Download WebText- GEOGRAPHY OF UTAH

WebText- GEOGRAPHY OF UTAH
Chapter 7 –Utah Geography and Utah’s Hydrosphere
DRAFT webtext by G. Atwood, 2012
Use with professional courtesy and attribution including attribution of original sources where indicated.
LINK to printable version (Arial 12)…
Subtitle:
Utah, where water is for fighting over
BIG CONCEPTS: This chapter explores Utah’s hydrosphere, its interactions with Utah ’s physical
geography and Utah’s human geography.
1. The hydrosphere is a subsystem of Earth systems, the subsystem of water… the “water - Earth.”
2. Surface water runs downhill. Skills of a geographer include reading “downhill” from contours.
3. Watersheds are areas on Earth’s surface that collect water that flows to a given place… the area
that “sheds water” toward a specific place. Divides separate watersheds.
4. Rivers are fed by watersheds. Regions based on watersheds are called drainage basins.
5. Understand the water cycle (a.k.a. hydrologic cycle) and be empowered.
6. The water cycle and Utah geography.
7. Case: hydrology of Salt Lake Valley.
8. County-scale hydrology… what you should know or be able to figure out
9. Utah is a water-scarce state with highly uneven distribution of the resource. Of course it is
managed.
10. Wet water versus paper water… water resources versus water rights.
11. Urban water supplies may come from afar… dams, diversions, politics, and water. Case history…
where the UofU drinking water comes from…
EVIDENCE. Examine these images in the context of water…
Water Resources: IHC-1996-UT-facilities
Regions: RegionsHydroVsGeo
Scenery: BYU-Hamblin-p286-WeberDeltaGSL
Scenery: BYU-Hamblin-p228-TuleValley
Scenery: BYU-Hamblin-p211-NaturalistBasin-HighUintas
Scenery: BYU-Hamblin-p121-Goosenecks
Scenery, resources: BYU-Hamblin-p166-LakePowell
Resources: Utah Power Board River Flows
GovtInstitutions, management regions: Map of bBasins of Utah's water plan:
Quotation:
Governor Matheson: during the floods of Spring 1983: “This is one hell-of-a-way to run a desert” – LINK,
photo permission of Norma Matheson.
LINK to The 15 Words of GEOG3600 and version that can be printed.
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CASES:
Wasatch front hydrology: Arnow DNR-USGS - DNR Tech Pub 31
Topics… Questions to Ponder –
Why is Utah's water where it is?
Where does it flow, and why?
Why is the State Engineer, the person who allocates water in Utah, a constitutional position, only able to be
replaced every 4 years?
Overarching Goal of the Chapter:
Skepticism… know that everything you read and hear about water and Utah has nuances of meanings.
Embrace the mystery, the intrigue, the intentions. Be skeptical. There are no easy answers with respect to
water (okay to be skeptical even of that statement).
MAJOR CONCEPT:
Utah is “the second driest state in the nation.” However, some areas of Utah have winter snowpack of 10s
of feet. Thus a major, if not the major, concept about Utah’s hydrosphere, is that Utah’s water is unevenly
distributed… and that settlers and now modern communities cannot have enough of this precious resource.
We could not have life as we know it without water, and Utahns would not have the lifestyle we have
without water diversions, water law, and water politics.
Expansion on the “major concept”…
Just as Utah has portions of regions drawn on the basis of the geosphere, Utah has regions portions of
regions that have been defined by characteristics of the hydrosphere, specifically, drainage basins are the
basis for drawing regions of Utah based on the hydrosphere. The eastern part of the state lies in the
Colorado River drainage basin. The western part of the state drains to the Great Basin. A small portion of
northwestern Utah lies in the Columbia River drainage basin. Expect spatial variance in water quantity,
seasonality, water rights.
The geosphere and hydrosphere are intimately connected… as a sweeping generality…
Basin and Range (rivers run to it)
Rocky Mountain (rivers run from it)
Colorado Plateau (rivers run through it)
Specifics: by the end of this chapter… you should:
Understand what the HYDROSPHERE includes, and that it is one of the five subsystems of Earth systems
(physical geography).
Understand why Utah's regions based on the hydrosphere have boundaries that differ from physigraphic
provinces.
Be able to adapt concepts of the water cycle to Utah.
Be able to name and approximately locate about 20 features of Utah’s hydrosphere and… gold star… be
able to explain why these features are where they are. Utah's major river systems (Malad, Bear, Weber,
Jordan, Provo, Sevier, Duchesne, Green, Colorado, San Juan, Virgin and Santa Clara Rivers). Be able to
draw these, approximately.
Given images of Utah, describe hydrologic features and processes.
Water management: know where to find information about the management of Utah’s watersheds.
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Water politics - that “liquor is for drinking and water is for fighting”
How and why surface waters are diverted... water right
Be able to give a very general description of where water that is in the sinks and water fountains of Marriott
Library, UofU might come from… on a hot summer day.
Coaching for students of UofU GEOG3600-Geography of Utah:
Don’t forget the Five Themes of Geography:Location, Place, Interaction, Migration/Movement, and Region.
All apply to Utah ’s hydrosphere.Think like a geographer means you have a matrix-checklist in your head of
The 15 Words… and you make the connections.
Terms to understand with respect to the HYDROSPHERE
These terms may be on the mid-term (use your own words) or on quizzes
Wet water versus paper water
Water right
Water supply
Watershed
Drainage basin
Water cycle
Surface water
Ground water
Colorado River drainage basin
Great Basin
Snake River drainage basin
Bonneville Basin
Great Salt Lake
This chapter will apply broad concepts to Utah: Water cycle (a.k.a. hydrologic cycle) and its subprocesses; surface water (overland flow, sheet wash, channelized flow, ephemeral drainages, intermittent
drainages/streams, perennial streams, rivers, lakes, seas, and oceans); ground water, water table,
saturated zone, unsaturated zone, aquifer; contour, continuous space, discrete data, topography,
normalized; watersheds, basins, ridgelines, drainage areas; and Utah’s two major drainage basins: the
Colorado River Basin and the Great Basin (the third hydrologic region is small, a tiny portion of the Snake
River drainage.
THEORY / CONCEPTS towards an understanding of the HYDROSPHERE and geography of UTAH
1. The hydrosphere is a subsystem of Earth systems, the subsystem of water… the “water Earth.”
Need Venn diagram of Earth systems – subsystems
The HYDROSPHERE is the water Earth.
Utah’s HYDROSPHERE is intimately associated with Utah’s GEOSPHERE, specifically, terrain influences
quantity and nature of precipitation; timing and quantity of runoff; and direction of flow. The
HYDROSPHERE has causal connections to the GEOSPHERE: surface water processes are the single
greatest agent of erosion / deposition, the major sculpting agent of Utah’s terrain.
The ATMOSPHERE is the gaseous Earth that brings us weather and climate ties to the HYDROSPHERE
via the water cycle,
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The BIOSPHERE is the living Earth depend on water and create feedback loops within the water cycle, and
The ANTHROSPHERE is the human footprint on Earth, dependent on water and ever tinkering with its
distribution and qualities.
Reminder: systems have subsystems that interact and have feedback loops. Embrace the complexity of
Earth systems. “It’s a loopy world” (Montague, UofU).
2. Surface water runs downhill. Skills of a geographer include reading “downhill” from
contours.
USGS... how to read topo maps http://erg.usgs.gov/isb/pubs/booklets/symbols/
Topographic map UofU and East... USGS 1:250,000 scale base LINK
Thought questions: We’ve talked about location. We’ve talked about place. What is space?
Huge geography concept: What properties of places on Earth are continuous… meaning every location on
Earth has that property (such as temperature)? What properties is “discrete” meaning, not continuous?
Note: if such questions of space fascinate you… consider taking the GIS series of UofU geography.
Every place has an elevation (continuous data, continuous space). Every place has a temperature.
Not every place has a student, or a lake, or a rock (discrete data, object space). Does every place have
bedrock at depth?
Big concept: continuous data of all types can be contoured.
A contour LINE is a hypothetical line with the same value all along it. Higher values are on one side of the
line and lower values on the other.
A contour INTERVAL is the difference in value between two contour lines.
LINK square; LINK square with values; LINK 2 contours; LINK self quiz ; LINK to labeled
contours on "quiz"; LINK to labeled elevations on "quiz"
Here are a few LINKS that you may find interesting about contours… how to draw and how to interpret
them:
LINK: http://geology.isu.edu/geostac/Field_Exercise/topomaps/topo_interp.htm
USGS map series http://mac.usgs.gov/isb/pubs/booklets/usgsmaps/usgsmaps.html
How to read USGS topographic maps http://erg.usgs.gov/isb/pubs/booklets/symbols/
Drawing contours for data and reading contours are skills of a geographer, skills that can help you
appreciate the geography of Utah, especially its HYDROSPHERE.
OPTIONAL – how to draw a contour map… you’ll need a set of colored pencils… and a map such as LINK
to today’s temperatures across the Nation. LINK to instructions… if you take the time to do this exercise…
you’ll be empowered!
CONTOUR coaching overview LINK; CONTOUR COACHING exercise to construct a contour map
of temperature
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UofU... contours
3. Watersheds are areas on Earth’s surface that collect water that flows to a given place… the
area that “sheds water” toward a specific place. Divides separate watersheds.
Review Emigration Canyon scene
Google Earth, north up; Google Earth south up; Topo map note Little Mountain summit; Detail shows drainage divide
Think like a raindrop.
Water flows down hill, down gradient. Where does it go?
What is “sea level” when we talk about elevation above sea level?
Topography is the lay of the land with respect to sea level. For the UofU… where does surface water flow
(surface water, not thinking ground water yet… not even thinking storm drains). LINK
Topographic maps show topography using contours. My favorite site for contour maps are:
USGS National Map – make map site
Google Earth app
Topographic maps show which way surface water flows, the paths it takes, and the steepness of terrain
along the way. The region that “sheds water” meaning, the region whose area captures surface water that
then flows past a point, is called a watershed.
Thought questions: Why do historians talk about “watershed events”?
Divides separate (divide) watersheds. Why is a ridgeline called a “divide”… what is it dividing?
Big concept: regions drawn on the basis of the hydrosphere are drawn based on drainages:
DIVIDE, watershed divide, drainage divide, continental divide – (sometimes it is an obvious ridgeline. Some
places it can be subtle).
WATERSHED or catchment
DRAINAGE – a loose term - think of it as the stream that flows from an area ... or the surface area that
contributes water to that stream
DRAINAGE BASINS are regions based on surface water catchment areas – remember the definition of a
region. Large areas with surface waters that drain to the same place. Basins of NTL Atlas also NtlAtlas
Major Rivers of US
4. Rivers are fed by watersheds. Regions based on watersheds are called drainage basins.
ditto
US Watershed units
US drainage basins
Utah watershed... to Jordan River
Utah ’s rivers
Management Units - DNR water plan
Break out your official highway map of Utah
Follow water upstream from Great Salt Lake following the big bold Bear River to its headwaters… in the
Uinta Mounatins.
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Follow water upsteam from Great Salt Lake following the Jordan River – Provo River to its headwaters… in
the Uinta Moutains.
Follow water upstream from the confluence of the Green River and the Colorado River.
Drainage means just what it sounds like… drainage of a bath tub, to drain – Merriam Webster from web:
Identify the divide between the drainages of Great Salt Lake and those of the Colorado River drainage.
Utah's Rivers – location, place, interactions, movement, region. LINK Atwood on Miller Base
Utah’s drainage basins: GOOD map Craig and Carr... on DEM base by Sterner
Great Basin. Region of closed-drainage basins. Closed topographically, means water cannot flow out by
surface water; and closed hydrologically, means water can only leave via evaporation. LINK... basin and
range extension causes closed basin of Great Basin
Colorado River basin -- Anderson LINK
5. Understand the water cycle (a.k.a. hydrologic cycle) and be empowered.
USGS Water Cycle
Local... adaptation of Water Cycle to SLValley
Thought questions: Why is the hydrologic cycle so intuitive and simple versus the rock cycle?
The water cycle LINK to USGS;
Evaporation, condensation (next week – subsystem = the atmosphere),
Transpiration, (biosphere pumping water... then evaporated)
Precipitation (next week - subsystem = the atmosphere),
Surface water (think like a raindrop… this lecture) major rivers of Utah LINK
Ground water (this lecture)
(Surface water is two words when a noun and 1 word as an adjective, also for ground water)
Coaching: seek empowerment through understanding… understand interactions… location, place,
movement, regions.
6. The water cycle and Utah geography.
Images:
Power Board
Thought questions: Where is the line drawn between the Atmosphere and the Hydrosphere?
Great basic source of info. LINK to USGS pdf
PRECIPITATION: Snow, Sleet, Rain, Dew … seasonality, quantity, spatial distribution – Atlas of Utah… for
next week – the atmosphere. Utah ’s precipitation WSU-BYU-Greer-Atlas-p-066annual precipitation
SURFACE WATER:
Utah’s surface runoff Utah ’s snowmelt WSU-BYU-Greer seasonality of runoff 053
Utah's stream flow DNR FIg04
Emigration Canyon... surface waters.
Flowing water: un-channelized flow (generally) becomes channelized flow
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Unchannelized = overland flow (general term); Sheet wash
Channelized flow = Ephemeral flow; Intermittent stream; Perennial flow / stream; River
WATER BODIES (very broad term, can imply slower moving… but not necessarily)
Ponds – Standing water… even though it flows
Fresh water lakes – Standing water… even though it flows
Closed-basin lakes – standing water, no outlet other than via evaporation
Seas
Oceans
LOCATION and hydrology… follow on your highway map AtwoodOnMillerBase
Major rivers:
Bear River
Weber
Jordan River …
Provo River
Colorado River
Green River
Duchesne River (Strawberry River)
County - scale
Malad River
Logan River
Beaver River
Sevier River
Virgin River
San Juan River
Natural lakes
Great Salt Lake
Utah Lake
Bear Lake
Sevier (dry) Lake
Reservoirs… big and small
Colorado River system in Utah including the Green River
Glen Canyon Dam, Flaming Gorge Reservoir
Lake Powell
Central Utah Water Conservancy Project
Great Basin rivers… dams and diversions
Mountain Dell; Little Dell (Emigration Canyon)
Bear Lake
GROUND WATER
Water in rocks USGS
Ground water flow - USGS WSS2242 Fig 05
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Unsaturated - USGS Basics … not every hole that is connected is filled with water
Saturated … below the water table… every hole that is connected to another hole is filled with water.
Utah’s groundwater ATLAS052 key
Utah’s groundwater wells ATLAS052 Groundwater development UtPlan05
Unsaturated zone is important, particularly for plants… also for homes with basements... and contaminant
flow.
Saturated zone means: WHERE there are voids (open spaces “porosity”) in rock (sediment or bedrock) and
IF the open spaces are connected (“permeability”) THEN the open spaces will be full of water.
HYDROSPHERE-GEOSPERE interactions: not only landforms make a difference to the hydrosphere, so
do Earth materials. For example, the pore spaces of geologic materials make a big difference to the
amount of water that is stored and accessible for human use.
Aquifer: a rock body (sediment or bedrock) that has more water than others of the region.
Artesian well: well that taps groundwater under pressure
Flowing well: a type of flowing well, a well that taps groundwater under sufficient pressure that the water
rises to the land surface
7. Case: hydrology is rarely simple... .
Reminder... sediments and bedrock affect the amount of space available for water in rock
Permeability is the capacity for water to flow through rock... through pores, cracks, and/or caverns (NOT as
underground rivers)
Great Basin hydrology case study... Salt Lake Valley
Note sediments and bedrok of basin and range:. USGS Basin Range Structure and materials
Image: Arnow
Remind yourself of what you know: Precipitation… Surface water… Ground water… fluid flow… aquifers…
confined and unconfined.
Case: Water is generally complex and Salt Lake Valley 's hydrology is very complex. Imagine the
challenges of environmental issues.
Hydrology of a type of valley found in upper reaches of the Bear, Provo, Weber, Green, and Duchesne
Rivers
Rocky Mountain recharge for Colorado River drainage or Great Basin drainage
Example... Emigration Canyon (actually much more complex... this is very simplified) USGS for regional
example
Hydrology of Colorado Plateau terrain of Colorado River drainage basin
USGS schematic for Colorado Plateau hydrology
For example, of Moab region... mountains such as the La Sal Mountains; discharge by springs.
Note the effect of bedrock (some are aquifers, others are "aquitards" or "aquicludes"
Note the effect of deeply incised canyons that literally "drain" the region.
And some sections of rivers "gain" water and others are losing streams... USGS schematic of gaining
streams in upper reaches of Colorado River drainage basin (or upper reaches of Great Basin watershed
of Uinta Mountains) and losing reaches downstream... often in urban areas.
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8. County-scale hydrology… what you should know or be able to figure out
Image
a. Classify by region… Utah’s regions on the geosphere are the three physiographic provinces… in
contrast… Utah regions on the hydrosphere are drainage basins.
Physiographic provinces versus drainage basins:
Physiographic provinces:
Colorado Plateau: a river runs through it
Rocky Mountain physiographic province: rivers run from it
Basin and Range: rivers run to it.
Drainage basins
Colorado River drainage basin
Great Basin
b. Classify by drainage system, Utah ’s water management basins
Utah’s Water Plan LINK http://www.water.utah.gov/waterplan/SWP_pff.pdf
c. Knowing regional setting, observe terrain and scenery for characteristics of the hydrosphere.
Bowen Tooele County looking East
Bowen Dagget looking west
Bowen San Juan Mexican Hat
Hamblin-BYU Terrace Mountains, Basin and Range
Hamblin-BYU -BearRiverDelta Great Salt Lake
Hamblin-BYU - Roan Cliffs - Colorado River drainage basin
Hamblin-BYU-KingsPeak-ColoRiverDrainage Basin versus Mirror Lake
Identify patterns, watersheds and divides… generalities… from highway map.
Look for evidence of snow, runoff, standing water, erosion / deposition, evaporation, human footprint
(agriculture, dams/reservoirs, diversions).
Does the surface water of the scene looks like it runs
To the scene
Through the scene
From the scene
Identify features of surface water: (standing water; rivers; drainage patterns, evidence of flowing water;
vegetation):
d. Infer… ground water (easy to mis-interpret… optional… embrace uncertainty). The intimate
connectedness of conditions of the geosphere and hydrosphere mean definitional complexity.
Earth scientists who understand hydrology have good jobs and interesting lives.
I
Bowen Tooele County looking East
Bowen Dagget looking west
Bowen San Juan Mexican Hat
Hamblin-BYU Terrace Mountains, Basin and Range
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Hamblin-BYU -BearRiverDelta Great Salt Lake
Hamblin-BYU - Roan Cliffs - Colorado River drainage basin
Hamblin-BYU-Goosenecks
Hamblin-BYU-KingsPeak-ColoRiverDrainage Basin versus Mirror Lake
9.
Utah is a water-scarce state with highly uneven distribution of the resource. Of course it is
managed.
Abundant information exists on Utah’s water resources.
Utah History Encyclopedia LINK
Utah’s Water Plan LINK
Anderson 2002, The Colorado River, Utah’s perspective
Utah - Water plans by basin -- Terrific for county level info.
http://www.water.utah.gov/planning/waterplans.asp
Land use, water use by basin, for example, Weber Basin, LINK to DNR
Salt Lake City ’s website LINK SLCity water; history of SLCity water development
LINK to analysis -- Isaacson UBEBR LINK
Discussion of water politics "conservative" (broken) LINK to Utah Foundation (broken link)
Overview of issues from the Utah Water Plan
Per capita consumption UtPlan09
Population projections UtPlan07
Population centers UtPlan08
Demand projections for Municipal and Industrial UtPlan10
Uses of water UtPlan11;
Uses of water by basin UtPlan12
10.
Wet water versus paper water… water resources versus water rights.
Uneven distribution of water
Uneven distribution of people
Uneven distribution of power
Understand: water rights, water exchanges
Concept of WATER RIGHTS.
LINK to Wikipedia on the subject: Water Rights
Riparian... it's there, along a stream, stream bank owner has a right NOT UTAH
Utah… water belongs to the state…
Water right, is the right to use the water. The State of Utah “appropriates” the right.
Restated: Utah’s water belongs to the state; you can petition to have a right to use it... and if you get that
right, you will have a right to a certain amount of water, a certain time of the year, and with lesser priority to
others who already have rights.
Petition for a water right: based on point of diversion, based on beneficial use, based on your ability to put it
to use
Prior appropriation (first in time, first in right) means your right to use water is subservient to those who
already have rights.
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Water rights may be exchanged: exchange the right to use water (location, time, purpose)… for a right to
use different water (location, time, purpose).
11.
Case history… where the UofU drinking water comes from… History of Salt Lake City’s
development of water supplies.
Case history – SALT LAKE CITY (not county, the city)
When I say “give me the chorus…” I want you to say… mentally or out-loud “M
History of the development of Salt Lake City 's water supplies... draft... fo
Geog3330. Refer to a wonderful web site for SLC water (broken link) dev
that have been thoroughly checked for accuracy. This is my version... 90%
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Pre-pioneer.
Before water
development.
c. 1800
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1850s
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1880s
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1890s
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1900-1920
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1930s 1950s
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1960s Central Utah
Project
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2000 - water
developments
in the news
PRWUA system (the board I serve on)... Provo River Water Users Association
Central Utah Water Conservancy - Utah Lake system Eastern region (collection) and Western region (collect and di
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FINAL SECTION OF THIS CHAPTER… So What?
How the HYDROSPHERE matters to the physical and human geographies of Utah.
Know where you are, know who you are.
And be empowered to lead a good life… that’s the underlying assumption of UofU GEOG3600-Geography
of Utah.
Let me count the ways!! By using the 15 x 15 matrix.
For the five subsystems of Earth systems….
Feedback loops and interactions are so numerous it can be difficult to articulate where hydrosphere ends,
for example, and atmosphere (weather and climate) begin. Good luck.
For the 5 themes of geography… these are pretty straightforward… location… place… interaction…
movement/migration… and regions. Water flow is all about movement/migration. Location of Utah
communities is largely dictated by availability of water. “Place” may offer a challenge but I can think of
connections including a mission to have Utah “Bloom like a rose”… a sense of place.
For the 5 issues of social and behavioral sciences (economics; demographics; political science; sociology;
and quality of life): this chapter provides some insights on political science, sociology, and quality of live
with respect to the hydrosphere. Economics may not have been covered directly, here are a couple LINKS.
LIST of “The 15 Words”
Loc
Place
Migra
Inter
Region
Geo
Hydro
Atmo
Bio
Anthro
Econ
Demog
PoliSci
Sociol
QLife
SELF QUIZ
By the end of this chapter… you should:
Understand what the HYDROSPHERE includes, and that it is one of the five subsystems of Earth systems
(physical geography).
•
Understand why Utah's regions based on the hydrosphere have boundaries that differ from
physiographic provinces.
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•
Be able to adapt concepts of the water cycle to Utah.
•
Be able to name and approximately locate about 20 features of Utah’s hydrosphere and… gold
star… be able to explain why these features are where they are. Utah's major river systems (Malad, Bear,
Weber, Jordan, Provo, Sevier, Duchesne, Green, Colorado, San Juan, Virgin and Santa Clara Rivers). Be
able to draw these, approximately.
•
Given images of Utah, describe hydrologic features and processes.
•
Water management: know where to find information about the management of Utah’s watersheds.
•
Water politics - that “liquor is for drinking and water is for fighting”
•
How and why surface waters are diverted... water right
•
Be able to give a very general description of where water that is in the sinks and water fountains of
Marriott Library, UofU might come from… on a hot summer day.
SUMMARY:
Regions of Utah based on the hydrosphere and geosphere have different boundaries. Physiographic
provinces – based on landforms –topography, scenery, resources, hazards.
Basin and Range (rivers run to it)
Rocky Mountain (rivers run from it)
Colorado Plateau (rivers run through it)
Drainage basins – based on watersheds of the hydrosphere – water quantity, seasonality, water rights
Colorado River Basin
Great Basin
And a very small part of the Snake River / Columbia River Basin.
These regions are defined based on watersheds, using terrain, and, specifically using contoured elevation
data.
Utah’s hydrologic resources are unevenly divided and include regions with less than ??10?? inches of
precip to regions with over a couple hundred inches of snow (__ rain water equivalent).
Utah’s population and water use also is unevenly distributed. Water is allocated using a system of water
rights that originated in LDS pioneer times. Prior appropriation vests a right to use water based on when the
right was perfected, meaning, the applicant showed they could use the water for ‘beneficial use,” had the
resources to convey the water to where it would be used, and that they have the right in the order of filings:
first in time, first in right.
The case history of Salt Lake City illustrates community’s voracious appetite for water and how water
diversions bring water to a thirsty populace..
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