Ground-Water Hydrology of the Sevier Desert Utah GEOLOGICAL SURVEY WATER-SUPPLY PAPER 1854 Prepared in cooperation with the Utah State Engineer round-Water Hydrology of the Sevier Desert Utah By R. W. MOWER and R. D. FELTIS GEOLOGICAL SURVEY WATER-SUPPLY PAFER 1854 Prepared in cooperation with the Utah State Engineer UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE, WASHINGTON : 1968 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR STEWART L. UDALL, Secretary GEOLOGICAL SURVEY William T. Pecora, Director Library of Congress catalog-card No. GS 68-190 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Washington, D.C. 20402 CONTENTS Page Abstract. ________________________________________________________ 1 Introduction. _____________________________________________________ 2 Purpose and scope of the investigation..________________________ 2 Location and extent of the area-________________________________ 3 Previous investigations.________________________________________ 3 Acknowledgments. _____________________________________________ 3 Methods and procedures used in the investigation.________________ 5 Well-numbering system._______________________________________ 7 Geography.______________________________________________________ 8 Physiography and drainage._____________________________________ 8 Climate._____________________________________________________ 10 Native vegetation.____________________________________________ 12 Population, agriculture, and industry.___________________________ 14 Geology._________________________________________________________ 14 Geologic formations and their water-bearing properties.-.-______ 14 The principal water-bearing sediments ___________________________ 14 Structure_____________________________________________________ 20 Water resources.____---__----_---______-__________________________ 20 Precipitation. _________________________________________________ 21 Surface water.________________________________________________ 21 Flow of the Sevier River___________________________________ 21 Flow of other streams._____________________________________ 22 Ground water_________________________________________________ 23 Occurrence _______________________________________________ 23 Recharge.-----.-.------________________________________ 23 Direct penetration of precipitation.______________________ 24 Seepage from streams and canals._______________________ 25 Unconsumed irrigation water.__________________________ 27 Inflow from consolidated rocks to the basin fill.___________ 28 Underflow from other basins.___________________________ 28 Movement of ground water.________________________________ 28 Zonation within the artesian area..__________-____-___--__-_- 29 Water-level fluctuations.____-_---_______-_--________--_---- 30 Ground-water storage..____________________________________ 35 Chemical quality of the water.______________________________ 37 General statement.-_-_____-_____-_-__---___-_-_--_---- 37 Quality in relation to use.-_____---____-_-____-__-----_- 40 Irrigation..._ ____________-___--____-_______------_ 40 Domestic use.____________________________________ 45 Stock water_______________________________________ 48 in IV CONTENTS Water resources Continued Ground water Continued Page Discharge.__________________________________________ 48 Subsurface outflow.-._____________________________ 49 Flowing wells____________________________________ 49 Pumped wells.___________________________________ 49 Irrigation wells_______________________________ 50 Domestic, stock, municipal, and industrial supply. 51 Evapotranspiration by phreatophytes._______________ 52 Methods used in mapping-____-_____-_---_-___ 53 Species._____________________________________ 54 Bare ground and water surfaces.__-_-__-_______ 57 Quantitative determination of evapotranspiration. 57 Ability of aquifers to yield water.______________________ 59 Aquifer tests to determine hydraulic coefficients__--_- 61 Performance of wells______________________________ 62 Interference between wells_____________________________ 65 Summary_ _________________________________________________ 69 References cited._-------__----_______-_-_-___-_-____---__.___ 71 Index_______________________________________________________ 73 ILLUSTRATIONS [Plates 1-7 are in pocket] PLATE 1. Map showing location of selected wells and hydrogeochemical data. 2. Generalized geologic map of the Sevier Desert and adjacent moun­ tains. 3. Geologic section showing generalized stratigraphy and lithology and selected parts of an electrical log from an oil test. 4-7. Maps showing: 4. Average annual precipitation (1931-60) and recharge areas. 5. Areas of artesian flow during 1935 and March 1964 and water-level contours in the upper artesian and unconfined aquifers in March 1964. 6. Total dissolved solids in water from wells finished in the artesian aquifers, springs, and streams. 7. Areas of phreatophyte growth in 1963. Page FIGURE 1. Index maps showing location of area of investigation.----- 4 2. Diagram showing system of numbering wells______________ 3. Graph showing cumulative departure from average precipi­ tation at Deseret, 1900-64_________---------_--------- 12 4. Hydrographs showing relation of water levels in six selected wells to cumulative departure from the 1931-60 normal annual precipitation at Deseret_______________-____--_- 32 5. Map showing change of ground-water levels ir the upper artesian aquifer, March to August 1964________________ 33 6. Map showing change of ground-water levels iir the upper artesian aquifer, March 1963 to March 1964____________ 34 7. Graph showing chemical character of representative ground waters.____----_________________-__--------_-_--_-- 38 CONTENTS V FIGURE 8. Graph showing relation of specific conductance to dissolved Page solids in ground water______________________________ 42 9. Diagram of analysis of irrigation water.__________________ 43 10. Map showing residual sodium carbonate of ground waters _ 46 11. Graph showing number of pumped irrigation wells s,nd aggregate withdrawal for all purposes, 1950-64__________ 50 12. Map showing transmissibility of the lower and upper artesian aquifers in the Deseret-Leamington area______________ 63 13. Graph showing re'ation of specific capacity and coefficient of transmissibility-_______-___------___--______-_---_ 64 14. Theoretical time- and distance-drawdown graph for the up^er artesian aquifer in the Lynndyl area___________________ 66 15. Theoretical time- and distance-drawdown graph for the upper or lower artesian aquifers.______________________ 67 TABLES Page TABLE 1. Climatological data for weather stations in or near the Sevier Desert.______________________________________ 11 2. Generalized stratigraphy and water-bearing properties of geologic units in the Sevier Desert.____________________ 16 3. Discharge, in acre-feet, of the Sevier River and canal diver­ sions near the east edge of the Sevier Desert, 1943-64____ 22 4. Seepage run on the Sevier River, Nov. 28, 1962___________ 26 5. Chemical analyses of water from 36 selected wells in the Sevier Desert.______________________________________ 40 6. Withdrawal of ground water from wells, in acre-feet, 1960- 64_________________________________________________ 51 7. Areas occupied by phreatophytes and bare ground ?.nd evapotranspiration in a part of the Sevier Desert, 1963__ 55 8. Hydraulic coefficients of artesian aquifers in the Sevier Desert.----.-.--____-----------------_-_-_--------_ 61 9. Approximate water-level declines for hypothetical problem __ 68 GROUND-WATER HYDROLOGY OF THE SEVIER DESERT, UTAH By R. W. MOWER and R. D. FELTIS ABSTRACT The Sevier Desert, as used in this report, comprises the main part of the 'Sevier Desert, the Tintic Valley, and the southeastern part of the Old River Bed. It covers an area of about 3,000 square miles and occupies a large basin in the eastern part of the Basin and Range physiographic province. Large alluvial fans extend from the mountain fronts into the basin where they intern"nger with eolian and lacustrine deposits and with fiuviatil^ deposits of the Sevier River. These unconsolidated deposits form a multiaquifer artesian system that is more than 1,000 feet thick and that extends from near the area of main recharge along the east side of the basin to Sevier Lake. Most of the recharge to the ground-water reservoir results from water entering alluvial fans as percolation from streams, irrigation ditches, and irrigated fields. Another important source may be water in the limestone, quartzite, and other consolidated rocks in the mountains that border the basin. Leakage from the Central Utah Canal is a major source of recharge to the water-table aquifer. Flowing wells are common in the central lowland part of the Sevier Desert, but as a result of below-normal precipitation and an increase in withdrawals from wells during 1950-64, the area of flowing wells has decreased. The quantity of ground water being wasted from flowing wells is not more than a fev7 hundred acre-feet a year. The amount of water discharged by withdrawal from wells has increased nearly 15 times since 1950 (from 2,000 acre-feet in 1950 to 30,000 acre-feet in 1964). As a result of this increasing withdrawal, the water levels in observation wells have declined 4 feet in areas of small withdrawals to more than 7 feet near centers of pumping for public supplies and irrigation. An estimated 135,000-175,000 acre-feet of ground water is consumed by evapo- transpiration each year in the 440,000 acres of desert that mainl" support