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INFILTRATION TO THE NAVAJO SANDSTONE IN THE LOWER DIRTY DEVIL RIVER BASIN, UTAH, WITH EMPHASIS ON TECHNIQUES USED IN ITS DETERMINATION By T. W. Daniel son and J. W. Hood U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY Water-Resources Investigations Report 84-4154 Prepared In cooperation with the UTAH DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES, DIVISION OF WATER RIGHTS Salt Lake City, Utah 1984 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR WILLIAM P. CLARK, Secretary GEOLOGICAL SURVEY Dallas L. Peck, Director For additional information For sale by: write to: Open-File Services Section District Chief Branch of Distribution U.S. Geological Survey U.S. Geological Survey, MS 306 Rm. 1016 Administration Bldg. Box 25425, Denver Federal Center 1745 West 1700 South Denver, CO 80225 Salt Lake City, Utah 84104 (303)234-5888 CONTENTS Page Abstract ............................................................... 1 IntroductI on ........................................................... 1 Infiltration to the Navajo Sandstone ................................... 5 Monitoring infiltration ........................................... 5 Moisture-monitoring sites ......................................... 8 Data analyses ..................................................... 8 San Rafael Reef .............................................. 8 Waterpocket Fold ............................................. 12 Thousand Lake Mountain ....................................... 12 Rech arge to the Navajo Sandstone ....................................... 13 Monitoring recharge from precipitation ............................ 13 Data analyses ................................................ 13 Thousand Lake Mountain .................................. 16 Waterpocket Fold ........................................ 18 Effects of storage ...................................... 21 Comments on methods ..................................... 21 Recharge from perennial streams ................................... 22 Fremont River ................................................ 22 Other streams ................................................ 22 Annual recharge ................................................... 24 Summary ................................................................ 25 Ref erences cI ted ....................................................... 27 Appendix ............................................................... 29 Other techniques of estimating where and when recharge occurred ... 30 DeuterI urn .................................................... 30 Carbon-14 .................................................... 34 Computation of hydraulic conductivity ............................. 36 Moisture-retention curves .................................... 36 ResuIts ...................................................... 38 ILLUSTRATIONS Plate 1. Map showing location of data-collection sites and outcrop of Navajo Sandstone, lower Dirty Devil River Basin, Utah. Figure 1. Location of study area ...................................... 3 2. Graph showing average monthly precipitation at Hanksv file, 1941-70 ........................................ 4 3. Section of access hole for neutron-moisture probe ........... 7 4- 6. Graphs showing data collected: 4. In and near Old Woman Wash on the San Rafael Reef (site 1) ....................................... 9 5. On Waterpocket Fold near Old Creek (site 12) ......... 10 6. At Thousand Lake Mountain (site 23) .................. 11 7. Section of tenslometer installation in Navajo Sandstone ..... 14 iil ILLUSTRATIONS ContI nued Page Figures 8-12. Graphs showing: 8. Cumulative rainfall and Infiltration at Thousand Lake Mountain ..................................... 17 9. Relative moisture-content profiles for the Thousand Lake Mountain tenslometer site ........... 19 10. Relative moisture-content profiles for the Waterpocket Fold tensiometer site ................. 20 11. Deuterium and oxygen-18 isotope data for precipitation and water from wells ................ 32 12. Deuterium and oxygen-18 isotope data for water from wells, creeks, and springs ................... 35 13. Schematic diagram of the apparatus for obtaining moisture-retention data ................................... 37 14-19. Graphs showing: 14. Moisture-retention curves for core from the Navajo Sandstone, channel under sand hole in Old Woman Wash at the San Raf ael Reef ........................ 39 15. Moisture-retention curves for core from the Navajo Sandstone sloping sandstone surface hole at the San Rafael Reef near Old Woman Wash ......... 40 16. Moisture-retention curves for core from the Navajo Sandstone, intermittent channel on Waterpocket Fold near Oak Creek .................... 41 17. Curves for unsaturated hydraulic conductivity versus suction head (drainage branch) for three cores from the Navajo Sandstone .................... 42 18. Curves for unsaturated hydraulic conductivity versus suction head (Imbibition branch) for three cores from the Navajo Sandstone .................... 43 19. Pore-size distribution curves for six samples from outcrop of Navajo Sandstone ........................ 45 TABLES Table 1. Data-collection sites ......................................... 6 2. Suction head (p) in the Navajo Sandstone ...................... 15 3. Discharge of the Fremont River ................................ 23 4. Isotope analyses and apparent age of water from precipitation, spri ngs, creeks, and welIs ................................... 33 iv CONVERSION FACTORS Values in the report are given in the unit system in which they were originally measured. Conversion from one system to another may be made using this table. Inch-pound Metric Unit Abbreviation Unit Abbreviation (Multiply) (by) (to obtain) Acre-feet acre-ft 0.001233 Cubic hectometer hm 1233 Cubic meter m Acre-feet acre-ft/yr 0.001233 Cubic hectometer hm /yr per year per year 1233 Cubic meter m /yr per year Cubic feet ft3/, .02832 Cubic meter per second per second Feet ft .3048 Meter m Feet per year ft/yr .3048 Meter per year m/yr Inch in. 25.40 Millimeter nrm 2.540 Centimeter cm Mile mi 1.609 Kilometer km mi2 Square mile mi 2.590 Square kilometer km2 Water temperature is given in degrees Celsius (°C), which can be converted to degrees Fahrenheit (°F) by the following equation: °F=1.8(°C)+32. INFILTRATION TO THE NAVAJO SANDSTONE IN THE LOWER DIRTY DEVIL RIVER BASIN, UTAH, WITH EMPHASIS ON TECHNIQUES USED IN ITS DETERMINATION by T. W. Daniel son and J. W. Hood ABSTRACT An investigation was made to determine areas of Infiltration and areas and amounts of recharge to the Navajo Sandstone in the lower Dirty Devil River basin In south-central Utah. Techniques used in the Investigation are described. Information gathered using neutron emitting and receiving equipment indicated that small quantities of water infiltrate sloping surfaces of the sandstone outcrop. Larger quantities Infiltrate where the Navajo Sandstone underlies areas of ponding and alluvium-covered channels. Moisture-retention curves were developed for cores obtained at outcrops of the Navajo Sandstone. The hydraulic conductivity of the rock was determined using data from these curves In empirical equations. Recharge values were computed for two areas using hydraulic conducitivIty and in-situ rock-suction measurements. No recharge occurred on the sloping surface of the Navajo on Waterpocket Fold during the summer thunderstorm season of 1977. During the same period, 0.32 Inch or 14 percent of the precipitation recharged the Navajo on Thousand Lake Mountain. Deuterium and oxygen-18 concentrations in water samples of precipitation, streamflow, spring flow, and ground water indicate that the source of recharge to the Navajo is pr i mar i ly preci pi tat ion that occurred I n the f a I I, w inter, and early spring. Ratios of carbon-14 and carbon-12 isotopes in samples of ground water indicate an unadjusted age of between 7,000 and 33,000 years. The "younger" water samples collected at the Waterpocket Fold indicate a recharge area nearby. Statistical analyses of nine sets of discharge measurements on the Fremont River as it crosses the Navajo Sandstone outcrop at Waterpocket Fold show the I oss or gai n to be no greater than about 2 to 3 percent of the total flow. Total recharge to the Navajo Sandstone outcrop in the study area Is estimated to be about 4,000 acre-feet per year from preci p itati on and 2.000 acre-feet per year from streams. INTRODUCTION During 1975-77, the US. Geological Survey. In cooperation with the Utah Department of Natural Resources, Division of Water Rights, made a study of bedrock aquifers in the lower Dirty Devil River basin area, Utah (Hood and Daniel son, 1979). One objective of that study was to determine the areas and amounts of recharge to the Navajo Sandstone of TrlassicC?) and Jurassic age. a major aqui f er in the study area. The purpose of th i s report is to describe the techniques used to accomplish that objective and to present the findings. Some of the techniques described herein are not commonly used in areal ground-water studies. These techniques Include the use of neutron probes to determine where infiltration has occurred and the use of soil-suction measuring equipment to determine how much of this infiltration can be considered recharge. Stable and radioactive Isotopes, used to gain additional insight Into the infiltration-recharge phenomenon, are discussed In the appendix. The study area (fig. 1) encompasses about 3,200 miles In south-central Utah. It js incised by deep narrow canyons separated by benches, mesas, and broad desert
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