Basin Fill Sandstone and Carbonate Aquifers, Basin and Range (03)
Arizona, Nevada, and California
Comments on Geologic Parameters
03 Formation Thickness:
Brown (1976) presented formation-thickness data for the Tertiary basin-and-range aquifers. Formation-thickness maps of the deep carbonate aquifers are unavailable; however, total formation thickness of the carbonates in the Mojave Basin is typically several thousand feet and exceeds 10,000 ft (3,048.8 m) in eastern Nevada (Prudic and others, 1995). Actual thickness and distribution of carbonate-rock types at depth are poorly understood because the region is structurally complex because of thrust faults that affect the carbonate section and normal faults that offset Paleozoic and younger strata. Moreover, granite bodies are more extensive at depth than they are in outcrops in the region (Prudic and others, 1995).
03 Reference:
Brown, S. G., 1976, Preliminary maps showing ground-water resources in the lower Colorado River region, Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah: U.S. Geological Survey Hydrologic Investigations Atlas HA-542, 3 sheets.
Prudic, D. E., Harrill, J. R., Burbey, and Thomas J., 1995, Conceptual evaluation of regional ground-water flow in the carbonate-rock province of the Great Basin, Nevada, Utah, and adjacent states: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper P-1409-D, 102 p.