Available Groundwater Determination Technical Memoranda for Wyoming River Basin Plans

From 2010–2014, the Wyoming State Geological Survey (WSGS) and the U.S. Geological Survey prepared extensive groundwater availability memoranda for five major river basins in Wyoming. The memoranda, developed for inclusion in Wyoming’s State Water Plan, examine groundwater resources for future management in the Green, Wind-Bighorn, Platte, Bear, and Snake-Salt river basins. Extensive analyses of geology, hydrostratigraphy, physical and chemical characteristics, recharge, groundwater uses, and potential sources of contamination are provided for the hydrogeologic units in each river basin. Recent groundwater development projects are reviewed and published studies are listed.

Wyoming’s river basins encompass highly diverse physical, climatologic, and geologic settings. Surface areas of the studied basins range from 2,600 to over 26,000 square miles. Climates vary from semi-arid basin interiors to humid mountains. Laramide structural basins dominate Wyoming’s geology, but the Wyoming Overthrust Belt and Cenozoic volcanic provinces constitute important geologic settings in the western part of the state. Major aquifers consist of Quaternary alluvial deposits, Cretaceous and Tertiary sandstones, and Paleozoic carbonates. Recharge occurs as direct precipitation and streamflow infiltration to bedrock aquifer exposures along basin margins and to basin interior alluvial units.

 The memoranda and associated GIS data can be accessed online, free of charge, at the WSGS website, http://www.wsgs.wyo.gov/Research/Water-Resources/River-Basin-Plans.aspx or at the Wyoming Water Development Commission, http://waterplan.state.wy.us/.