Ground-Water Resources of Snohomish County Washington
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Ground-Water Resources of Snohomish County Washington By R. C. NEWCOMB GEOLOGICAL SURVEY WATER-SUPPLY PAPER 1135 Prepared in cooperation with Snohomish County Public Utility District No. 1 and the Washington State Department of Conservation and Development UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE, WASHINGTON : 1952 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR Oscar L. Chapman, Secretary GEOLOGICAL SURVEY W. E. Wrather, Director For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U. S. Government Printing Office Washington 25, D. C. - Price $1.25 (paper cover) CONTENTS Page Abstract. ________________________________________________________ 1 Introduction^ _____________________________________________________ 2 Location and extent of the area_________________________________ 2 History of the investigation--__________________ _________________ 2 Location symbols used for wells and springs.______________________ 4 Climate. _____________________________________________________ 4 Geologic setting._____________________________________________ 7 Physiography _________________________________________________ 7 Cascade Mountain area. _________________________________ 7 Puget Sound lowland______________________________________ 7 Rock formations. _____________________________________________ 11 Consolidated rocks_________________________________________ 11 Pre-Tertiary rocks_____________________________________ 11 Tertiary (?) volcanic rocks_____________________________ 12 Tertiary sedimentary rocks _____________________________ 12 Un consolidated deposits ____________________________________ 13 Admiralty clay _ ______________________________________ 13 Vashon drift._______________________________________ 18 Advance outwash and associated deposits_____________ 18 Pilchuck clay member._________________________ 19 Esperance sand member________________________ 19 Till and associated deposits-________________________ 23 Recessional outwash and associated deposits- _________ 26 Undifferentiated outwash-______________________ 26 Differentiated outwash-________________________ 26 Recent deposits,______________________________________ 28 Structure---__________________________________________________ 30 Consolidated rocks-_-__-___-____-__-___--__---_--_-----_-_- 30 Pre-Tertiary igneous and metamorphic complex and Tertiary(?) volcanic rocks___-___________________________________ 30 Tertiary sedimentary rocks_____________________________ 30 UnconSolidated deposits ____________________________________ 30 Geologic history-_ _____________________________________________ 32 Pre-Tertiary history _______________________________________ 32 Tertiary history._____________________________________ 32 Pleistocene history ____________________________________ 33 Recent history. ___________________________________________ 37 Water-bearing characteristics of the rock materials ___________________ 37 Consolidated rocks_____________________________________________ 37 Pre-Tertiary rocks-________________________________________ 37 Tertiary rocks_____________________________________________ 38 UnconSolidated deposits of Pleistocene and Recent age_ __________ 38 Admiralty clay____________________________________________ 38 Vashon drift______._______________________________________ 39 Advance outwash and associated deposits-----____________ 39 Pilchuck clay member._____________________________ 39 Esperance sand member.___________________________ 40 in IV CONTENTS Water-bearing characteristics of the rock materials Continued Unconsolidated deposits of Pleistocene and Recent age Continued Vashon drift Continued Page Till__________________ ____________--_-- ___________ 41 Recessional outwash________________------_________-__- 43 Undifferentiated outwash-__________________________ 43 Differentiated outwash_____________________________ 44 Recent alluvium___________________________----____________ 44 Occurrence of ground water_________________________________________ 45 Form, movement, and recharge of the principal ground-water bodies.- 45 Distribution of aquifers in the county._ __________________________ 51 Areas deficient in ground water___________________---_--______-__ 51 Artesian conditions ____________________________________________ 52 Chemical character of the ground water______________________________ 54 Hardness,_ ___________________________________________________ 54 Salinity ______________________________________________________ 55 Gaseous compounds.___________________________________________ 55 Iron_________________________________________________________ 56 Iron content._____________________________________________ 56 Iron-removal practices _____________________________________ 56 Iron-bearing water for irrigation_____________________________ 57 Use of ground water.______________________________________________ 57 Domestic supply___-____________________------__--_---______-- 57 Municipal supply-_____________________________________________ 58 Industry _____________________________________________________ 59 Fish propagation ______________________________________________ 59 Irrigation _____________________________________________________ 59 Dependability of the ground-water supply.___________________________ 60 Past,________________________________________________________ 60 Future_______________________________________________________ 60 Well construction__-__________________________----_----_----______- 61 Well and spring records.___________________________________________ 62 References cited-__-_______-__________________--------_-__--__-_--- 132 Index.__-_-________________-__-_._._-___-_______--_____________-- 133 ILLUSTRATIONS PLATE 1. Geologic map of Snohomish County, Wash_ ______________ In pocket 2. Geologic sections of Snohomish County- ________________ In pocket FIGURE 1. Index map of Snohomish County. _________________________ 3 2. Graph showing average monthly precipitation, 1931-35, at four Washington stations, located at progressively greater dis tances from Puget Sound, and average monthly evaporation at Seattle, 1941-46_____________________---_---_-------- 5 3. Graph showing rainfall at Everett, Wash., 1916-46________.__ 6 4. Till directly overlying metamorphic rock, Snohomish County. _ 10 5. Pebbly and cobbly gravel of outwash facies of Esperance sand member in quarry northwest of Beverly Park, Snohomish Countv----________-_________-_---------------------_- 21 CONTENTS V Page FIGURE 6. Till overlying Esperance sand member in quarry face in sec. 17, T. 27 N., R. 4 E., Snohomish County. ____________ 21 7. Sub-till sand and overlying till along sea cliff south of Subeebeda, Snohomish County__________________ ___________________ 22 8. Section exposed in bluff of Stillaguamish River south of Silvana, Snohomish County________ _____________________________ 22 9. Till in road cut near center sec. 13, T. 32 N., R. 6 E., Snohomish County _ ____________________________________________ 24 10. Till in road cut through bluff of valley of Pilchuck Creek, Snohom ish County____ ________________________________________ 24 1 1 . Till in double sheet exposed in sea cliff south of Mukilteo, Snohom ish County. __ _________________________________________ 25 12. Coarse outwash of glacial-alluvial origin in road bank east of Goldbar, Snohomish County ____________________________ 29 13. Till and pre-till beds in valley of South Fork Stillaguamish River southwest of Riverside, Snohomish County ___ ____________ 29 14. View looking east at upper part of sea cliff north of Picnic Point, Snohomish County__________________..-__________------_ 34 15. Fluctuations of water level in four Snohomish County wells tap ping perched ground water of soil zone of till- _______---___ 42 16. Fluctuations of water level in five Snohomish County wells tap ping Esperance sand member or other sub-till sand_ _______ 47 17. Fluctuations of water level in three Snohomish County wells in Marysville sand member _ ______________________________ 49 18. Fluctuations of water level in two Snohomish County wells with special features of replenishment and response- ____________ 50 19. Fluctuations of water level in two Snohomish County wells tap ping confined ground water, ____________________________ 53 TABLES TABLE 1. Comparison of flow in South Fork Quilceda Creek and in Little Pilchuck Creek, Snohomish County, Wash________________ 43 2. Iron content and acidity of five ground-water samples from Snohomish County and the effect of iron-removal processes on three of the samples^_________________________________ 57 3. Water consumption of the principal communities in Snohomish County using ground water______________________________ 58 4. Representative wells in Snohomish County__________________ 87 5. Chemical analyses of water from wells and springs in Snohomish County _______________________________________________ 128 6. Typical perennial springs in Snohomish County._____________ 130 GROUND-WATER RESOURCES OF SNOHOMISH COUNTY WASHINGTON By R. C. NEWCOMB ABSTRACT Snohomish County comprises an east-west strip, sis townships wide, extending 60 miles from the eastern shore of Puget Sound to the drainage divide of the Cascade Mountains. Topographically, the eastern two-thirds of the county varies from hills and low mountain spurs at the west to the continuous high, maturely carved mountains of the Cascade Range at the east. The western third of the county lies in the Puget Sound lowland section; it is made up largely of unconsolidated deposits, as contrasted with the hard rocks of the mountain section. High-level