Results of hydrologic tests and water-chemistry analyses, Wells H-6A, H-6B, and H-6C, at the proposed Waste Isolation Pilot Plant site, southeastern New Mexico

Water-Resources Investigations Report 82-8
Prepared in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Energy
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Abstract

Hydrologic testing was conducted at wells H-6A, H-6B, and H-6C in the northwestern part of the proposed Waste Isolation Pilot Plant site in southeastern New Mexico to define hydraulic properties of three water-bearing zones. The zones tested were the Magenta and Culebra Dolomite Members of the Rustler Formation and the Rustler Formation-Salado Formation contact. The Magenta Dolomite and the Rustler-Salado contact yield water to wells at rates less than 0.5 gallon per minute as determined from shut-in and slug tests. A transmissivity value for the Culebra Dolomite Member was obtained by conducting conventional pumping and recovery tests in well H-6B; this well was pumped at a rate of approximately 11 gallons per minute.

Water samples from the Magenta Dolomite Member of the Rustler Formation had a dissolved-solids concentration of 5,760 milligrams per liter. The major chemical constituents of water samples from this zone were sulfate, sodium, and chloride. Water samples from the Culebra Dolomite Member of the Rustler Formation had dissolved-solids concentration of 52,600 milligrams per liter, and samples from the Rustler Formation-Salado Formation contact had 316,000 milligrams per liter; chloride and sodium were the major constituents in the water samples. Radium-266, a naturally occurring radioactive element, was present in samples from all three zones.

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Publication type Report
Publication Subtype USGS Numbered Series
Title Results of hydrologic tests and water-chemistry analyses, Wells H-6A, H-6B, and H-6C, at the proposed Waste Isolation Pilot Plant site, southeastern New Mexico
Series title Water-Resources Investigations Report
Series number 82-8
DOI 10.3133/wri828
Year Published 1982
Language English
Publisher U.S. Geological Survey
Description viii, 68 p.
Country United States
State New Mexico
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