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Severed Madison Aquifer in the Casper Mountain Area of Natrona County, Wyoming

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Severed Madison Aquifer in the Casper Mountain Area of Natrona County, Wyoming Karstic Groundwater Circulation in the Fault- Severed Madison Aquifer in the Casper Mountain Area of Natrona County, Wyoming Mark E. Stacy and Peter W. Huntoon 1994 Final Report WWRC-94-26 Final Report Submitted to Wyoming Water Resources Center University of Wyoming Laramie, Wyoming Mark E. Stacy Department of Geology & Geophysics and Wyoming Water Resources Center University of Wyoming Laramie, Wyoming Peter W. Huntoon Department of Geology & Geophysics University of Wyoming Laramie, Wyoming 1994 ABSTRACT Aquifer-severing displacements along thrust faults adjacent to local structural highs of the Casper Formation have disrupted the hydraulic continuity of the Madison aquifer in the Casper Mountain area and segmented the aquifer into five discrete groundwater compartments. The large permeability of the Madison aquifer in the Casper Mountain groundwater compartment is attributed to the dissolution of interstitial cements and matrix materials within the aquifer that has resulted in the development of a madison karst. Consequently, the storage capacity of the Madison aquifer is sufficient to damp out recharge pulses. The implication for groundwater prospecting is that large quantities of groundwater can be withdrawn from storage in the Madison aquifer throughout the entire southwestern homoclinal flank of Casper Mountain. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The authors wish to thank Dr. James I. Drever, Dr. Victor R. Hasfurther, Dr. Lisa Stillings, and William T. JiLI7Tis of Weston Engineering for providing many helpful comments. Gary Oberhansley of Texaco USA, Steve Gnagy of the Dan Speas Fish Hatchery, Carol Lacy of the State Engineer’s Office, Bany Lawrence of the Wyoming Water Resources Center, and Harold Moser for their time and assistance. Many landowners in the Casper Mountain area generously allowed access to their property for field work. Roger Garling and his staff at Energy Labs in Casper, Wyoming analyzed water samples obtained in this study. Thanks to Marla Myers Wertz and Scott Johnson for their assistance. Funding for this report was provided by the Wyoming Water Resources Center. TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page I . INTRODUCTION ........................................ 1 Purpose .......................................... 1 Geologic Setting .................................... 1 Statement of the Problem .............................. 3 Methodology ...................................... 5 I1 . OVERVIEW OF THE MADISON AQUIFER WITHIN THE CASPER MOUNTAIN AREA ........................................ 9 Regional Confinement ................................ 11 Compartmentalization ................................. 11 Aquifer Productivity .................................. 12 Karstification of the Madison Formation .................... 13 Recharge ......................................... 15 Discharge ......................................... 19 I11 . WATER QUALITY OF SELECTED AQUIFERS IN T€-ECASPER MOUNTAIN AREA ....................................... 21 Water Quality of the Madison Aquifer ...................... 22 Water Quality of iWnor Aquifers in the Goose Egg and Chugwater Confining Layers ............... 25 Water Quality of Groundwater Discharged from the Madison Aquifer through the Goose Egg Confining Layer .... 28 Water Quality of the CloverIy Aquifer ...................... 34 IV . PERMEABILITY DISTRIBUTION IN THE PALEOZOIC ROCKS OF THE CASPER MOUNTAIN AREA ................................ 37 Intergranular Permeability .............................. 37 Fracture Permeability ................................. 41 Longitudinal Joints ............................. 42 Cross and Oblique Joints ......................... 44 Vertical Conjugate Joint Sets ....................... 48 Partings Along Bedding Surfaces .................... 48 Normal Faults ................................. 51 Other Faults and Fractures ........................ 51 Karstic Permeability and Groundwater Storage in the Madison Aquifer .............................. 56 Paleokarst Permeability ................................ 59 Network of Permeable Conduits that Locdize Groundwater Circulation in the Madison Aquifer ...................... 60 Network of Karstic Conduits and Fractures in the Casper Mountain Groundwater Compartment ...... 60 Network of Fractures in Adjacent Groundwater Compartments ............................... 62 ... Ill TABLE OF CONTENTS (cont.) Chapter Page V . GROUNDWATER CIRCULATION SYSTEMS AND EXPLORATION TARGETS FOR THE MADISON AQUIFER WITHIN THE CASPER MOUNTAIN AREA ....................................... 64 Active Circulation Systems ............................. 64 Groundwater Circulation in the Western Casper Mountain Groundwater Compartment ...................... 65 Speas Spring ............................ 66 Groundwater Circulation in the Goose Egg Block .... 70 Groundwater Circulation in the Eastern Casper Moun rain Groundwater Compartment ...................... 71 Hat Six Warm Springs ...................... 73 Inactive Circulation Systems ............................ 73 Groundwater Circulation in the Powder River Groundwater Compartment ...................... 74 Groundwater Circulation in the Casper Arch Groundwater Compartment ............................... 75 Groundwater Circulation in the Alcova Groundwater Compartment ............................... 76 Selected Groundwater Exploration Targets for the Madison Aquifer ................................ 77 Groundwater Development Prospects on the Southwestern Homoclinal Flank of Casper Mountain ............... 77 Groundwater Development Prospect on the Southeastern Homoclinal Flank of Casper Mountain ............... 79 VI. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS .......................... 81 REFERENCES .......................................... 84 APPEIWICES .......................................... 93 iv LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page 1. Location of the Casper Mountain area in Natrona County, Wyoming. ........ 2 2. Elevation of the top of the Casper Formation in the Casper Mountain area, Natrona County, Wyoming- .............................. in pocket 3. Exposed geologic structures in the Casper Mountain area, Natrona County, Wyoming. .............................. in pocket 4. Stratigraphy exposed in the Casper Mountain area, Natrona County, Wyoming. .................................. 4 5. Cross sections A-A’ and B-€3’ through typical foreland uplifts in the Casper Mountain area of Natrona County, Wyoming. .................. 6 6. Locations of springs and selected wells in the Casper Mountain are3, Natrona County, Wyoming. .............................. in pocket 7. Hydraulic heads and groundwater flow directions associated with the Madison aquifer in the Casper Mountain area, Natrona County, Wyoming. ............................... in pocket 8. Hydraulic properties of the Paleozoic rocks within the Casper Mountain area, Natrona County, Wyoming. .................................. 10 9. Chemical compositions of groundwater discharged from the Madison aquifer in the Casper Mountain area, Natrona County, Wyoming. .......... in pocket 10. Infilled Madison sinkhole, Iocated in the foreground, found within a blind valiey in Bemap Meadow on Casper Mountain. ................. 14 11. Photograph of spring 117 which discharges groundwater from the Madison aquifer through a dissolution-enlarged longitudinal joint found in the hanging wall of the Hat Six fault near the base of Hat Six Canyon below the Harris Ranch Falls. ...................................... 16 12. Recent climatic data for the Casper Mountain area of Natrona County, Wyoming. ................................... 17 13. Fingerprint diagram showing the chemical composition of groundwater discharged from the Madison aquifer within the Casper Mountain groundwater compartment in the Casper Mountain area of Natrona County, Wyoming. .... 23 14. Trilinear diagram showing the chemical composition of groundwater discharged from the Madison aquifer within the Casper Mountain area of Natrona County, Wyoming. ................................. 24 V LIST OF FIGURES (cont.) Figure Page 15. Fingerprint diagram showing the chemical composition of groundwater discharged from minor aquifers in the Goose Egg and Chugwater confining layers within the Casper Mountain groundwater compartment in Natrona County, Wyoming. ......................................... 26 16. Trilinear diagram showing the chemical composition of groundwater discharged from minor aquifers in the Goose Egg and Chugwater confining layers in the Casper Mountain groundwater compartment in Natrona County, Wyoming. ............................................... 27 17. Fingerprint diagram showing the chemical composition of groundwater discharged from both the Madison and minor aquifers in the Goose Egg and Chugwater confining layers within the Casper Mountain groundwater compartment in Natrona County, Wyoming. ........................ 29 18. Trilinear diagram showing the chemical composition of groundwater discharged from the Madison aquifer through the overlying Goose Egg confining layer within the Casper Mountain groundwater compartment in Naeona County, Wyoming. ................................. 30 19. Water composition diagrams showing the chemical concentrations of major ions versus the concentration of total dissolved ions (TDI)for groundwater discharged from minor aquifers in the Goose Egg and Chugwater confining layers (open squares), directly from the Madison aquifer (solid squares), and from the Madison aquifer through the overlying Goose Egg confining layer (pluses) within the Casper Mountain
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