Groundwater Resources of Missouri Cynthia Brookshire, R. G.
GROUNDWATER... Water beneath the Earth s surface within a zone of saturation
AQUIFER... A geologic formation or group of formations that are capable of yielding an economically significant volume of water.
Boundaries AQUIFER... Hydrologic coefficients Recharge and discharge characteristics Water quality characteristics
Groundwater Provinces
Missouri Groundwater Provinces
ESTIMATED GROUNDWATER RECHARGE Glacial drift 1-4 in/year West-Central Missouri 1-4 in/year St. Francois Mts. 1-4 in/year Springfield Plateau 6-12 in/year Salem Plateau 6-14 in/year Southeast Lowlands 6-10 in/year
Groundwater Provinces Northwest
Northwestern Missouri Groundwater Province Northwest Missouri
Northwest Missouri Groundwater Province... All or parts of 23 counties, an area of about 12,117 square miles (17.4% of Missouri) Thick glacial drift and alluvial deposits Pennsylvanian and older bedrock beneath the glacial drift
Northwest Missouri Groundwater Province Northwest Missouri groundwater province is estimated to contain about 11.2 % of Missouri's potable groundwater, about 55.8 trillion gallons Groundwater availability varies from good to poor
Northwest Missouri Groundwater Province Locally used for irrigation and public water supply Thick alluvial deposits underlie the floodplains of the major rivers Agriculture and public water supply >2,000 gpm possible from Missouri River alluvium.
Glacial Drift Sand Thickness, Northwest Missouri
Alluvial Aquifers in Northwestern Missouri
Groundwater Provinces Northeast
Northeastern Missouri Groundwater Province Northeast Missouri
Northeast Missouri Groundwater Province... All or parts of 21 counties, an area of about 11,708 square miles (16.8% of Missouri) Pennsylvanian-age and older bedrock overlain by up to 300 feet of glacial drift Southern part of province is in the freshwater zone, northern part in the saline-water zone.
Glacial Drift Thickness
Extent of Glaciation in Missouri of
Groundwater Provinces West Central
West-Central Missouri Groundwater Province West-Central Missouri
West-Central Missouri Groundwater Province... All or parts of 12 counties, an area of about 5,080 square miles (7.3% of Missouri) Pennsylvanian-age and older sedimentary rocks 1.2 trillion gallons of usable groundwater (0.24% of Missouri s groundwater resource)
West-Central Missouri Groundwater Province Pennsylvanian limestones, sandstones, and shales Mississippian limestones Northview Formation Ordovician and Cambrian dolomites and sandstones Springfield Plateau Aquifer, (mineralized water) Ozark Aquifer (mineralized water)
Freshwater-Salinewater Transition Zone
Deeper aquifers contain highly mineralized groundwater Deeper aquifers contain good-quality groundwater
Groundwater Provinces Springfield Plateau
Springfield Plateau Groundwater Province Springfield Plateau
Springfield Plateau Groundwater Province... All or parts of 27 counties, about 8,900 square miles (12.8 percent of Missouri) Mississippian-age and older sedimentary (mostly carbonate) rocks Many karst features springs, caves, sinkholes
Springfield Plateau Groundwater Province... Two major aquifers Springfield Plateau aquifer Ozark aquifer 122.5 trillion gallons of usable groundwater (24.5 % of Missouri s groundwater resources)
Ozark Confining Unit 50-75 feet RESIDUUM BURLINGTON LIMESTONE ELSEY FORMATION REEDS SPRING FORMATION PIERSON LIMESTONE NORTHVIEW FORMATION COMPTON LIMESTONE CHATTANOOGA SHALE COTTER DOLOMITE 125 150 50 390 JEFFERSON CITY DOLOMITE ROUBIDOUX FORMATION 210 170 GASCONADE DOLOMITE 300 EMINENCE DOLOMITE POTOSI DOLOMITE 120 70
Ozark Confining Unit 50-75 feet RESIDUUM BURLINGTON LIMESTONE ELSEY FORMATION REEDS SPRING FORMATION PIERSON LIMESTONE NORTHVIEW FORMATION COMPTON LIMESTONE CHATTANOOGA SHALE COTTER DOLOMITE 125 150 50 390 JEFFERSON CITY DOLOMITE ROUBIDOUX FORMATION 210 170 GASCONADE DOLOMITE 300 EMINENCE DOLOMITE POTOSI DOLOMITE 120 70
Springfield Plateau Groundwater Province... Ozark Aquifer Thickness
Groundwater Provinces Salem Plateau
Salem Plateau Groundwater Province Salem Plateau
Salem Plateau Groundwater Province... Includes all or parts of 49 counties, an area of about 24,760 mi 2 (35.5 % of Missouri) Ordovician and Cambrian-age dolomite and sandstone formations Many karst features including caves, large springs, sinkholes and losing streams
Salem Plateau Groundwater Province. Two major regional aquifer systems St. Francois aquifer Ozark aquifer 233 trillion gallons of usable groundwater (46.6 % of Missouri s groundwater resources)
Salem Plateau Groundwater Province... Eight first magnitude springs - average discharge >100 ft 3 /sec or 64.6 million gallons of water per day)
Big Spring, Carter County, 288 mgd
Big Spring. 445 ft 3 /sec or 288 million gallons per day St. Louis City...152 mgd Kansas City 85 mgd Springfield..23 mgd Total 260 mgd
Blue Spring, Shannon County, 85 mgd
Alley Spring, Shannon County, 87 mgd
Bennett Spring, Dallas County, 107 mgd
Water Trivia. The combined flows of the eight 1 st magnitude springs is 1,650 ft 3 /sec or 1.07 billion gallons per day Missouri s Population. About 5,500,000 people The average flow of these 8 springs would supply every Missouri resident with 194 gallons of water per day per person
Recharge Areas of Major Springs Where does all that water come from?
Discharge versus Recharge Area Size... In general, the larger the spring the larger the recharge area A = 13.6 x Q R Where: A = Recharge Area (mi 2 ) Q = Average R discharge (ft 3 /sec) R = Recharge Rate (inches/year) Rough rule of thumb: 1 square mile of recharge area for each 1 ft 3 /sec average discharge
Groundwater Provinces Missouri and Mississippi River Alluvium
Missouri and Mississippi River Alluvium
Mississippi and Missouri Alluvial Aquifers... Occupy a relatively small area... Mississippi River alluvium - 485 square miles Missouri River alluvium - 1,401 square miles Unconsolidated sand and gravel deposits underlying the floodplains
Mississippi River Valley, northeast Missouri
Groundwater Provinces St. Francois Mts.
St. Francois Mountains Groundwater Province St. Francois Mountains
St. Francois Mountains Groundwater Province... All or parts of seven counties - 1,300 square mile area (1.9 % of Missouri) Characterized by Precambrian-age igneous rocks such as granite and rhyolite Estimated groundwater storage, 919 billion gallons (0.2 percent of Missouri s groundwater)
Elephant Rocks State Park, Precambrian-age granite boulders
Johnson s Shut-ins, Reynolds County East Fork Black River, Rhyolite
Groundwater Provinces Southeast Lowlands
Southeastern Lowlands Groundwater Province Southeaste Lowlands
Southeastern Lowlands Groundwater Province... 3,916 mi2 (5.7 % of Missouri) Cretaceous, Tertiary, and Quaternary unconsolidated sand and gravel deposits comprising three major aquifers Deeper bedrock aquifers west of Crowleys Ridge (Ozark and St. Francois aquifers)
Southeastern Lowlands Groundwater Province... 75.7 trillion gallons of groundwater (15 % of Missouri s usable groundwater) Enough water to cover the province with 93 feet of water
Southeastern Lowlands, Alluvial Aquifer Thickness
Bald Cyprus and Tupulo Gum Swamp, Dunklin County
Rice Irrigation, Ripley County
Rice Irrigation, Butler County
WATER QUALITY CONSIDERATIONS.
WATER QUALITY. Chemical Biological Radiological
NATURAL WATER QUALITY 1. Type of Rock 2. Length of contact time with water 3. Other factors (ph, Eh, D.O. etc.)
CHEMICAL WATER QUALITY. CATIONS Calcium (Ca +2 ) Magnesium (Mg +2 ) Potassium (K + ) Sodium (Na + ) Iron (Fe +2, Fe +3 ) Manganese (Mn +2 ) ANIONS Bicarbonate (HCO 3- ) Carbonate (CO 3-2 ) Sulfate (SO 4-2 ) Chloride (Cl - ) Nitrate (NO 3- ) Silica (SiO 2 )
Total Dissolved Solids in the Paleozoic Aquifers Marginal to Poor Quality Groundwater Good Quality Groundwater
POTENTIAL CONTAMINANT SOURCES
Groundwater-Level Observation Well Network >160 wells
Water Resources Center Observation Well Network http://dnr.mo.gov/env/wrc/groundwater/gwnetwork.htm Water Resources Center Home Page http://dnr.mo.gov/env/wrc/index.html Real Time Groundwater Level Data - USGS http://nwis.waterdata.usgs.gov/mo/nwis/current/?type=gw
Summary. Missouri has a lot of groundwater most of it has good quality! 500 trillion gallons, enough to cover the entire state to a depth of 30 feet Missouri currently uses about 30 billion gallons of groundwater per year Groundwater is not evenly distributed, 86.7% in southern Missouri, 13.3% in northern Missouri