, nor the shortened flow path during the Late( ) Pleistocene preclude utilization of the NTS as a repository for high-level or transuranic-element radioactive wastes provided other requisite conditions are met as this site. Deep water tables, attendant thick (up to several hundred meter) unsaturated zones, and long groundwater flow paths characterized the region during the Wisconsin Stage and probably throughout the Pleistocene Epoch and are likely to so characterize it during future glacial periods. (USGS)

Open-File Report↗
USGS1980

Flood potential of Topopah Wash and tributaries, eastern part of Jackass Flats, Nevada Test Site, southern Nevada

Guidelines for the evaluation of potential surface facilities for the storage of high-level radioactive wastes on the Nevada Test Site in southern Nevada include the consideration of the potential for flooding. Those floods that are considered to constitute the principal flood hazards for these facilities are the 100- and 500-year floods, and the maximum potential flood. Flood-prone areas for the three floods with present natural-channel conditions were defined for the eastern part of Jackass Flats in the southwestern part of the Nevada Test Site. The 100-year flood-prone areas would closely parallel most stream channels with very few occurrences of overland flooding between adjacent channels. The 500-year flood and the maximum potential flood would exceed the discharge capacities of main channels and cause overland flooding between adjacent channels throughout most of the study area. Excluded areas would be those located immediately east of the upstream reach of Topopah Wash and between upstream channel reaches of some tributaries. Floodflow characteristics for the three floods were determined at 47 cross sections. The magnitudes of the estimated velocities indicate severe erosion of channels and flood plains would occur in parts of the study area. (USGS)

Open-File Report↗
USGS1981

Geologic, hydrologic, and chemical data from test wells in the Dickson area, Tennessee

Seventeen test wells were drilled at 12 sites in south central Dickson County, Tenn. Most of the sites were selected on the basis of carefully developed concepts of groundwater occurrence. These wells range from 20 to 400 feet deep and average 276 feet deep. The yields range from 0 to 300 gal/min and average 69 gal/min, with 6 wells yielding more than 100 gal/min. The water-bearing zones in rock that yield more than 50 gal/min are all between 100 and 200 feet below land surface. Sulfur gas was detected in two of the wells and large concentrations of iron were present in other wells. Capacity tests were conducted on those wells which yield more than 100 gal/min. The specific capacities of these wells range from 1.36 to 8.11 and average 3.46 gal/min for each foot of drawdown.

Tennessee↗
USGS1981

Petrology and petrography for USGS test wells 1, 2, and 3 in the Madison Limestone in Montana and Wyoming

The need for large quantities of energy has created interest in the Fort Union coal region of the Northern Great Plains. Extensive development of this coal, which may include on-site steam-power generation, gasification, liquefaction, and slurry-pipeline transport of the coal out of the region, would place a heavy demand on the region's limited streamflow. Paleozoic rocks that underlie the Fort Union coal region might supply, at least on a temporary basis, a significant part of the water required for coal development. Paleozoic rocks in the Northern Great Plains are related to the geologic history of the western border of the stable interior of the continent. The central part of the continental interior (Paleozoic craton) was made up of a stable core, the Canadian shield. To the west of the Canadian shield, the broad western flank of the Paleozoic craton made up the Cordilleran shelf, which is the site of the shallow-water marine rocks described in this report. The area of study covers approximately 200,000 square miles, and includes eastern Montana, western North Dakota and South Dakota, northeastern Wyoming, and northwestern Nebraska. The Madison Limestone, or Group, where it is divided, consists of a lower argillaceous limestone (Lodgepole Limestone); a middle unit of fossiliferous carbonate rock (Mission Canyon Limestone); and an upper unit of anhydrite, halite, and interbedded carbonate rock and shale (Charles Formation). The total section is made up of numerous cyclic, marker-defined units. The Madison Limestone was subdivided into units bounded by "marker beds" that consist of thin and widespread shaly carbonate or dark shale recognizable in the subsurface on geophysical logs. The five marker beds used for regional correlation purposes are as follows: M-1 represents the base of the Madison Limestone; M-3 is near the Kinderhookian-Osagean boundary; M-7 and M-8.5 fall within the Osagean; and M-12 is near the Osagean-Meramecian boundary. The top of the Madison Limestone is the Mc marker. Petrology and petrography of the Madison Limestone and associated rocks were studied from cores taken in three test wells of the U.S. Geological Survey. Six major rock types are recognized within cored intervals of the three test wells. Dolomite forms two-thirds of the total and limestone about 20 percent. The remainder consists of anhydrite, carbonate breccia, carbonate mudstone, and chert. Crystalline dolomite is the only abundant rock type in wells 1, 2, and 3 that has high enough porosity and permeability to provide significant yields of water. Crystalline dolomites not associated with evaporites may have formed by some sort of meteoric water-sea water mixing process in the subsurface shoreline environment by recrystallization of mud-rich limestones. Porosity and permeability values of all cored intervals of the Madison Limestone were determined. Mean porosity for the Madison Limestone is 8.4 percent, and mean permeability is 15.8 millidarcies. Because the Madison Limestone is relatively heterogeneous, permeability has a wide range in value.

Montana, Wyoming↗
USGS1982

Hydrologic data from test wells and low-flow investigations in the middle reach of the Eagle River valley, Alaska; 1980-81

Test wells and low-flow investigations in the Eagle River valley , Alaska, were used to evaluate the feasibility of developing ground water for a public supply. Aquifers capable of supplying large yield wells were not indicated in any of the drilling areas. The data include: results of low-flow seepage investigations at 22 river sites; geologic materials logs of eight test wells; water-quality data from two observation wells, two springs, and two river sites; and water level and temperature information for the observation wells and streams. (USGS)

Open-File Report↗
USGS1982

Results of an aquifer test near Lynndyl, Utah

An aquifer test was conducted near Lynndyl, Utah, to determine the hydraulic characteristics of a deep artesian aquifer and its associated confining bed. A well completed in the aquifer was pulped continuously for 25 days and measurements of drawdown and recovery were made in 34 observation wells located within a 10-mile radius of the pumped well. Data from the tests were analyzed using the Hantush modified and Neuman and Witherspoon ratio methods for leaky confined aquifers in which the storage of water in the confining beds was taken into account. The aquifer transmissivity was calculated to be 12,700 feet squared per day, and the storage coefficient was 6.4 x 10 -5 . Calculated average vertical hydraulic conductivity of the confining bed was about 6 x 10 -3 foot per day with the specific storage of the confining bed calculated to be 5.4 x 10 -6 per foot.

Utah↗
USGS1983

Sourcebook of locations of geophysical surveys in tunnels and horizontal holes including results of seismic-refraction surveys, Rainier Mesa, Aqueduct Mesa, and Area 16, Nevada Test Site

Seismic refraction surveys have been obtained sporadically in tunnels in zeolitized tuff at the Nevada Test Site since the late 1950's. Commencing in 1967 and continuing to date (1982), extensive measurements of shear- and compressional-wave velocities have been made in five tunnel complexes in Rainier and Aqueduct Mesas and in one tunnel complex in Shoshone Mountain. The results of these surveys to 1980 are compiled in this report. In addition, extensive horizontal drilling was initiated in 1967 in connection with geologic exploration in these tunnel complexes for sites for nuclear weapons tests. Seismic and electrical surveys were conducted in the majority of these holes. The type and location of these tunnel and borehole surveys are indexed in this report. Synthesis of the seismic refraction data indicates a mean compressional-wave velocity near the nuclear device point (WP) of 23 tunnel events of 2,430 m/s (7,970 f/s) with a range of 1,846-2,753 m/s (6,060-9,030 f/s). The mean shear-wave velocity of 17 tunnel events is 1,276 m/s (4,190 f/s) with a range of 1,140-1,392 m/s (3,740-4,570 f/s). Experience indicates that these velocity variations are due chiefly to the extent of fracturing and (or) the presence of partially saturated rock in the region of the survey.

Nevada↗
USGS1983

Vegetation and climates of the last 45,000 years in the vicinity of the Nevada Test Site, south-central Nevada

Paleoclimatic reconstructions for the Nevada Test Site, spanning the last 45,000 years, are based on plant macrofossil assemblages from radiocarbonated packrat (Neotoma spp) middens from south-central Nevada. The temperature regime during the Wisconsin glacial age, from before about 45,000 years ago until about 12,000 years ago, was characterized by lower temperatures during all seasons. Wisconsin maximum (about 18,000 years before present) winter temperatures were at least 6 deg. Celsius below those of the present, and the relative decrease in summer temperature was as much as 8 deg. Celsius. The data provide evidence for a precipitation regime drier than that proposed by many studies. The maximum estimated increase in average annual precipitation during the full-glacial period is 40 percent above current precipitation. The increase in temperature signaling the end of the Wisconsin glacial age may have begun as early as about 16,000 years ago. The oldest record of desert scrub vegetation from the Nevada Test Site area dates to about 15,000 years ago. By 10,000 years before present, average annual temperatures may have approximated present values, although seasonal temperature and precipitation regimes probably differed from those of today. Climate changes during the last 10,000 years have been relatively minor variations in a warm, dry climatic regime. Probably future climatic changes include a brief but pronounced warm period within the next 500 years, followed by a protracted transition to the next glacial age during the next 10,000 years. (USGS)

Nevada↗
USGS1984

Data from pumping and injection tests and chemical sampling in the geothermal aquifer at Klamath Falls, Oregon

A seven-week pumping and injection tests in the geothermal aquifer at Klamath Falls, Oregon, in 1983 provided new information on hydraulic properties of the aquifer. The Open-File Data Report on the tests includes graphs of water levels measured in 50 wells, temperature measurement in 17 wells , daily air-temperatures in relation to discharge of thermal water from more than 70 pumped and artesian wells, tables of monthly mean air temperatures and estimates of discharges of thermal water during a normal year, and tables of chemical and isotopic analyses on samples from 12 wells. The water-level measurements reflect the effects of pumping, injection, and recovery over about 1.7 square miles of the hot-well area of Klamath Falls. The pumped well, City Well No 1, and the injection well at the Klamath County Museum are components of a proposed District Heating Plan. The study was funded principally under contracts from the U.S. Department of Energy to the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, Stanford University, and the Oregon Institute of Technology, with coordination and chemical sampling provided under the Geothermal Research Program, U.S. Geological Survey. Support was received from the City of Klamath Falls, Klamath County Chamber of Commerce, Citizens for Responsible Geothermal Development, and many citizen volunteers. (USGS)

Open-File Report↗
USGS1985

Test wells T27 and T28, White Sands Missile Range, Dona Ana County, New Mexico

Two test wells, T27 and T28, were drilled at White Sands Missile Range in south-central New Mexico as part of a joint military training program sponsored by the U.S. Army in February and March 1983. Test wells T27 and T28 were drilled as observation wells in the vicinity of the Liquid Propellant Storage Area. Information obtained from these wells includes lithologic logs, driller 's logs, and borehole-geophysical logs from the cased wells. (USGS)

Open-File Report↗
USGS1987

Test wells TW1 and TW2, and TW3, White Sands Missile Range, Otero County, New Mexico

Three test wells, TW1, TW2, and TW3, were drilled at White Sands Missile Range in south-central New Mexico in July, August, and October 1983 as part of a joint military training program sponsored by the U.S. Navy and U.S. Army in July, August, and October 1983. The test wells were drilled as exploratory and monitoring wells for the toxic waste storage facility at White Sands Missile Range. Information obtained from these wells includes lithologic logs for all wells and borehole-geophysical logs for the cased wells. (Author 's abstract)

Open-File Report↗
USGS1994

Meteorological data for four sites at surface-disruption features in Yucca Flat, Nevada Test Site, Nye County, Nevada, 1985-86

Surface-disruption features, or craters, resulting from underground nuclear testing at the Nevada Test Site may increase the potential for ground-water recharge in an area that would normally produce little, if any, recharge. This report presents selected meteorological data resulting from a study of two surface-disruption features during May 1985 through June 1986. The data were collected at four adjacent sites in Yucca Flat, about 56 kilometers north of Mercury, Nevada. Three sites (one in each of two craters and one at an undisturbed site at the original land surface) were instrumented to collect meteorological data for calculating bare-soil evaporation. These data include (1) long-wave radiation, (2) short-wave radiation, (3) net radiation, (4) air temperae, and (5) soil surface temperature. Meteorological data also were collected at a weather station at an undisturbed site near the study craters. Data collected at this site include (1) air temperature, (2) relative humidity, (3) wind velocity, and (4) wind direction.

Open-File Report↗
USGS1996

Drilling, construction, and aquifer-test data from wells 3-3307-20 and -21, Thompson Corner exploratory wells I and II, Oahu, Hawaii

The Thompson Corner exploratory wells I and II (State well numbers 3-3307-20 and -21) were drilled near Thompson Corner, about 2.2 miles south-southwest of the town of Haleiwa. The wells are located on agricultural land in the Waialua ground-water area. The wells are about 50 feet apart and penetrate about 90 feet into the ground water. Aquifer tests were conducted using well 3-3307-20 as a pumping well and well 3-3307-21 as an observation well. Well-construction data, logs of drilling notes, geologic descriptions for the samples, and aquifer-test data are presented for the wells. The wells are two of twelve exploratory wells drilled in the north-central Oahu area between July 1993 and May 1994 in cooperation with the Honolulu Board of Water Supply.

Open-File Report↗
USGS1996

Field test of two single-frequency GPS receivers

The U.S. Geological Survey's Cascades Volcano Observatory (CVO) has been testing low-cost, low-power Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers for use in the monitoring of restless volcanoes. Field tests of two single-frequency (L1 only) receivers, the Ashtech SCA-12S and the Leica SR261 show that these units can measure positions precisely enough to meet our monitoring needs. For line lengths up to 10 kilometers, I have found repeatibilities to be less than a centimeter for horizontal coordinates. Hourly data using broadcast orbits was processed using manufacturer and Bernese software. Repeatibilities were similar for both data sets.

Open-File Report↗
USGS1998

Geologic map of Paleozoic rocks in the Calico Hills, Nevada Test Site, southern Nevada

The Calico Hills area in the southwestern part of the Nevada Test Site, Nye County, Nevada, exposes a core of pre-Tertiary rocks surrounded by middle Miocene volcanic strata. This map portrays the very complex relationships among the pre-Tertiary stratigraphic units of the region. The Devonian and Mississippian rocks of the Calico Hills are distinct from age-equivalent carbonate-shelf or submarine-fan strata in other parts of the Nevada Test Site. The Calico Hills strata are interpreted to have been deposited beyond the continental shelf edge from alternating silicic and carbonate clastic sources. Structures of the Calico Hills area record the compounded effects of: 1) eastward-directed, foreland-vergent thrusting; 2) younger folds, kink zones, and thrusts formed by hinterland-vergent deformation toward northwesterly and northerly directions; and 3) low-angle normal faults that displaced blocks of Middle Paleozoic carbonate strata across the contractionally deformed terrane. All of these structures are older than any of the middle Miocene volcanic rocks that were erupted across the Calico Hills.

Nevada↗
USGS1998

Design, operation, and data analysis for a wireline packer system in open boreholes, with field-test results from Belvidere, Illinois

A wireline-operated packer was designed for use with a standard geophysical logging system. The packer probe consists of a downhole packer inflated with water removed from the borehole by an in-line submersible pump, and a differential pressure transducer calibrated to measure the hydraulic-head difference between the zones above and below the packer. Analysis of the packer data is based on a numerical model that predicts the water levels above and below the packer for a given set of aquifer zones of specified hydraulic head and transmissivity. Various computations are used to indicate the sensitivity of the packer measurements to the hydraulic head and transmissivity contrasts between aquifer zones. The wireline-packer probe was field tested in a series of open-bedrock boreholes in Belvidere, Illinois, at a site where vertical hydraulic-head differences are produced in a horizontally stratified aquifer by water production from an underlying aquifer. Analysis of the wireline-packer data produced estimates of hydraulic-head gradient and aquifer-zone transmissivity consistent with results from straddle-packer hydraulic tests. However, the wireline-packer data also indicated that there are significant variations of vertical hydraulic gradient with depth, and that the gradient is sharply reversed near the bottom of the boreholes. This result is consistent with upward ambient flow measured on previous occasions near the bottom of these boreholes, and has important consequences for the monitoring of ground-water flow at the study site.

Illinois↗
USGS1999

Geology, hydrology, and results of tracer testing in the Galena-Platteville aquifer at a waste-disposal site near Byron, Illinois

A study was conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency of the geohydrology of the dolomite bedrock at a waste-disposal site near Byron, Illinois. The study was designed to identify and characterize the flow pathways through the bedrock aquifer beneath the site. The geologic units of concern at the site are the Glenwood Formation of the Ancell Group, and the Platteville and Galena Groups. These deposits compose the Galena-Platteville aquifer and the underlying Harmony Hill Shale semiconfining unit. The Galena-Platteville aquifer is an unconfined aquifer. Geophysical logging, water levels, and aquifer-test data indicate the presence of interconnected, hydraulically active fractures in the middle of the Galena-Platteville aquifer (the upper flow pathway), and a second set of hydraulically active fractures (the lower flow pathway). The lower flow pathway may be present through much of the site. Few hydraulically active fractures are present in the upper part of the aquifer near the center of the site, but appear to be more numerous in the upper part of the aquifer in the western and northeastern parts of the site. Water-level data obtained during the tracer test indicate that pumping effects were present near the pumped wells. Pumping effects may have been present at several wells located along directions of identified fracture orientation from the pumped well. The upper part of the aquifer did not appear to be hydraulically well connected to the flow pathways supplying water to the pumped well. Large background changes in water levels obscured the effects of pumping and prevented calculation of aquifer properties. The velocity of the bromide tracer through the lower flow pathway under the hydraulic gradient resulting from the pumping was about 152 feet per day. Solution of the Darcy velocity equation results in a calculated effective porosity for this interval of 3.5 percent, indicating hydraulic interconnection between the fractures and the aquifer matrix. Ground-water velocity through the lower flow pathway was calculated to be 15.4 feet per day under hydrostatic conditions.

Illinois↗
USGS1999

Selected data for wells and test holes used in structure-contour maps of the Inyan Kara Group, Minnekahta Limestone, Minnelusa Formation, Madison Limestone, and Deadwood Formation in the Black Hills area, South Dakota

This report presents selected data on wells and test holes that were used in the construction of structure-contour maps of selected formations that contain major aquifers in the Black Hills area of western South Dakota. Altitudes of the top of the Inyan Kara Group, Minnekahta Limestone, Minnelusa Formation, Madison Limestone, and Deadwood Formation are presented for the wells and test holes presented in this report.

South Dakota↗