USGS Monthly Groundwater News and Highlights: November 1, 2018

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Feature: Mississippi Alluvial Plain (MAP) Regional Water Availability Study

The Mississippi Alluvial Plain (MAP) has become one of the most important agricultural regions in the US, and it relies heavily on a groundwater system that is poorly understood and shows signs of substantial change. The heavy use of the available groundwater resources has resulted in significant groundwater-level declines and reductions in base flow in streams within the MAP. The USGSis conducting a regional groundwater availability study of the MAP to provide stakeholders and managers information and tools to better understand and manage groundwater resources. The study focuses on quantifying the status of the groundwater system in the MAP and determining how groundwater resources respond to development. Advanced characterization of the MAP, synthesis of field data, and numerical modeling will be used in the study as described on these web pages. Learn more about the MAP study or read about how airborne geophysical surves are being used to study MAP groundwater resources.

USGS Groundwater-Related Press Releases

Seeking Water from Above: Low-Level Helicopter to Fly Above Mississippi Alluvial Plain(10/25/2018)

Scientists to Measure Wood River Valley Groundwater Levels (10/15/2018)

USGS Groundwater-Related Publications

Using Heat as a Tracer to Determine Groundwater Seepage in the Indian River Lagoon, Florida, April–November 2017 (10/31/18)

Concentrations of nutrients at the water table beneath forage fields receiving seasonal applications of manure, Whatcom County, Washington, autumn 2011-spring 2015 (10/29/18)

Preliminary investigation of groundwater quality near a Michigan cemetery, 2016-17 (10/25/18)

Rebuttal to "The case of the Biscayne Bay and aquifer near Miami, Florida: density-driven flow of seawater or gravitationally driven discharge of deep saline groundwater?" by Weyer (Environ Earth Sci 2018, 77:1-16) (10/23/18)

Application of hydrologic-tracer techniques to the Casargiu adit and Rio Irvi (SW-Sardinia, Italy): Using enhanced natural attenuation to reduce extreme metal loads (10/22/18)

Findings and lessons learned from the assessment of the Mexico-United States transboundary San Pedro and Santa Cruz aquifers: The utility of social science in applied hydrologic research (10/20/18)

Determination of representative uranium and selenium concentrations from groundwater, 2016, Homestake Mining Company Superfund site, Milan, New Mexico (10/17/18)

Groundwater-level, groundwater-temperature, and barometric-pressure data, July 2017 to February 2018, Hālawa Area, O'ahu, Hawai'i (10/16/18)

Completion summary for borehole TAN-2312 at Test Area North, Idaho National Laboratory, Idaho (10/12/18)

Geologic framework and hydrostratigraphy of the Edwards and Trinity aquifers within Hays County, Texas (10/10/18)

Regional patterns in the geochemistry of oil-field water, southern San Joaquin Valley, California, USA (10/04/18)

Altitude of the potentiometric surface, 2000-15, and historical water-level changes in the Memphis aquifer in the Memphis area, Tennessee (10/03/18)

Hydrologic characteristics and water quality of headwater streams and wetlands at the Allegheny Portage Railroad National Historic Site, Summit area, Blair and Cambria Counties, Pennsylvania, 2014-16 (10/03/18)

Simulation of groundwater flow, 1895-2010, and effects of additional groundwater withdrawals on future stream base flow in the Elkhorn and Loup River Basins, central Nebraska -- Phase three (10/02/18)

Delineation of contributing areas for 2017 pumping conditions to selected wells in Ingham County, Michigan (10/02/18)

 

USGS Groundwater Flow and Transport Model Data Releases

Note: The following links take you to data.doi.gov

MODFLOW-NWT groundwater flow model used to evaluate groundwater flow in the Elkhorn and Loup River Basins, Central Nebraska, Phase Three

MODFLOW-NWT model of predictive simulations of groundwater response to selected scenarios in the Williston Basin, United States and Canada

 

Field Photo:

Ever wonder what it means when you hear about "artesian well water"? This is a photo of a flowing well in John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park, Key Largo, Florida, popularly referred to as an artesian well. The term “artesian well water” tells us about the groundwater flow conditions but does not tell us anything about the quality or safety of the water for drinking. Where groundwater moves beneath a layer of clay or other dense, low-permeability material, it is effectively confined, often under pressure. The pressure in most confined aquifers, sometimes called artesian aquifers, causes the water level in a well tapping the aquifer to rise above the top of the aquifer. In a flowing well, the pressure in the aquifer raises the groundwater in the well above ground level where it can be collected for use with little or no pumping.

Archive of Past Highlights:

Past monthly summaries are available online.