Abstract
Approximately 500 water wells having driller's lithologic logs were plottedin Boone, Carroll, and Madison Counties, Arkansas. Three aquifers were found to be used by the rural residents and smaller communities. The most shallow of these is the Mississippian Boone-St. Joe aquifer. This aquifer is generally the least productive having a range of .25 to 60 gpm but a median productivity of only 5 gpm. Well depths for the Boone-St. Joe range from 46 to 464 ft. and have a median depth of 225 ft. The Boone-St. Joe aquifer is unconfined to semi-confined and yields sufficient quantities of water only when there is an adequate saturated thickness (generally>100 ft.) and/or a fracture or water-filled cave is intersected. The next aquifer is the first sand below the Chattanooga Shale which can be composed on one to three of the following sandstones: upper Everton, Clifty, and/or Sylamore. The range in yield for this newly designated aquifer is 1 to 70 gpm with a median productivity of 10 gpm. Well depths for the aquifer range from 150 to 824 ft. with a median depth of 460 feet. An isopach map was prepared for this sandstone aquifer zone. There is a rapid thinning trend to the north from 250 ft in central Madison County to 0 ft near the Missouri border. If there is insufficiency or permeability of this aquifer, residents must drill deeper to the Cotter Dolomite. The Cotter-Jefferson City Dolomite is the next aquifer below the Sylamore-Clifty-Everton aquifer. This aquifer zone has a range in yield of 1.5 to 200 gpm and a median yield of 15 gpm. Well depths range from 130 to 1010 ft. with a median depth of 475 feet. A statistical correlation procedure was made among well yield (gpm), photo-lineament proximity, and regolith thickness for all these aquifers in Boone County. The results indicate that more water can be obtained in areas of deep weathering and that deeper weathering is found closer to photo-lineaments. A strong relationship between lineament proximity and yield exists when the aquifers are combined but not for each of the individual aquifers.
Recommended Citation
Ogden, Albert E.; Taylor, Nancy L.; and Thompson, Steve D.
(1979)
"Preliminary Investigation of Rural-Use Aquifers of Boone, Carroll, and Madison Counties, Arkansas,"
Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science: Vol. 33, Article 21.
Available at:
https://scholarworks.uark.edu/jaas/vol33/iss1/21
