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<br />. <br /> <br />large quantities of water (Welder and McGreevy, 1966). Zimmerman <br />(1978) reports yields as high as 300 gpm are possible from the Fort <br />Union Formation. <br /> <br />N <br />~ <br />CO <br />OJ <br /> <br />Yfu~A AND w~ITE RIVER BASINS (WAU 140500) <br /> <br />Ground water information on the Yampa and White River basins <br />(Figs. D.3 and 0.4) is spotty. Outside of the intensely studied <br />areas of the Piceance Creek Basin and Yampa coal field, little detail <br />1s known about the gTound water resources in these two river basins. <br /> <br />The northern section of the Yampa and w~ite River WAD is geologi- <br />cally termed the Sierra Madre uplift. The region encompasses about <br />1,500 square miles south of the Rawlins uplift and west of the <br />Washakie Basin. Most ground water is unconfined here. The Sierra <br />Madre Mountains provide a relatively favorable zone of recharge, <br />but ground water discharge is also high because, in addition to <br />evaporation and well withdrawals, more ground water is lost to <br />transpiration and outflow from the region than in the Washakie and <br />Great Divide basins (Welder and ~cGreevy; 1966). <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />The major aquifers are the Browns Park and North Parke?) forma- <br />tions (sandstone), intermingled along the western margins of the <br />Sierra Madre Hountains) aud the Mesaverde. Formation (sands.tone! <br />shale), which is found in the valleys of Savery and Battle creeks. <br />In the Browns' Park and North Parke?) formations, well depths, water <br />quality, and water yields are favorable--about 200 feet, 200 ppm, <br />and 5 to 400 gpm respectively (Welder and ~\cGreev7, 1966). <br /> <br />Ground water resources of the Mesaverde For~tion are largely <br />unknown. One well and a spring drilled into this formation have <br />respective yields of about 5 and 40 gpm. Their respective TDS levels <br />are 5,300 and 1,170 ppm (Welder and McGree\7, 1966). Zimmerman (1978) <br />states that newer wells have found yields up to 500 gpm with TDS <br />levels less than 700 mg/liter, but trace metals could cause probleos. <br /> <br />The only detailed knowledge of the Yampa River Basin ground <br />water resources covers the area between Craig and Steamboat Springs, <br />Colorado, and the portion passing through Dinosaur National Monument <br />(Brogden and Giles, 1977; Sumsion, 1971). The major area of ground <br />water recharge between Craig and Steamboat Springs is along the <br />Williams Fork Mountains and Park Range. Outflow is generally west <br />and northwest into the Yampa River Basin. <br /> <br />Bedrock aquifers such as the Browns Park, Fort Unien, Wasatch, <br />Williams Fork, lIes, and Lane formations and the Lewis and Xancos <br />shales yield small amounts of water to wells. The typical yield <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />0-9 <br />