Geology Department Utah State University Logan, Utah 84322-4505 email: slhlt@cc.usu.edu |
Energy & Geoscience Institute University of Utah Salt Lake City, Utah email:kkeighley@egi.utah.edu |
Current M.S. Thesis Research:Structural Geology applied to the evaluation of fractured sedimentary bedrock aquifers, Summit County, Utah.
Rapid growth and development in the greater Park City area, western Summit County, Utah has created a cause for concern with respect to the quality and quantity of local water resources. This area has grown 50% over the past 10 years, and will only continue to expand as preparations begin for the 2002 Winter Olympics. New growth depends on ground water resources from folded, faulted, and fractured Mesozoic sedimentary bedrock aquifers. To understand more about the ground water resources within these fractured bedrock aquifers, the Utah Geological Survey completed a regional geologic study (Ashland et al., 1996) within the Snyderville Basin, which is the hydrogeologic basin supplying water to the greater Park City area. One of the results from this study suggested stratigraphic and structural compartmentalization of the bedrock aquifers, and therefore, the need for more site-specific studies and well tests within these proposed compartments. Detailed geologic mapping, fracture scanline surveys, and structural analyses are utilized in this study within aquifer compartment(s) proposed by Ashland et al. (1996). We suggest incorporating structural geology as an inexpensive and efficient tool for evaluating ground water resources in western Summit County, and in similar rapidly developing regions scattered throughout the West.