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exceed the USEPA drinking water standard secondary maximum contaminant level of

         0.3 mg/l. Spring SP-2 is located west of the Whitney Canyon fault in the northwestern
         portion of the project property in an area of active tar seeps. Staining, resembling rust, was
         noted on nearby rock formations during sampling activities at this location. Such stains
         indicate natural oxidation of dissolved ferrous ion to ferric ion (Fe" " ”), as ferrous ion-rich
         water flows away from the source (SP-2 spring), thus precipitating ferric iron oxides in
         nearby rocks.



         9.4    LOCAL HYDROGEOLOGIC MODEL


         Local geology and topographic relief are the primary controls in the occurrence and flow
         of groundwater at the project property.       The combination of these two factors also
         influences recharge/discharge areas and conditions, hydraulic gradients, and hydraulic

         relationships among aquifers and aquitards at the property. The local hydrologic regime is
         also affected to some degree by naturally occurring petroleum and petroleum-related waters.
         Major components and characteristics of the conceptual local hydrogeologic model are
         discussed in the following sections.


         9.4.1  Prinoipgl Water-Eating Rooks



         As discussed in Section 8.0, important fresh-water aquifers of the Eastern Hydrographic
         Subarea consist of thick, poorly consolidated Saugus Formation deposits, and overlying
         alluvium principally found within the Santa Clara River drainage and its major tributaries
         (Slade, 1986; 1988). However, these units essentially are either not present at the project

         property, in the case of the Saugus Formation, or are represented by shallow, areally limited
         deposits within stream drainages, in the case of alluvium. Thus, the principal water-bearing
         rocks within the project property are instead represented by fractured, crystalline San
         Gabriel Formation rocks and Eocene sedimentary deposits.



         San Gabriel Formation: Groundwater occurs within secondary fracture porosity developed
         in the San Gabriel Formation, as the rock mass contains little or no primary porosity. The
         San Gabriel Formation is characterized by an interconnected fracture network of variable
         density. Drilling data and field mapping of fractures do not indicate a dominant orientation
         to fractures; however, lineaments observed in aerial photographs suggest that both
         northwest-southeast oriented and northeast-southwest oriented fractures may be present.




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