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<br />_-eneral the terrace Fraveis cannot be considered an aquifer on the <br />lease tract. A thin veneer of these deposits will have to be excavated <br />at the face up cut. DIo significant quantities of water are expected to i <br />developed from the terrace gravels during this excavation. <br />Groundwater Movement - The movement of groundwaters in and <br />r1 <br />U <br />adjacent to the lease area is controlled by both stratigraphy and <br />structure. Because of the varied stratigraphy of the Vermejo Formation <br />water migrates parallel to bedding planes much easier than <br />perpendicular to these planes. Water found in the sandstone and <br />coals normally enters the formation at its outcrop and migrates <br />down dip. Very little water is thought to reach the aquifers by <br />vertical migration of water across bedding planes. Confinement <br />of sand and coal beds by aquicludes (very low permeability clay or <br />shale layers) is adequate to allow artesian heads to develop in sandstone <br />bodies downdip from the outcrop. The principal areas of recharge for <br />each aquifer are thus the outcrop or subcrop areas of that formation. <br />The primary sources of recharge are precipitation in the <br />area of outcrop and runoff in ephemeral streams traversing the outcrop. <br />k*ater entering the aquifers north of the synclinal axis generally <br />^_igrates northwesterly toward the axis and then down the plunge <br />of the syncline. Groundwater recharging beds south of the axis o? <br />the syncline migrates predominently northward toward the axis <br />and then northwestward doc.~n.the.plunge of this structure. This is <br />illustrated in the hydrogeologic-map, Ylate II. <br />Due to the varied stratigraphy and lenticularity of the Ver-ejo <br />•, <br />beds, the water table varies significantly in elevation over the lease. <br />;~:ater entering the recharge area of the formation is drawn into =~e <br />3-8 <br />