Thesis (M.S.)--Brigham Young University. Dept. of History. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 176-180).

As part of a U.S. Geological Survey study in Juab Valley in central Utah from 1991 to 1994, the chemistry of ground - and surface -water samples was determined. Total dissolved solids in the ground water of southern Juab Valley have historically been higher , in general, than ground water in other areas of Utah . Total dissolved solids for ground-water samples from this study ranged from 623 to 3,980 milligrams/liter. High-sulfate chemical data of previous studies suggested that the major source of ground-water salinity is the dissolution of gypsum (hydrous calcium sulfate ) from the Arapien Shale. Sulfur-34 to sulfur- 32 isotopic ratio data have confirmed that dissolved Arapien Shale is the major source of salinity in southern Juab Valley water. This thesis study of southern Juab Valley had four main objectives: 1) define the present chemistry of the ground and surface water; 2) qualitatively determine the mineralogy of the Middle Jurassic Arapien Shale; 3) determine the major sources of salinity; and 4) determine the main flow path in the ground-water system. Chemical data show that the water in southern Juab Valley is predominantly of a calcium-magnesium-sulfate-bicarbonate composition. X-ray diffraction determined the mineralogy of the Arapien Shale as primarily calcite and quartz. Mineralogy of the acid-insoluble residue is illite, chlorite, quartz, and a trace of feldspar. Based on chemical, isotopic, and simple salt weight percent data, dissolution of gypsum is the major source of salinity in southern Juab Valley water. Using the chemical and isotopic data as input , a mass balance computer software program (NETPATH) helped to determine that the gypsum is derived from the Arapien Shale . NETPATH and the potentiometric surface map helped to define the main ground-water flow path as southwest across southern Juab Valley, from Chicken Creek in the San Pitch Mountains on the east side of the valley toward Chick Creek Reservoir in the southwest part of the valley.

Data were collected from 25 dry farmers living in East-Juab County farming a minimum of 100 acres of land. The data includes the use of tractors, plows, weeders, drills, and combines. A comparison was made between the costs of operation for nine farms between the range of 100 and 500 acres, with an average of 302 acres, producing an average of 83 acres of grain; eleven farms in the range of 501 to 1,000 acres, with an average of 729 acres;--producing an average of 243 acres of grain; and five farms in the range of 1,001 to the largest of 2,600 acres, having an average of 1,871 acres, producing an average of 769 acres of grain. Machinery costs were prorated for other crops grown. The calculations include costs of depreciation, interest, taxes, and repairs. Machinery costs per acre of grain produced for the smallest acreage group were $10.99. Costs for the medium acreage group were $5.66, and the largest acreage group were $3.21. The total costs with estimated fuel and labor amounted to $16.27 for the smallest acreage group, $10.25 for the medium acreage group, and $7.13 for the largest acreage group. A comparison was then made between the costs of four operations with custom hiring, cooperative-owned equipment, rental equipment, and the costs of the survey data for one acre of land. The costs are as follows: the smallest acreage group, $11.07; custom hiring, $9.50; rental equipment $7.57; medium acreage group, $6.89; cooperative-owned equipment $5.37; and the largest acreage group, $4.95.

This work was a case study of historical ecological change in Tintic Valley, Juab County, Utah, an area historically impacted by mining and ranching activities common to much of the American West. The temporal framework for the study was approximately 120 years, the period of direct Euroamerican influence. In recognition of the ecological implications of cultural change, however, the impacts of prehistoric and protohistoric human activity on study area landscape patterns and processes were also explicitly addressed. The study included a narrative description of historic land uses and ecological change in Tintic Valley, and examined the changes in landscape patterns and processes so revealed within the context of the state and transition model of rangeland dynamics. The case of Tintic Valley thus served as a test of the heuristic utility of the theory of self-organization in ecological systems, within which the state and transition model is embedded. This theoretical framework in turn was used to gain insight into the present state of the Tintic landscape, how that state has changed over time, and the nature of those forces leading to transitions between system states in the historic period. The study employed archival research, personal interviews, repeat photography, field surveys, aerial photographs, and a geographic information system (GIS) to identify, describe, and quantify historic-era change in Tintic Valley landscape level patterns and processes. The analysis revealed dramatic change in both the landscape vegetation mosaic and the channel network of the study area over time. Evidence was found for direct anthropogenic influence in precipitating those changes, primarily through tree harvesting associated with mining and ranching activities and through the effects of historic roads and railroads on the Tintic Valley gully network. Results supported the working hypothesis of a change in system state in the Tintic Valley landscape in the historic period. Taken together, historical narrative and theoretical context permitted a degree of prediction with respect to potential future conditions for the study area under different management scenarios. Future research directions and implications of the research results for ecosystem management are also discussed.

This thesis is concerned primarily with the settlement, growth, and development of Nephi, Utah. However, an understanding of the physical features of the valley in which it is located is important, as well as the Indian Inhabitants who lived here. All these are included in the first chapter.

Seedlings of Indian rice grass Oryzopsis hvmenoides (Roem. & Shult.) Ricker. were studied to determine the effect of soil moisture, photoperiod, depth of burial of germinated grains, temperature, and the rate of soil accumulation on seedling growth and tillering. The study was performed in two phases: Field observations and laboratory studies. Field observations were made on a system of sand dunes located northwest of Lynndyl, Utah. General observations were made from January, 1966 to May, 1968.

The Canyon Range Formation (informal new name), formerly mapped as the Indianola Group within the Canyon Range, is divisible into two distinct, mappable units, A and B. Unit A is nearly all conglomerate strata, and conglomerate texture and sedimentary structures suggest an alluvial fan depositional environment. Precambrian and basal Cambrian quartzite clasts represent the erosional debris from the allochthonous Canyon Range thrust. Unit B is composed of interbedded fluvial sandstone and conglomerates with lacustrine limestones, commonly micritic and/or oncolitic. Conglomerate clasts indicate a Paleozoic carbonate provenance. Unit A, previously mapped as the Indianola, underlies Unit B and correlates with the Price River-lower North Horn Formations of the Pavant Range and Long Ridge. Marginal paleontologic and stratigraphic indicators suggest Unit B to be equivalent to the Paleocene-Eocene North Horn and Flagstaff Formations rather than the Cretaceous Indianola Group. Stratigraphic and structural relationships indicate the last major phase of "Sevier" thrusting ended by Price River (?) time.