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<br />Water Resources Development
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<br />Salina, the breaks of the Plains section west of Salina and east of
<br />Logan county, and the High Plains section west and north of Logan
<br />county. These various physiog,raphic divisions. indicate in a !!;enera]
<br />way the type of rock that underlies the surface. Thus, the bedrock
<br />of the Kansas River Basin can be discussed by four general areas.
<br />1. East of Salina the main valley is underlain and bordered by
<br />beds of shale alternating with beds of limestone, siltstone and fine-
<br />grained sandstone. These various beds range in thickness from a few
<br />inches to nearly 200 feet. Where the main valley crosses the Flint
<br />Hills area, limestone and flint of a resistant or hard character are par-
<br />ticularly prominent. It should be noted that where valleys cross
<br />such hard rocks, the walls are close together and high in contrast
<br />to wider segments of the same valleys where shale and siltstone form
<br />the valley walls. Across this belt of rock the major valleys might
<br />be considered troughs filled to a shallow depth with alluvium. Al-
<br />luvium consists of sand, gravel, silt, and clay below the flood plains.
<br />Similar material also occurs on terrace levels above the valley floors.
<br />Glacial deposiffi overlie the bedrock to the north of the Kansas
<br />valley.
<br />2. Wesi of Salina and east of central Russell county a belt of
<br />clay, siltstone, and lenticular sandstone. crosses the basin. These
<br />rocks are mostly nonresistant to erosion and produce wide valleys
<br />with irregular vaiIey walls.
<br />3.' West of central Russell county and along the Smoky Hill
<br />valley as far west as Weskan, bedrock consists of wide bands of
<br />alternating shale and chalk or chalky limestone. North of Smoky
<br />Hill valley the area underlain by these rocks is much narrower and
<br />trends northeast to Smith and Phillips counties.
<br />.4. West of Graham and Norton counties and north of Smoky Hill
<br />valley is a broad region in which the bedrock consists of unconsoli-
<br />dated sand, gravel, and silt. Hard rock crops out at the surface at
<br />only a few places in this region. In general, this region of uncon-
<br />solidated rock constitutes the High Plains section.
<br />
<br />RAINFALL
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<br />The average annual precipitation over the Kansas basin varies
<br />from 15 inches in the western part to 36 inches in the eastern. Ap-
<br />. proximately 75 percent of the total precipitation falls in the period
<br />April 1 to September 30. The eastern half of the basin has a dis-
<br />:.inctly. humid climate, with conditions gradually changing toward
<br />the west until the climate is typically semiarid. Severe droughts
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