Geology and ground-water resources of the upper Lodgepole Creek drainage basin, Wyoming, with a section on chemical quality of the water

Abstract

Location and extent of area___________________________________ Scope of investigation________________________________________ Previous investigations.________________________________________ Well-numbering system-_______________________________________ Geography. __ __________________________________________________ Topography and drainage______________________________________ Climate. ____ _____________________________ Population and agriculture.__________________________________ Geology______________________________________________________ 9 Pre-Tertiary rocks.___________________________________________ 9 Tertiary system._______________________________ 10 Chadron formation______________________________________ Brule formation___________________________________________ Arikaree formation________________________________________ 12 Ogallala formation_______________________________________ Unconsoli dated deposits of Quaternary age _______________________ 14 Ground water_______________________________________________ Shape and slope of the water table____________________________ Recharge. __ ________________________________________ Discharge-_______________________________________________ Depth to water_______________________________________________ Chemical quality of the water, by R. A. Krieger and E. R. Jochens______ Ground water________________________________________ Surface water_______________________________________________ Suitability of the water._______________________________________ Domestic use_____________________________________________ Irrigation use_____________________________________________ Industrial use____________:________________________________ Present and potential development of water resources._________________ References cited_______________________________________________ Index.

Geologic and hydrogeologic characteristics of the White River Formation, Lance Formation, and Fox Hills Sandstone, northern greater Denver Basin, southeastern Laramie County, Wyoming

“…Identified as Pleistocene in age, these deposits are composed primarily of poorly sorted, bedded to nonbedded, unconsolidated to poorly consolidated mixtures of silt, clay, sand, and gravel deposited by streams flowing eastward from uplifts to the west (Laramie Mountains and Front Range) (Rapp and others, 1953;Babcock and Bjorklund, 1956;Lowry and Crist, 1967;Kirkham and Rold, 1986;Ver Ploeg, 1995;Ver Ploeg and others, 1998). Quaternary-age deposits covering the alluvial fan/terrace at the study site are mapped as terrace deposits in older studies (Rapp and others, 1953;Babcock and Bjorklund, 1956;Bjorklund, 1959;Lowry and Crist, 1967;Crist and Borchert, 1972) and as older alluvial fan deposits in recent studies (Kirkham and Rold, 1986;Ver Ploeg, 1995;Hallberg and Case, 1998;Ver Ploeg and others, 1998). The most recent mapping is adopted herein, and the deposits are identified as Quaternary older alluvial fan deposits (identified as Qof in figs.…”

“…The Ogallala Formation is a complex sequence of superposed cuts and fills composed mostly of stream-laid (fluvial) sediments with minor amounts of volcanic ash (Diffendal, 1984;Swinehart and others, 1985;Swinehart and Diffendal, 1997). This complex sequence of cuts and fills is composed of a heterogeneous mixture of unconsolidated or poorly to well-cemented gravel, sand, silt, and clay (when consolidated/ cemented, these lithologies are equivalent to conglomerate, sandstone, siltstone, and mudstone, respectively) with minor amounts of volcanic ash (Foley, 1942;Morgan, 1946;Minick, 1951;Bjorklund, 1959;Moore, 1959Moore, , 1963Denson and Bergendahl, 1961;Lowry and Crist, 1967;Stanley, 1971Stanley, , 1976Cassiliano, 1980;Cooley andCrist, 1981, 1994;Diffendal, 1984;Swinehart and others, 1985;Swinehart and Diffendal, 1997). In general, the formation is coarser grained near the Laramie Mountains and becomes finer grained to the east (Minick, 1951;Moore, 1959Moore, , 1963Stanley, 1976;Cassiliano, 1980;Cooley and Crist, 1981).…”

“…The Arikaree Formation is composed primarily of semiconsolidated to consolidated volcaniclastic, calcareous, very fine-to fine-grained sandstone or silty sandstone; interbedded beds of siltstone, tabular limestone, carbonate mudrocks, diatomite, and volcanic ash/tuff are much less common (Minick, 1951;Babcock and Bjorklund, 1956;Bjorklund, 1959;Moore, 1959;Denson and Bergendahl, 1961;McGrew, 1963;Lowry and Crist, 1967;Sato and Denson, 1967;Denson and Chisholm, 1971;Bart, 1974Bart, , 1975Stanley, 1976;Cassiliano, 1980;Cooley andCrist, 1981, 1994;Hunt, 1985Hunt, , 1990Hunt, , 2002Swinehart and others, 1985). The Arikaree Formation in the Cheyenne Basin consists mainly of air-fall deposits of pyroclastic material derived from distant volcanism; however, eolian, alluvial, fluvial, and lacustrine environments are recorded as well.…”

“…The White River Formation or Group in southeastern Wyoming and adjacent western Nebraska and northeastern Colorado consists primarily of semiconsolidated to consolidated, argillaceous (clayey) volcaniclastic mudrocks, including siltstone, mudstone, and claystone (and various combinations of these three mudrock types) (Darton, 1899(Darton, , 1903(Darton, , 1905Darton and others, 1910;Foley, 1942;Morgan, 1946;Gray, 1947;Brady, 1949;Minick, 1951;McGrew, 1953McGrew, , 1963Rapp and others, 1953;Babcock and Bjorklund, 1956;Bjorklund, 1959;Moore, 1959Moore, , 1963Denson and Bergendahl, 1961;Lowry and Crist, 1967;Sato and Denson, 1967;Denson and Chisholm, 1971;Crist and Borchert, 1972;Stanley, 1976;Singler and Picard, 1979a, b;Stanley and Benson, 1979;Cassiliano, 1980;Cooley andCrist, 1981, 1994;Swinehart and others, 1985;Evanoff, 1990bEvanoff, , 1993Swinehart and Diffendal, 1997;Bartos and others, 2014). Throughout much of the unit, diagenesis has devitrified the ash-rich volcaniclastic sediments, producing clays consisting substantially of montmorillonite and kaolinite (Denson and Bergendahl, 1961;Sato and Denson, 1967;Denson and Chisholm, 1971;Stanley, 1976;Stanley and Benson, 1979;…”

“…In the Pine Bluffs lowland area, several types of surficial Quaternary unconsolidated deposits contain unconfined aquifers where sufficiently water saturated and permeable, including alluvium and floodplain deposits (alluvial aquifers), terrace deposits (terrace-deposit aquifers), and older alluvial fan deposits (fan aquifers; Rapp and others, 1953;Bjorklund, 1959;Lowry and Crist, 1967;Crist and Borchert, 1972;Kirkham and Rold, 1986). Few wells are completed exclusively in most of the Quaternary unconsolidated-deposit aquifers in the Pine Bluffs lowland area because the geographic extent of most deposits is restricted to localized areas within or adjacent to the primary streams, and saturated thicknesses typically are small and (or) vary substantially in response to highly variable groundwater recharge.…”