Thesis (Ph. D. - Hydrology and Water Resources)--University of Arizona. / Includes bibliographical references.

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The focal point of the quality of life associated with the United States is a strong economy. Growth in the economy means growth in employment. The establishment of stringent environmental legislation is now a reality. However, those responsible for enacting environmental laws, as well intentioned as they may be, must strive to assess the socio-economic consequences of their actions so that the true net benefit of the environmental legislation is established. The main effort in this research centers around the analysis of how a particular resource, energy (i.e., energy in the form of electric power derived from strip-mined coal) is embedded in the economic growth of the Southwest. The basic econometric tool that has been utilized is a regional input-output model which evolved from a California-Arizona linked input-output model developed by H. O. Carter and D. Ireri. The decision space developed, which effectively acted as a mechanism for restricting coal-fired power availability in future years, was based on a schedule of electric energy capacity additions as delineated by the U.S. Department of Interior's Southwest Energy Study. The regional economic analysis, described in Chapter 5 of this dissertation, suggests there is a definite relationship between coal-fired power availability and regional economic growth in the Southwest. Furthermore, the estimates of incremental decreases in regional economic activity associated with certain levels of decreased coal-fired power development are of such a magnitude that one could characterize the relationship as very significant.

Energy developments in the Southwest have established a basis for the examination of complexities involved in environmental decision making. The coalfired generation facilities exhibit an impact potential on the social, physical, and economic surroundings of both local and distant communities. A recent seventeen-volume report directed by the U.S. Department of Interior, The Southwest Energy Study, is an indicator of the magnitude of the situation. The Four Corners Program is a team research project with emphasis placed upon technology transfer. Simulation models are used to estimate the physical, economic, and social effects of a range of decisions concerning alternate power schedules. The research results are communicated to interest groups in other than the usual report form. A workshop environment allows the participants to interact with the decisions, the models, the results, and one another. One of the simulation models is the groundwater model. The groundwater model is used to estimate head declines in the confined and unconfined portions of the Navajo Sandstone and the Mesaverde Formation on Black Mesa. The Mesaverde Formation is found to be isolated from the Navajo Sandstone by the Mancos Shale and other intervening layers. A simulation routine developed by the Illinois State Water Survey is modified and adapted to the problem. As a result of the small amount of published aquifer data, minimum or below minimum values of aquifer properties and a sensitivity analysis were incorporated into model considerations. Pumping rates and pumping durations of groundwater for slurry transfer of coal define the decision space. The mining pumpage will have a negligible effect upon the Indian wells located in recharge areas of the Navajo Sandstone. The effects of mining pumpage upon potentiometric surfaces in the artesian portion of the Navajo Sandstone will range from zero to twenty percent of the artesian head, depending upon location and aquifer properties. Theoretical effects of groundwater pumpage on four monitor locations are quantified in terms of ranges of variation. These results can help to evaluate development plans for decision makers and other interest groups. With the future acquisition of measured drawdowns, consideration of theoretical and actual results can provide additional precision to aquifer parameter estimates. The Four Corners Program has a two year duration. The goal of the first year effort was the completion of simulation modeling. Beyond technical or prejudicial hurdles, the workshop encounters will require a public relations and communications posture which is conducive to group participation. The effectiveness of simulation as a means of technology transfer to a variety of users is yet to be evaluated.

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Rico strata are recognised throughout the Four Corners region of southwestern Colorado, southeastern Utah, northeastern Arizona, and northwestern New Mexico. The term Rico has been applied to a group of strata which exhibit a lateral and vertical transition between two contrasting environments, the marine Hermosa and the non-marine Cutler. Two faunal provinces reflect these widely diverse conditions of sedimentation. However, few fossils of diagnostic value have been discovered despite the abundance of fossiliferous strata within the Rico. Rico strata are believed to range between Desmoinesian and Virgilian in age. Lithofacies data on the Rico were assembled from literature, outcrop sections, and various well logs. These data were then compiled on an isopach-lithofacies map. The isopach-lithofacies map shows the thickness trends and the lithologic variations of Rico strata throughout the region of study. The tectonic framework of the region is reconstructed from the isopach-lithofacies map and mechanical analyses of the elastic strata. Clastic material in the Rico increases in average grain size from west to east toward the Uncomphagre Uplift suggest that this area was actively positive during Rico time. The vertical variation of normal marine limestone and clastic red beds in the Rico reflect an alternately transgressing and regressing sea over much of the Four Corners region. This intricate intertonguing of normal marine limestone and clastic red beds probably resulted from deposition in a shallow basin on an unstable shelf. The occurrence of oil, gas, and cement quality limestone in the Rico is examined from an economic aspect. A. brief review of the general geology and geologic history of tile region is also included.