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<br />J <br />J <br />J <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br /> <br />3739 <br /> <br />USGS - Professional Paper 441 <br /> <br />The 1914-57 average annual dissolved solids discharge for <br />the Yampa River Basin was 405,000 tons. Of this total, 343,000 <br />tons per year were from natural sources. Although not <br />quantified, a significant natural source of salt loading by <br />groundwater was identified in the Yampa River headwaters above <br />Oak Creek. Permeable tertiary volcanics in this area provide an <br />opportunity for recharge to ground water reservoirs in contact <br />with underlying Mancos Shale formations. Thermal springs, <br />primarily in the vicinity of the town of Steamboat Springs, <br />accounted for 34,000 tons of the total annual salt load <br />attributed to natural sources. <br /> <br />Salt budgets were developed for three areas within the basin <br />in order to compute the amount of dissolved solids contributed to <br />stream systems by the activities of man. Twelve thousand acres <br />of irrigated agriculture between Morrison Creek and Steamboat <br />Springs yielded 1,800 tons per year; eight thousand acres in the <br />Elk River tributary yielded 4,700 tons per year; and 4,000 acres <br />on the Little Snake above Dixon yielded 5,400 tons per year. On <br />a tons per square mile basis, the Little Snake River tributary <br />lands yielded approximately twice as much dissolved solids as did <br />the remaining Yampa Basin lands. The total salt load in the <br />Yampa River Basin that was attributed to the irrigation of 73,700 <br />acres of land was 61,000 tons per year. Approximately 1,400 tons <br />per year were attributed to municipal and industrial use of water <br />and constitutes the remainder of the man caused salt load in the <br />basin. <br /> <br />-7- <br />