USING ARCGIS TO CHOOSE WELL SITES IN THE TRANS-MEXICAN VOLCANIC BELT

Utah Valley University has a long-term program of groundwater development in the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt in cooperation with Choice Humanitarian. In the summer of 2013 UVU will drill a well for Garbanzo, a village of about 300 in the state of Guanajuato. In three expeditions in June 2010, July 2011 and August 2011, teams of UVU students visited Garbanzo and the neighboring village La Joyita (5 km east of Garbanzo), which does have sufficient water supply, for the purpose of choosing a well site for Garbanzo. The teams mapped 46 springs and wells in the two villages, carried out slug tests for measurement of hydraulic conductivity on 12 wells and developed springs, and collected samples from all water sources. The teams also measured orientations of joints at six locations and mapped a fault, a number of anticlines and synclines, and four abandoned mining trenches. The above data are currently being combined with fracture traces and lineaments observed from Google Earth images and digitized topographic maps using ArcGIS to predict the best location for a well site. Preliminary mapping shows that all water sources lie along four lines that are collinear with prominent streams. The longest line is oriented NW-SE and connects poorly producing springs in Garbanzo with the highest yielding springs and wells in La Joyita. The three shorter lines are oriented NE-SW and intersect the main line at one location in Garbanzo and two locations in La Joyita. The current leading choices for well sites in Garbanzo are (1) the intersection of two lines of springs about 400 m NW of Garbanzo near a ravine where there is no road (2) a site along the main line of water sources that is also on the road from La Joyita to Garbanzo. Further results will be reported at the meeting.