Depth of the base of the Jackson aquifer, based on geophysical exploration, southern Jackson Hole, Wyoming, USA

Abstract

A geophysical survey was conducted to determine the depth of the base of the water-table aquifer in the southern part of Jackson Hole, Wyoming, USA. Audio-magnetotellurics (AMT) measurements at 77 sites in the study area yielded electrical-resistivity logs of the subsurface, and these were used to infer lithologic changes with depth. A 100–600 ohm-m geoelectric layer, designated the Jackson aquifer, was used to represent surficial saturated, unconsolidated deposits of Quaternary age. The median depth of the base of the Jackson aquifer is estimated to be 200 ft (61 m), based on 62 sites that had sufficient resistivity data. AMT-measured values were kriged to predict the depth to the base of the aquifer throughout the southern part of Jackson Hole. Contour maps of the kriging predictions indicate that the depth of the base of the Jackson aquifer is shallow in the central part of the study area near the East and West Gros Ventre Buttes, deeper in the west near the Teton fault system, and shallow at the southern edge of Jackson Hole. Predicted, contoured depths range from 100 ft (30 m) in the south, near the confluences of Spring Creek and Flat Creek with the Snake River, to 700 ft (210 m) in the west, near the town of Wilson, Wyoming.