USGS Monthly Groundwater News and Highlights: February 1, 2019

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Feature: Aquifers in Quaternary Sediments in the Glaciated Conterminous United States

USGS is conducting regional analyses of groundwater availability and quality of the principal aquifers of the United States to provide decision-makers with a better understanding of the status and trends in groundwater availability and quality across the Nation. The glacial aquifer system is a principal aquifer that supplies groundwater for about 42 million people and accounts for about 5 percent of the Nation's drinking water. This aquifer system (the area of maximum glacial advance) underlies parts of 25 states. USGS recently released two new reports, including maps and the associated data, that resource managers can use to inform management of this important aquifer system. A hydrogeologic framework is presented that divides the glaciated United States into 17 distinct hydrogeologic terranes using a geologic approach based on previous mapping. The salient characteristics of the 17 hydrogeologic terranes are presented through maps and a set of descriptive plots to facilitate visual comparisons between selected sediment and aquifer characteristics. These products will support ongoing studies of groundwater flow and quality, including assessments of the occurrence and characteristics of confined and unconfined glacial aquifers, their distribution and extent, and their potential intrinsic susceptibility and vulnerability:

• Hydrogeologic Framework for Characterization and Occurrence of Confined and Unconfined Aquifers in Quaternary Sediments in the Glaciated Conterminous United States -- A Digital Map Compilation and Database
• Characterization and Occurrence of Confined and Unconfined Aquifers in Quaternary Sediments in the Glaciated Conterminous United States

USGS Groundwater-Related Press Releases and Technical Announcements

Design of Private Wells Can Lead to Safer Drinking Water in Minnesota (12/20/2018)

Seeking Water from Above: Low-Level Helicopter to Fly Southern Portion of Mississippi Alluvial Plain (12/13/2018)

USGS Groundwater-Related Publications

Elevated manganese concentrations in United States groundwater, role of land surface-soil-aquifer connections (01/28/19)

Mini-columns and ghost columns in Columbia river lava (01/28/19)

Development of perennial thaw zones in boreal hillslopes enhances potential mobilization of permafrost carbon (01/28/19)

Efficient hydrogeological characterization of remote stream corridors using drones (01/28/19)

Episodic master recession evaluation of groundwater and streamflow hydrographs for water-resource estimation (01/29/19)

Book review: Analytical groundwater mechanics (01/30/19)

How or when samples are collected affects measured arsenic concentration in new drinking water wells (01/28/19)

Seasonality of nitrate sources and isotopic composition in the Upper Illinois River (12/07/18)

Linkages between hydrology and seasonal variations of nutrients and periphyton in a large oligotrophic subalpine lake (12/03/18)

The Las Vegas Formation (12/21/18)

Analysis of groundwater response to tidal fluctuations, Site 10 Naval Magazine Indian Island, Port Hadlock, Washington (12/21/18)

Groundwater, surface-water, and water-chemistry data, Black Mesa area, northeastern Arizona -- 2015-2016 (12/19/18)

Simulation of groundwater storage changes in the Quincy Basin, Washington (12/19/18)

Comparing groundwater quality in public-supply and shallow aquifers in the Monterey Bay and Salinas Valley Basins, California (12/18/18)

Methods used to estimate daily streamflow and water availability in the Massachusetts Sustainable-Yield Estimator version 2.0 (12/17/18)

Lithostratigraphic framework in boreholes from Goldstone Lake and Nelson Lake Basins, Fort Irwin, California (12/14/18)

Cenozoic geology of Fort Irwin and vicinity, California (12/14/18)

Hydrogeologic framework for characterization and occurrence of confined and unconfined aquifers in quaternary sediments in the glaciated conterminous United States -- A digital map compilation and database (12/14/18)

Characterization and occurrence of confined and unconfined aquifers in Quaternary sediments in the glaciated conterminous United States (12/14/18)

The Connecticut Streamflow and Sustainable Water Use Estimator -- A decision-support tool to estimate water availability at ungaged stream locations in Connecticut (12/14/18)

Best practices for elevation-based assessments of sea-level rise and coastal flooding exposure (12/13/18)

Delineation of selected lithologic units using airborne electromagnetic data near Cedar Rapids, Iowa (12/13/18)

Interactive tool to estimate groundwater elevations in central and eastern North Dakota (12/05/18)

Hydrogeochemical controls on brook trout spawning habitats in a coastal stream (12/14/18)

Estimating metal concentrations with regression analysis and water-quality surrogates at nine sites on the Animas and San Juan Rivers, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah (12/03/18)

GSFLOW-GRASS v1.0.0: GIS-enabled hydrologic modeling of coupled groundwater-surface-water systems (12/04/18)

Preparations for water sampling (12/19/18)

Time-domain electromagnetic surveys at Fort Irwin, San Bernardino County, California, 2010-12 (12/14/18)

Geology and geophysics applied to groundwater hydrology at Fort Irwin, California (12/13/18)

 

Field Photo

"Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night" may be the Postal Service's motto, but it could also describe the life of USGS field scientists! Our scientists visit field sites, including USGS groundwater wells, throughout the year to collect samples, make water-level measurements, and keep equipment running properly. In this November 2018 photo, snow falls on USGS Hydrologist Joe Nawikas as he collects groundwater samples in Mammoth, California. For the latest USGS groundwater science from California, visit the USGS California Water Science Center.