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Thesis (M.S. - Hydrology and Water Resources)--University of Arizona. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 83-86).

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The Owl Head mining District is located in south-central Pinal County, Arizona, within the Basin and Range province. Land forms, particularity pediments, characteristic of this province are abundant in this area. Precambrian rocks of the Owl Head mining district include the Pinal schist; gneiss; intrusions of granite, quartz monzonite and quartz diorite; and small amounts of Dripping Spring quartzite and metamorphosed Mescal limestone. These have been intruded by dikes and plugs of diorite and andesite, and are unconformably overlain by volcanic rocks and continental sedimentary rocks of Tertiary and Quaternary age. No rocks of the Paleozoic and Mesozoic eras have been recognized. The structural trends of the Owl Head mining district probably reflect four major lineament directions. The dominant structural trends found in the area are north and northwest. Subordinate to these directions are northeast and easterly trends. The strike of the northerly trend varies from due north to N30°E and was probably developed during the Mazatzal Revolution. The northwest trend has probably been superposed over the northerly trend at some later date. Copper mineralization is abundant in the area and prospecting by both individuals and mining companies has been extensive. To date no ore body of any magnitude has been found, but evidence suggests that an economic copper deposit may exist within the area. The copper mineralization visible at the surface consists mainly of the secondary copper minerals chrysocolla, malachite, azurite, and chalcocite with chrysocolla being by far the most abundant. Copper minerals are found to occur in all rocks older than middle Tertiary age. Placer magnetite deposits are found in the alluvial material of this area, and one such deposit is now being mined.

The processes that control the reductive dissolution of Mn0₂ by Fe(II) under conditions simulating the effects of acid mine drainage on subsurface environments and the subsequent precipitation of Fe(III) has been investigated. Results from real-time, in situ X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) flow-through reaction cell studies indicate that a mixed Fe/Mn solid phase with the local structure of the spinel mineral jacobsite (MnFe₂O₄) is formed after the Mn0₂ surfaces are coated with ferric precipitates. In the absence of previously precipitated Fe(III), no reduced manganese solid is formed. The ferric precipitates do not incorporate significant quantities of Mn(II) down gradient from the reactive Fe(II) front. The maximum amount of the original Mn0₂ incorporated into this jacobsite-like solid is 5%. Results from batch experiments showed similar results compared to the flow-through experiments, with an initially fast rate of Mn(II) release, followed by a much slower release after 5-10 min had elapsed. The reaction products, Fe(III)(aq) and Fe(III)(s) were found to decrease the initial reaction rate. A simple model was developed to describe the temporal concentrations of Mn(II)(aq), Fe(II)(aq), and Fe(III)(aq) that include a Langmurian blocking function to describe the effects of the ferric reaction products on the reaction rate. The model also allowed for a second order process to occur at long time that was dependent solely on the aqueous concentrations of Fe(II) and Mn02. The formation of the ferric reaction products were found to transform from aqueous sulfate complexes to (presumable) ternary surface complexes with sulfate. Within 10 h, these precipitates may have formed chains of edge-sharing octahedra on the order of 60 Å. The precipitates have large amount of sulfate associated with them, which may preclude the formation of ferrihydrite, and may indicate the formation of schwertmannite. The average Fe:SO₄ ratio was 4.4 ± 1.0, a value similar to that reported for schwertmannite. The presence of goethite was identified by X-ray diffraction as early as 50 d, indicating that sulfate is being excluded from the precipitates. The release of Mn(II), FeT, and sulfate was controlled by diffusion, which may also be the process that controls the rate of transformation.

A comprehensive methodology of hydraulic testing in fractured rocks is presented. The methodology utilizes geological and geophysical information as background. It consists of conventional single-hole packer tests in conjection with a newly developed cross-hole packer test. The cross-hole method involves injecting fluid into a packed-off interval in one borehole and monitoring hydraulic head variations in packed-off intervals in neighboring boreholes. Borehole orientation is unrelated to the principal hydraulic conductivity directions which, therefore, need not be known a priori. The method yields complete information about the directional nature of hydraulic conductivity in three dimensions on a scale comparable to the distance between the test boreholes. In addition to providing all six components of the hydraulic conductivity tensor, the cross-hole method also yields the specific storage of the fractured rock mass. While the theory behind this method treats the rock as a homogeneous, anisotropic, porous medium, the test provides detailed information about the degree to which such assumptions may actually be vaild in the field. The method may also be useful as a tool for detecting, in the vicinity of the test area, major fractures or faults that have not been intercepted by boreholes. Preliminary results from a granitic site near Oracle in southern Arizona are presented together with details of the instrumentation designed and constructed specifically for that site.

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