Water Quality and Chemical Analysis

Project ID: J9W88030017

Federal Agency: National Park Service

Partner Institution: University of Idaho

Fiscal Year: 2003

Initial Funding: $21,000

Total Funding: $42,000

Project Type: Research

Project Disciplines: Physical

National Park: Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument

Principal Investigator: Johnson, Gary

Agreement Technical Representative: Farmer, Neal

Abstract: Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument (HAFO) is located on the Snake River Plateau in south-central Idaho. The primary topographic feature of the Monument is a bluff that rises 600 feet from the Snake River to a plateau. These bluff’s expose fossil-bearing strata for which HAFO was established in 1988. The Monument is internationally recognized for presenting the greatest number and diversity of species of the Pliocene epoch. More than 500 fossil sites are known to exist in the 4,200-acre monument. Landslides are causing massive destruction to fossil sites, natural and cultural resources and private pump facilities. A land use change has occurred from sagebrush desert to irrigated cropland in the late 1960’s. Leaking canals and storage ponds have produced unnatural perched groundwater aquifers that are causing the landslides. Landslides are contributing large amounts of sediment and other water quality parameters of concern to the Snake River and this project will quantify these impacts. Stopping the landslide problem is reliant on identifying recharge from specific sources to multiple groundwater aquifer systems. Isotope analysis will provide information that will allow for identifying individual chemical signatures between multiple recharge sources and multiple groundwater systems. HAFO needs to quantify water quality impacts to the Snake River and gain information about large scale flow systems by tracking subsurface flow paths back to their origins through the use of isotope and other natural tracers. The relevant disciplines include groundwater, chemistry and aquatic ecosystems. Idaho Water Resources Research Institute (IWRRI) at the University of Idaho will provide research and information processing/transfer while HAFO will provide coordination and oversight of field operations. (Cross-listed by NPS at J9W88030017.)