Sandra J. Owen-Joyce and C. K. Bell
Abstract Introduction Purpose of the investigation and scope of the report Location of the area Physiography and climate Methods of investigation Previous investigations Acknowledgment Geologic setting Description of the water-bearing rock units Structure Ground-water hydrology Regional aquifer Occurrence of ground water Recharge, movement, and discharge of ground water Water-yielding characteristics of the regional aquifer Transmissivity Well yields Chemical quality of ground water Other aquifers Volcanic rocks Alluvium Granitic rocks Kaibab Limestone and Toroweap Formation Surface-water hydrology Base flow and ground-water seepage Verde River Sycamore Creek Bitter Creek Oak Creek Beaver Creek West Clear Creek. Fossil Creek Availability of streamflow Flow duration Low-flow frequency Quality of surface water Chemical quality Bacteriological quality Suspended-sediment concentrations Water budget Outflow Inflow Summary and consideration of future data requirements References cited Hydrologic data
ILLUSTRATIONS Plates 1-3. Maps showing: Plate 1 Generalized geology in the upper Verde River area. Plate 2 Location of selected wells and springs and approximate altitude of the water level in wells that tap the regional aquifer in the upper Verde River area, 1980. Plate 3 Surface-water and ground-water quality and seepage relations in the upper Verde River area, 1976-80. NOTE: Not availableFigures Figure 1 Map showing area of report and Arizona's water provinces Figure 2 Sketch showing well-numbering system in Arizona Figure 3 Map showing arsenic concentrations in water from selected wells in the Verde Formation
4-11. Graphs showing: Figure 4 Distribution of base flow for the Verde River Figure 5 Distribution of base flow for tributaries of the Verde River Figure 6 Flow-duration curves of daily discharges for selected gaging stations Figure 7 Low-flow frequency curves for Verde River near Camp Verde, 1935-45 Figure 8 Dissolved-solids concentrations along the Verde River Figure 9 Relation of dissolved-solids concentrations to specific conductance at Verde River near Clarkdale and Verde River near Camp Verde, 1976-79 water years Figure 10 Relation of major constituents to specific conductance in Verde River near Camp Verde, 1976-79 water years Figure 11 Sodium and salinity hazards of irrigation water
TABLES Table 1 Water-yielding characteristics for selected wells penetrating the regional aquifer in the upper Verde River area Table 2 Well-yield data for rock units in the regional aquifer Table 3 Summary of quality of water in rock units in the regional aquifer Table 4 Summary of quality of water in the Verde Formation Table 5 Arsenic concentrations in selected drill cuttings and outcrop samples from the Verde Formation Table 6 Streamflow characteristics at selected sites Table 7 Surface-water chemical-quality standards for designated uses and number of samples exceeding the limits Table 8 Suspended-sediment data from selected streamflow sites Table 9 Estimated average inflow to and outflow from the regional aquifer including surface-water inflow in acre-feet per year for the upper Verde River area Table 10 Records of selected wells in the upper Verde River area. NOTE: Not available Table 11 Records of selected springs in the upper Verde River area. NOTE: Not available Table 12 Measurements of water level in selected wells in the upper Verde River area. NOTE: Not available Table 13 Chemical analyses of water from selected wells and springs in the upper Verde River area. NOTE: Not available Table 14 Chemical analyses of water from selected streamflow sites in the upper Verde River area. NOTE: Not available Table 15 Modified drillers' logs of selected wells in the upper Verde River area. NOTE: Not available
GLOSSARY Terms used in the report are defined below. The definitions were adapted from Baldwin and McGuinness (1963), Langbein and lseri (1960), Lohman and others (1972), and U.S. Water Resources Council (1980). Aquifer - A geologic formation, group of formations, or part of a formation that contains sufficient saturated permeable material to yield significant quantities of water to wells and springs. Artesian aquifer - See confined aquifer. Base flow - Ground water that has been discharged into a stream channel as spring or seepage water. Confined aquifer - An aquifer that lies between layers of less permeable rock and in which ground water is confined under pressure significantly greater than atmospheric. Static water levels in wells that penetrate a confined aquifer are higher than the top of the aquifer. Synonym: artesian aquifer. See also unconfined aquifer. Consumptive use - The quantity of water absorbed by crops and transpired or used directly in the building of plant tissue together with that evaporated from the cropped area. Contaminant - Any physical, chemical, biological, or radiological substance or matter in water. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency drinking-water regulations express limits as "maximum contaminant levels." Direct runoff - Water that enters stream channels promptly after rainfall or snowmelt. Discharge of ground water - The processes by which water leaves an aquifer. Evapotranspiration - Water withdrawn from a land area by evaporation from water surfaces and moist soil and by plant transpiration. Flow line - The path that a particle of water follows in its movement through saturated, permeable rocks. Ground-water divide - A ridge in the water table or other potentiometric surface from which ground water moves away in both directions. Head - The height above a standard datum of the surface of a column of water that can be supported by the static pressure at a given point in an aquifer. In this report, datum used is National Geodetic Vertical Datum of 1929. See patentiometric surface. Hydraulic conductivity - The volume of water that will move in unit time under a unit hydraulic gradient through a unit area measured at right angles to the direction of flow. Hydraulic conductivity describes the ability of the aquifer material to transmit water and may have substantially different values for horizontal and vertical flow through the same material. Hydraulic gradient - The change in head per unit of distance in a given direction. Intermittent stream - One which flows only at certain times of the year when it receives water from springs or from some surface source, such as melting snow in mountainous areas. Synonym: seasonal. National Geodetic Vertical Datum of 1929 (NGVD of 1929) - A geodetic datum derived from a general adjustment of the first-order level nets of both the United States and Canada, formerly called mean sea level. Potentiometric surface - An imaginary surface representing the static head of ground water, of which the water table is one type. The potentiometric surface for a confined aquifer is the level at which water would stand in wells producing from that aquifer. Perched ground water - Unconfined ground water separated from an underlying body of ground water by an unsaturated zone and held up by a bed of rock with a low permeability. Perennial stream - One which flows continuously- Recharge - The processes of addition of water to the zone of saturated rock. Specific capacity - The rate of discharge of water from the weil divided by the drawdown of the water level within the well- Storage - Water naturally detained in an aquifer, artificial impoundment of water in an aquifer, or the water so impounded. Transmissivity - The rate at which water is transmitted through a unit width of an aquifer under a unit hydraulic gradient. Transmissivity describes the ability of the entire thickness of an aquifer to transmit water and is the product of hydraulic conductivity and saturated thickness. Unconfined aquifer - An aquifer in which only part of the permeable rock is saturated. Synonym: water-table aquifer. See also confined aquifer. Water budget - An accounting of the inflow to, outflow from, and storage changes in an aquifer. Water table - The surface in an unconfined aquifer below which the rocks are saturated with water. The water table is the level at which water stands in wells that penetrate the uppermost part of an unconfined aquifer. See potentiometric surface. Water-table aquifer - See unconfined aquifer.
Conversion Factors For readers who prefer to use metric units rather than inch-pound units, the conversion factors for the terms used in this report are listed below: Multiply inch-pound unit By To obtain metric unit inch (in.) 25.4 millimeter (mm) foot (ft) 0.3048 meter mile (mi) 1.609 kilometer (km) acre 0.4047 hectare (ha) square mile (Mi2) 2.590 square kilometer (kM2) cubic foot per second 0.02832 cubic meter per second acre-foot (acre-ft) 0.001233 cubic hectometer (hm3) acre-foot per acre 0.3047 cubic meter per square foot squared per day 0.0929 meter squared per day gallon per minute 0.06309 liter per second gallon per minute per 0.207 liter per second per ton per day 0.9072 megagram per day degree Fahrenheit (deg. F) (deg. F-32)/1.8 degree Celsius (deg. C)
