Ground-Water Conditions and Geologic Reconnaissance of the Upper Sevier River Basin, Utah GEOLOGICAL SURVEY WATER-SUPPLY PAPER 1836 Prepared in cooperation with the Utah State Engineer Ground-Water Conditions . and Geologic Reconnaissance of the Upper Sevier River Basin, Utah By C. H. CARPENTER, G. B. ROBINSON, JR., and L. J. BJORKLUND GEOLOGICAL SURVEY WATER-SUPPLY PAPER 1836 Prepared in cooperation with the Utah State Engineer UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE, WASHINGTON : 1967 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR STEWART L. UDALL, Secretary GEOLOGICAL SURVEY William T. Pecora, Director Library of Congress catalog-card No. OS 67-168 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 work_________________________________________ 3 Personnel and methodsjof investigation_________________________ 5 Acknowledgments. ____________________________________________ 6 Well and spring numbering system_____________________________ 6 Geography_________________________________________________ 7 Physiography. _______________________________.________ 7 Climate._________________________________________________ 9 Vegetation___________________________________________ 10 Population, agriculture, and industry___________________________ 11 Geology. _______________________________________________ 11 Geologic formations and their water-bearing characteristics-______ 12 Mesozoic formations_____________________________________ 12 Cretaceous System_______________________________________ 12 Upper Cretaceous Series______________________________ 12 Cretaceous formations__________________________ 12 Tertiary System_________________________________________ 17 Eocene and Miocene(?) Series____-_-__________________ 17 Wasatch and Brian Head Formations._______________ 17 Miocene(?) and Pliocene(?) Series__________-_--____---_- 20 Volcanic rocks________________________________ 20 Intrusive rocks_________-_-__-__-_____-_-__-__-___- 21 Tertiary or Quaternary Systems_________________________ 21 Upper Pliocene or lower Pleistocene deposits._____________ 21 Sevier River Formation___.___._________ ________ 21 Quaternary System___________________________-_-_____-____ 22 Pleistocene and Recent Serie8____-_________________-____ 22 Basalt.____________________________ 22 Igneous rubble____________________________________ 23 Landslide deposits__________________-_________-__-_ 24 Alluvium. ___ ________________________________ _ 24 Old and young alluvium______________________ 25 Flood-plain deposits____________-_--____-_-__-- 26 Structure_____________________________________________________ 26 Regional dip and folds____-_______________-___-_____-_-____ 26 Faults._________--____-______.___________________ 27 Valley basins____________________________________________ 28 Panguitch Valley basin_________________________________ 28 Circle Valley basin___________________________________ 28 in IV CONTENTS Geology C ontinued Structure Continued Valley basins Continued Page East Fork Valley basin____-_---___-_-_-_-----_-___-_-__ 29 Emery Valley subbasm________-_-_-_____-_-_-_-___- 29 Johns Valley subbasin____--__--___-_-____--_-_-_-_- 29 Antimony subbasin_______-__-____-_____-__________ 30 Grass Valley basin_____________________________________ 30 Koosharem subbasin_____--_-___---_-_-_-_-___-_-__ 30 Angle subbasin___________-_______-_--_____________ 30 Water resources ____________________________________________ _ _____ 31 History of water-resources development-________________________ 31 Surface water.________________________________________________ 31 The Sevier River and its tributaries.__________-___-_-_-_-_-__ 32 Reservoirs,_______________________________________________ 37 Canals and ditches_______________________________________ 37 Gains and losses in streamflow._____________________________ 40 Gro und water _________________________________________________ 42 Source, occurrence, and movement_________________________ 42 Recharge-________________________________________________ 43 Aquifer characteristics_____________________________________ 43 Estimate of recoverable ground water in storage.______________ 44 Fluctuations of water leveL____-_______-_-_-___-_-_____-__ 45 Short-term fluctuations,________________________________ 45 Annual fluctuations-___________________________________ 46 Long-term fluctuations.________________________________ 47 Development and discharge______^_________________________ 47 WeUs_____-_____-__________________-____---_-___-_-_- 48 Springs. _ ___________________________________________ 51 Drains ___________________________-__-_--_--__---__-__ 51 E vapotranspiration_ ___________________________________ 52 Evaporation from surface-water reservoirs.___________ 53 Direct evaporation of ground water__________________ 53 Transpiration,_ ___________________________________ 54 Subsurface outflow,____________________________________ 54 Relation between ground water and streamflow._______________ 55 Inflow-outflow analyses of the ground-water basins_____ _____ 57 Panguitch Valley basin_________________________________ 59 Circle Valley basin___________________________________ 59 East Fork Valley basin_____________________________ 60 Emery Valley subbasin____________________________ 60 Johns Valley subbasiii_____-_-_-_-________--_--__-_- 61 Antimony subbasin________-______-_-_-_-____-_--_- 62 Grass Valley basin____-___-_________________------__-_- 62 Koosharem subbasin_______________________________ 62 Angle subbasin_---_-_-_--__-------------_-_------- 64 Ground-water conditions in the basins._____________________ 64 Panguitch Valley basin____-_-_____-__--_--__-__-------- 64 Circle Valley basin______________________--__-_-__----_- 67 East Fork Valley basin_____________________________ 69 Emery Valley subbasm____-_-__________--__---__-_- 69 Johns Valley subbasin_________-_____-_-_---__-____- 71 Antimony subbasin________________________________ 72 CONTENTS V Water resources Continued Ground water Continued Ground-water conditions in the basins Continued Page Grass Valley basin___________________________________ 74 Koosharem subbasiii_______________________________ 74 Angle subbasin____________________________________ 76 Effects of pumping additional ground water in the upper Sevier River basin.____________________________________________ 77 Quality of water_____________________________________________ 79 Dissolved minerals._______________________________________ 79 Quality in relation to use___________________________________ 79 Irrigation__ _________________________________________ 79 Domestic and public supply___________________________ 81 Livestock__ _________________________________________ 83 Industry___________________________________________ 83 Summary_ _ _ ____________________________________________________ 84 Selected references.________________________________________________ 86 Index__________________________________________________________ 89 ILLUSTRATIONS [Plates are in pocket] PLATE 1. Reconnaissance geologic map and sections of the upper Sevier River basin, Utah. 2. Map showing hydrologic data and phreatophyte areas in the upper Sevier River basin. 3. Graphs of water levels in selected wells and selected anal­ yses of ground and surface water in the upper Sevier River basin. Page FIGURE 1. Location map_________________________________ 4 2. Well and spring numbering system.___________________ 7 3. Hydrographs of selected wells for the period 1938-63 and cumulative departure from the 1931-60 normal annual precipitation at Panguitch___._____.________________ 10 4. Hydrographs of Sevier River flow________-_-_---__--__ 33 5. Graph showing the relation of water level in well (C-32-5) 26aca-l and base flow of Sevier River.______________ 56 6. Graphs showing the relation between dissolved solids and specific conductance of selected surface- and ground- water samples___________________________________ 80 VI CONTENTS TABLES Page TABLE 1. Generalized geologic section in the upper Sevier River basin. ______________-__-__-__---______-___ 13 2. Data for the principal perennial tributaries of the Sevier River, East Fork Sevier River, and Otter Creek___ __ 34 3. Data for the principal surface-water reservoirs in the upper Sevier River basin________-_-_--_-_-___---__-_-_--_ 37 4. Principal canals and ditches that divert water for irriga­ tion from the Sevier River and its tributaries _________ 38 5. Inflow, outflow, and gains of the Sevier River between Hatch and Kingston, in acre-feet, for the water years 1956-62._________________...______.--- 41 6. Range in measured and estimated coefficients of storage and transmissibility in the upper Sevier River basin. _ _ 44 7. Estimated amount of recoverable ground water in storage in the sand and gravel of the upper 200 feet of saturated valley fill in the upper Sevier River basin___________ 45 8. Range and average of specific capacities of wells in the upper Sevier River basin___________________________ 49 9. Use of water, number of wells, and estimated discharge from wells in 1962 in four basins of the upper Sevier River system_________________-_-__-_____-_____-__ 50 10. Estimated discharge and use of water in 1962 from major springs in the upper Sevier River basin_____________