Preliminary Report on the Ground-Water Resources of The
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New Mexico Geological Society Downloaded from: http://nmgs.nmt.edu/publications/guidebooks/2 Preliminary report on the groundwater resources of the Navajo and Hopi Indian Reservations, Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah Halpenny, Leonard, C., 1951, pp. 147-154 in: San Juan Basin (New Mexico and Arizona), Smith, C. T.; Silver, C.; [eds.], New Mexico Geological Society 2nd Annual Fall Field Conference Guidebook, 163 p. This is one of many related papers that were included in the 1951 NMGS Fall Field Conference Guidebook. Annual NMGS Fall Field Conference Guidebooks Since 1950, the New Mexico Geological Society has held an annual Fall Field Conference that visits some region of New Mexico (or surrounding states). Always well attended, these conferences provide a guidebook to participants. Besides detailed road logs, the guidebooks contain many well written, edited, and peer-reviewed papers. 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Since October 20 1950,the Ground INDIAN RESERVATIONS ARIZONA WaterBranch of the UnitedStates Geological Survey I NEW MEXICO~ AND UTAH. hasbeen engaged in a reconnaissanceof the ground- waterresources and geology of theNavajo country. L. C. Halpenny Thework is beingdone at therequest of theOffice I of IndianAffairsand is financedby thatoffice. The Basedon datacollected by J. W. Harshbarger, purposeof the workistwofold; to aidthe IndianOffice H. A. Whitcomb~C. A. Repenning~R. L. Jackson currentlyin locatingand developingground-water sup- J.T.Callahan, S. C. Brown,the author,and others, pliesfor livestock, domestic, and community use; and to i preparea comprehensivereport on theground-water The regiongenerally known as the Navajo resourcesand geology of theregion, which will ¯serve countrylies in northeasternArizona northwestern as a guideto furtherdevelopment and utilization of New Mexicoand southeasternUtah. It includes theavailable water supply. I the areaoccupied by the Navaioand HopiIndian Reservations,and comprises some 16,000,000 acres or Theinvestigation is under the general supervision about25,000 square miles. Most of theregion is in of A. N. Sayre,geologist in chargeof the Ground i Arizona(see pl. I). Roads within the region are WaterBranch of the GeologicalSurvey, and Underthe mostlydirt; a fewhave been gravelled in recent directsupervision of the author of thisreport. The years~but no pavedroads exist except along the workhas been aided by reviewand consultationwith the bordersof thereservations. U. S. Highway89 crosses headsof thedistrict offices in Arizona,New Mexico, I the westernside U. S. Highway66 llesalong the and Utah:Messrs. S. F. TurnerC. V. Theis,and H. southernside, and U. S. Highway666 crossesthe E. Thomas. easternside. The A. T. & S. F. Railroadparallels U.S.Highway 66 alongthe southernborder of the Thewriters aregreatlyindebtedto manyofficials region, of theOffice of IndianAffairs for their cooperation andassistance. Many thanks are especiallydue to Thereare no incorporatedtowns on the Navoio Messrs.J. J. Schwarz,C. Wilson,and L. Kingsley i and HopiReservations. The communitiesare mostly fortheir guidance in thefield and helpful discussion governmentowned and wereconstructed to provide of problems. schools,hospitals, and other services for the Indians. i Tradingposts at mostof theplaces shown on plateI Theclose cooperation and prompt assistance supplythe residents with the necessities of llfe t and renderedby the SouthwesternLaboratory of the Quality thesupplies are brought in by truck.Gallup and of WaterBranch, Albuquerque, N. Max.,is gratefully Farmington~N- Mex.,and Holbrook,Winslow, and acknowledged.Particular thanks are due to J. D. Hem, i FlagstaffAriz., are the trade centers for the region. DistrictChemist for his aid in definingquality-of-water problems. Themost comprehensive report available on the ground-waterresources of theregion is thatof GeneralFeatures of theRegion I Gregory(I 916).From 1934 to 1940the SoilCon- servationService, Department of Agriculturecam- TheNavajo country is a partof thephysiographic piledwell records, furnished geologic information provinceknown as the ColoradoPlateau, an elevated I and generallyaided the Indian Office in developing areaoccupying partsof Utah Arizona,Colorado,and ground-watersupplies in theregion. From 1942 to 1948 New Mexico.The New Mexicoportion of the Navaja theTechnical Coordination Branch of theWater Re- countryis a partof theSan Juan Basin r andthe Arizona sourcesDivision Geological Survey, furnished occas- portioncomprises the Black Mesa Basin. i ionalassistance in selecting sites for water wells. H. V. Petersongeologist, was in chargeof thiswork. Theregion lies within the drainage basin of the ColoradoRiver and the principal tributaries, in the The GroundWater Branch had beenworking on a Navajocountry, are the San Juan,Chaco, Puerto, I limitedscale in theregion since January 1948 ass;sting andLittle Colorado Rivers. In thewestern part of the I | 147 ¯ NEW MEXICO GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY * SECOND FIELD CONFERENCE * SAN JUAN BASIN I n m region,deep canyons have been cut by the San Juan, topographyand climate.Stream channels have steep LittleColorado, and ColoradoRivers as muchas 3,000 gradients,runoff is rapid,and consequently there is feetbelow the prevailing land surface, littleopportunity forprecipitation to percolate into I theground. Locally, water that may haveentered the m Thealtitude in the Navajocountry ranges from groundemerges deep in inaccessablecanyons from rock stratawhich in otherregions might be satisfactoryaquif~rs. about2,800 feet, at themouth of the LittleColorado m River,to10,.416feet,at thetopof NavajoMountain Waterthat has percolatedinto the groundon somemesa~ ¯ (seepl. I). The mean altitude of theregion is about is returnedto theland surface by seepagealong the m 5~500feet, with only 156 square miles below 4000 base. tfeetand only 42 squaremiles above 9,000 feet (Gregory ¯ 1917,p. II). Theclimate of theregion also has an effectupon [] the ground-watersupplies. Summer rains are of the Mesas,buttes, and canyonsare the primarytopograp- torrentialtype and most of theprecipitation runs off graphicfeatures of the Navajocountry. Erosion re- withoutadequate opportunity to enterthe ground.Re- suitingfrom the strong winds and from occasional chargefrom winter storms and from snow-melt is greater m torrentialrains has produced a landscape that is sharply thanfrom summer rains, but the total annual precipH’atior: angularin appearance, is smalland therefore the total recharge is small- The climateof the Navajocountry is oneof Theinadequate water supply of theregion is ! extremes,both of temperatureand precipitation. The reflectedin thetype of vegetation.Range lands are summersare hot and the winters are cold; long dry poorowing to theinadequate rainfall, and most of the [] spellsare punctuated by intense storms of shortduration, landis consideredunsuitable for raising cattle. Sheep Meanannual temperature is of theorder of 55° F., with raisingis theprincipal industry of theregion and even extremesranging from 105 ° F. downwardto -20° F. thisa marginalundertaking. Water holes are few and Mean precipitationis about10 inchesa year.The pre- thesheep frequently have to be herded8 to 10 milesto m cipitatlonis greaterthan the mean on theChuska and water.Overgrazing in the vicinityof waterholes II CarrizoMountains, Navajo Mountain and BlackMesa. is common,resulting in a tendencyto increaseerosion. Precipitationon the western part of the NavajoReserva- INna fewremote areas where grass is of betterthan [] tionaverages about 6½ inchesa year. averagequality, water for livestock is unavailable. g Rainfallvaries widely from one year to another, irrigationby diversion of waterfrom streams is Occasionalwet