This is a proposal to characterize stratigraphic heterogeneities and facies architecture in Pleistocene Lake Bonneville deposits of Utah, in order to better understand the control of depositional facies and fabrics in ground water flow through Lake Bonneville and similar older deposits. The established lake stratigraphy of the climatically sensitive basin provides a framework for sedimentologic study. The objective of this study are to: 1. Examine and document facies architecture in select field localities through analysis of geometries, hierarchical stacking, sedimentary structures, and depositional fabrics. 2. Compare depositional fabrics of facies on a petrologic and textural scale, with measurements of porosity and permeability to determine the stratigraphic heterogeneities. 3. Quantify sedimentary properties, architecture and stratigraphic heterogeneities with 2-dimensional geostatistical modeling (e.g. semivariograms). This study is significant in that it will greatly contribute to understanding problems of surface contamination in Lake Bonneville sediments and will provide analogues for evaluating flow units (or hydrogeologic facies) in similar, older basin-fill aquifer facies.
