Drilling, construction, geophysical, water quality, and aquifer test data for well SEP 16, Butte County, Idaho

In 2021 and 2022, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the Idaho Department of Water Resources (IDWR), drilled and constructed well SEP 16 (431900112593601) approximately 6 miles south-southeast of Big Southern Butte in Butte County, Idaho. The purpose of the well installation was to collect geologic, geophysical, and hydrologic data. On July 13, 2022, the USGS Idaho National Laboratory Project Office (INLPO) collected select geophysical logs within the cased well including natural gamma, neutron, neutron porosity, and gamma-gamma dual density logs. Gyroscopic deviation data were also collected during geophysical surveying to account for the horizontal and vertical displacement of the well. On November 8, 2022, a single well aquifer test was conducted on one well, SEP 16, completed within the eastern Snake River Plain (ESRP) aquifer. Results from this test were used to determine monitor well production capacity and average transmissivity of rocks within the vicinity of the well. Immediately following the aquifer test, groundwater samples were collected and processed following standard USGS protocol (Bartholomay and others, 2021; U.S. Geological Survey, variously dated) and analyzed for specific conductance, pH, dissolved oxygen, alkalinity, tubidity, nutrients, anions, cations, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), trace elements, mercury, deuterium/protium, select radionuclides, and gross alpha and beta radioactivity.

Citations:

Bartholomay, R.C., Maimer, N.V., Wehnke, A.J., and Helmuth, S.L., 2021, Field methods, quality-assurance, and data management plan for water-quality activities and water-level measurements, Idaho National Laboratory, Idaho: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2021-1004, 76 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20211004.

U.S Geological Survey, [variously dated], National field manual for the collection of water-quality data: U.S. Geological Survey Techniques of Water-Resources Investigations, book 9, chaps. A1-A9, https://10.3133/twri09A5.