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rado River near Cisco, Utah) indicated a decrease in <br />dissolved-solids load associated with initiation of the Alva <br />B. Adams Tunnel/Lake Granby exports, and annual mono- <br />tonic trends indicated a recent decrease in median annual <br />flow-adjusted dissolved-solids concentration, which may be <br />related to the trends in the Eagle and Gunnison Rivers. <br />Green Region <br />Most of the flow of the Green River in the Green region <br />originates on the western slope of the Rocky Mountains in <br />Colorado and Wyoming. The drainage area of the Green <br />region is about 45,000 mil and occupies parts of Colorado, <br />Wyoming, and Utah (pl. 1). The Green region contains about <br />41 percent of the total drainage area of the Upper Colorado <br />River Basin and contributes 39 percent of the streamflow and <br />34 percent of the dissolved-solids load. Compared to the <br />streamflow at Lees Ferry, Ariz., water of the Green region <br />has relatively high concentrations of dissolved magnesium <br />and bicarbonate and low concentrations of dissolved chloride, <br />resulting from the predominance of Tertiary rocks. The major <br />tributaries in the Green region are the New Fork, Big Sandy, <br />Yampa, Duchesne, White, Price, and San Rafael Rivers, and <br />the Blacks Fork and Henrys Fork. <br />Data for 36 sites were evaluated in the Green region <br />(pl. 1). Long-term mean annual runoff, streamflow, <br />dissolved-solids concentrations and loads, and major- <br />constituent loads were determined at each of these sites <br />(table 7). The chemical composition of streamflow at selected <br />sites in the Green region is shown in figure 14. Selected <br />annual monotonic-trend-analysis results for the Green region <br />are listed in table 8. For purposes of discussion, the Green <br />region was divided into four subregions: the upper Green, <br />the middle Green, the White, and the lower Green (pl. 1). <br />Upper Green Subregion <br />The upper Green subregion includes all of the drainage <br />area upstream from the streamflow-gaging station on the <br />Green River near Greendale, Utah, exclusive of the Great <br />Divide basin. The major drainages in the upper Green <br />subregion include the New Fork and Big Sandy Rivers, and <br />Blacks Fork, Hams Fork, and Henrys Fork and tributaries. <br />About 200,000 acres is irrigated upstream from La Barge, <br />Wyo., including large tracts along the Green River in the <br />vicinity of Pinedale, Wyo., along the New Fork River <br />(62,000 acres), and in the Piney Creek basin. A number of <br />small reservoirs store water in the New Fork River basin. <br />The Big Sandy River begins in the southern Wind River <br />Range, in central Wyoming, but most of its drainage basin <br />is very arid. The Eden Valley Project to supply irrigation <br />water was begun in 1950 and completed in 1960. Some <br />20,000 acres is irrigated in the basin, and water is stored <br />in Big Sandy and Eden Valley Reservoirs. The average grow- <br />ing season lasts only 90 days. The agricultural area is <br />underlain by the Laney Member of the Green River Forma- <br />tion. Shallow aquifers annually discharge an estimated <br />116,000 tons of dissolved solids from saline seeps into the <br />Big Sandy River (U.S. Department of the Interior, 1985). <br />About 76,000 acres is irrigated in the Blacks Fork <br />basin. The basin contains numerous reservoirs. The largest <br />is Viva Naughton Reservoir on Hams Fork, with a capacity <br />of about 42,000 acre-ft. Most of the irrigated land is on the <br />Blacks Fork and Smiths Fork, upstream from site 31. About <br />9,000 acres is irrigated in the Henrys Fork basin, which con- <br />tains numerous small lakes and reservoirs. In the Blacks Fork <br />and Henrys Fork basins, irrigation is on alluvium underlain <br />by the Tertiary Bridger Formation. <br />Fontenelle Reservoir, on the Green River between the <br />towns of La Barge and Fontenelle, Wyo., was built to pro- <br />vide storage for irrigation water; however, the purpose of <br />the reservoir was changed to supply water for the anticipated <br />energy development in the area. The reservoir has inundated <br />outcrops of the Laney Member and the Wilkins Peak Member <br />of the Green River Formation. In 1960, substantial deposits <br />of trona (sodium carbonate and sodium bicarbonate) were <br />found in the area later inundated by the reservoir. In 1983, <br />the reservoir was drained because of concern caused by <br />observations of unstable conditions, including seepage around <br />the left abutment caused by cavernous dissolution. <br />Flaming Gorge Reservoir was completed in 1964 and <br />has a capacity of 3.8 million acre-ft. It is the second largest <br />reservoir in the Upper Colorado River Basin and is located <br />on the Green River between Green River, Wyo., and Green- <br />dale, Utah. Filling began in November 1962, and very little <br />water was released from the reservoir during the 1963 water <br />year. The reservoir was two-thirds full by the end of 1965, <br />but it did not reach 90 percent of capacity until 1972. Flam- <br />ing Gorge Reservoir also has inundated outcrops of the Laney <br />Member of the Green River Formation. A chemocline <br />developed during the first few years of operation, produc- <br />ing a stable saline layer in the bottom of the reservoir. The <br />chemocline began to diminish following the conversion to <br />a selective withdrawal operation in 1978 (Miller and others, <br />1983). During the high-flow year of 1983, the low gates were <br />opened, and the saline water was flushed out of the reservoir. <br />Green River at Warren Bridge, near Daniel, Wyo. (site 22) <br />The streamflow hydrograph for site 22 (table 3, pl. 1) <br />shows a well-defined snowmelt-runoff peak during June and <br />a period of steady base flow (fig. 15A). The predominant <br />ions are calcium and bicarbonate during the snowmelt-runoff <br />season and calcium and sulfate during the base-flow season. <br />Mean annual runoff averages 15.3 in., and the mean annual <br />flow-weighted dissolved-solids concentration is 147 mg/L <br />(table 7). During 1962-82, annual monotonic-trend analyses <br />indicated a significant decrease in median annual dissolved- <br />solids load of 615 tons/yr (table 8), mostly as a result of <br />decreases in dissolved calcium and bicarbonate. During the <br />Upper Green Subregion 33