Abstract

There are four distinguishable groundwater systems in the Boise area, Idaho, U.S.A., identified as modern batholith, thermal batholith, Boise frontal fault, and Nampa-Caldwell systems (Figure 1). Modern batholith and thermal batholith groundwaters are located in Tertiary to Cretaceous aged granites and granodiorites of the Atlanta lobe of the Idaho Batholith. The frontal fault system near Boise, ID defines the southeastern edge of the Idaho Batholith, and divides the batholith from the western Snake River Plain. The Nampa-Caldwell system is in the volcanic, fluvial and pluvial sediments of the western Snake River Plain. Groundwater ages for these systems are modern, 5-15 ka, 10-20 ka, and 20-40 ka respectively. Local meteoric water lines (LMWL) using the delta 2H and delta 18O composition of the groundwater were defined for each system using linear regression techniques. LMWL had variable and defined single slopes of 6.94 and 8. Deuterium excess values (d) were found for each system for each linear regression method. Relative differences of the deuterium excess value assuming the two single slope methods were similar. Changes in moisture source humidity and temperature, and Boise area recharge temperatures calculated from stable isotopic data and the deuterium excess factor agree with other published data. At the moisture source there was a 9% humidity increase and a 7-6 °C decrease of sea surface temperature between the present and the last glacial maximum (LGM). The local temperature decreased 4-5 °C from the present to the LGM for the Boise area.

Degree

MS

College and Department

Physical and Mathematical Sciences; Geological Sciences

Rights

http://lib.byu.edu/about/copyright/

Date Submitted

2005-05-18

Document Type

Thesis

Handle

http://hdl.lib.byu.edu/1877/etd829

Keywords

meteoric water line, stable isotope, deuterium, deuterium excess, paleoclimate, Boise, Idaho Batholith, western Snake River Plain

Language

English

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