Hydrogeologic Studies and Groundwater Monitoring in Snake Valley and Adjacent Hydrographic Areas, West-Central Utah and East-Central Nevada (B-135)

This report presents results and analyses of hydrogeologic, geophysical, groundwater-monitoring, and hydrochemical studies and aquifer tests by the Utah Geological Survey (UGS) in Snake Valley, Tule Valley, and Fish Springs Flat, Millard and Juab Counties, west-central Utah. The primary objectives of this work were to (1) establish a new groundwater-monitoring network to improve data on baseline groundwater-level, spring-flow, and hydrochemical conditions, (2) measure the impacts of current and proposed future groundwater pumping on these baseline conditions, (3) improve understanding of geologic controls on groundwater flow in the study area, and (4) integrate the results to test previously proposed conceptual models of groundwater flow.
The study area is in the Basin and Range Province, characterized by predominantly north-south trending valleys and ranges. Faulted and folded Paleozoic carbonate rocks, Neoproterozoic and early Paleozoic siliciclastic rocks, and Mesozoic and Cenozoic intrusive rocks form the ranges and underlie the basin-fill deposits in all but the southern third of the study area, where Eocene to Miocene volcanic and shallow intrusive rocks predominate. The characteristic Basin-and-Range topography formed as late Cenozoic, steeply dipping normal faults uplifted the mountain ranges and created fault-bounded sedimentary basins in their hanging walls. Basin fill underlies the valleys and consists of predominantly coarse-grained alluvial-fan and fluvial deposits near the mountain fronts and predominantly fine-grained lacustrine and fluvial deposits in the valley centers.