Geology topics
Publications and source records attributed to Robert B. Morton.
This report presents hydrogeologic maps of the Central Oklahoma aquifer. The maps were prepared by measuring water levels in wells during the winder of 1986 and 1987; examination of geophysical logs to determine the altitudes of the top of selected geologic units and the base of fresh ground water; and compilation of existing information on the stratigraphy of selected geologic units and the base of fresh ground water.
A study of water-quality degradation due to brine contamination was made in an area of ~1,700 mi 2 in east-central Oklahoma. The study area coincides in part with the outcrop of the Vamoosa-Ada aquifer of Pennsylvanian age.
A study of water-quality degradation due to brine contamination was made in an area of about 1,700 square miles in east-central Oklahoma. The study area coincides, in part, with the outcrop of the Vamoosa-Ada aquifer of Pennsylvanian age. Water samples collected from 180 wells completed in the Vamoosa-Ada aquifer, and at 168 sites from streams draining the Vamoosa-Ada aquifer show scattered occurrences of water-quality degradation by brine. Degradation of water quality by brine is indicated where: (1) Chloride concentration is equal to or greater than 400 milligrams per liter (2) bromide concentration is equal to or greater than 2 milligrams per liter (3) the ratio of lithium to sodium is equal to or less than 0.01, and the chloride concentration is equal to or greater than 400 milligrams per liter, or (4) the ratio of sodium plus chloride to dissolved solids is equal to or greater than 0.64. Other ratios of secondary importance that also indicate water-quality degradation by brine in the area are (1) a sodium/chloride ratio of about 0.46; (2) a sodium/bromide ratio of about 92; and (3) a bromide/chloride ratio of about 0.0048.
A digital model was used to provide a quantitative description of the Ogallala aquifer in Texas County, Oklahoma, and to predict saturated thickness and water in storage from the aquifer at specified future times. The Ogallala aquifer, which consists of unconsolidated sand, gravel, and clay, is the principal source of ground water in Texas County. Saturated thickness ranged from 0 feet to over 600 feet. The estimated value used for specific yield in most of the areas was 0.15 but 0.05 was used in some places. Hydraulic conductivity ranged from 0 to more than 200 feet per day, and recharge ranged from 0.2 to 2.2 inches per year. Irrigation pumpage was estimated using crop acreage and estimate of irrigation requirements. For projection simulations with large stress, a reasonable maximum stress using a minimum of 4 wells per square mile and 1972 pumping rate per well, if saturated thickness was more than 38 feet, was used. Four types of boundaries were used in the model. They are: A zero-flux (impermeable) boundary on the perimeter of the modeled area. A constant-head boundary for a reach of the Cimarron River. A boundary which is a constant-head boundary initially but converts to an impermeable boundary (depending on the potentiometric gradient at the boundary) for a reach of Beaver River, Palo Duro Creek, and south of Palo Duro Creek. A boundary which is a partially penetrating stream with leaky-stream bed for parts of Beaver River and Coldwater Creek. The base period for calibration was 1966. The model was calibrated by a simulation from 1966 to 1968 in which pumpage was modified until the 1968 calculated heads matched closely the 1968 observed heads. The model was verified by a simulation from 1966 to 1972, using the 1966 to 1972 pumpage stress, in order to determine the degree of conformity between 1972 calculated heads and 1972 observed heads. The agreement was acceptable.
Ground water in the Verdigris River basin occurs in consolidated rocks and unconsolidated deposits ranging in age from Mississippian to Quaternary. Water for municipal, industrial, and irrigation supplies generally can be obtained in limited quantities from the alluvial deposits in the stream valleys. Except for water in the alluvial deposits in the stream valleys and in the outcrop areas of the bedrock aquifers, the groundwater is generally of poor chemical quality. Owing to the generally poor chemical quality of water and low yields to wells, an increase in the use of ground water from the consolidated rocks is improbable. The unconsolidated rocks in the Verdigris River basin receive about 166,000 acre-feet of recharge annually, and about 1 million acre-fee of water is in temporary storage in the deposits. In 1968 about 4,200 acre-feet of ground was withdrawn for all uses. About 800 acre-feet of ground and 5,000 acre-feet of surface water were pumped for irrigation of 5,300 acres of cropland. The total annual withdrawal of ground water for irrigation may be 2,000 acre-feet by the year 2000.
Ground water in the Middle Arkansas River basin occurs in consolidated rocks and unconsolidated deposits. Wells for domestic and stock supply generally can be drilled successfully in consolidated rocks. Wells for large-scale municipal, industrial, and irrigation supplies generally are successful in areas underlain by saturated unconsolidated deposits of sand and gravel. Unconsolidated deposits in the basin receive about 2 million acre-feet of recharge annually, and about 84 million acre-feet of water is in temporary storage in the deposits. In 1968 and 1969 about 270,000 acre-feet of ground water was withdrawn annually for all purposes. Of the total withdrawn, about 167,000 acre-feet was applied for irrigation of about 122,000 acres of cropland. Total annual ground-water withdrawals for irrigation may be 1 million acre-feet by the year 2000.
Ground water is the major source of water supply in Beaver County. Because of the rapidly increasing demand for the limited supply of water for irrigation, additional geologic and hydrologic data are needed for management of ground-water resources. This report presents general information on the availability of ground water, on the chemical quality of water, and on streamflow. The chemical quality of water generally is poorer than that of water elsewhere in the Oklahoma Panhandle, and the ability to obtain good quality water may become increasingly difficult as the water resources are developed. Further studies are needed to determine the annual change in water levels, the rate of water-level decline in heavily pumped areas, the volume of water stored in the ground-water reservoir, and the quantity of water that may be withdrawn safely in a given area.
The Oklahoma Panhandle and adjacent areas in Texas, Kansas, Colorado, and New Mexico have prospered because of the development of supplies of fresh water and of oil and gas. The Ogallala and, in places, Cretaceous rocks produce fresh water for irrigation, public supply, and domestic and stock use through approximately 9,000 irrigation and public supply wells and a large but undetermined number of other wells. Disposal of oil-field brine and other wastes into the Glorieta Sandstone is of concern to many local residents because of the possibility of pollution of the overlying fresh-water aquifers, particularly the Ogallala Formation. Permits for 147 disposal wells into the Glorieta have been issued in this area. This report summarizes the data on geology, hydrology, and water development currently available to the U.S. Geological Survey. Geologic information indicates that, in the report area, the Glorieta Sandstone lies at depths ranging from about 500 to 1,600 feet below the base of the Ogallala Fox, nation. The rocks between those two formations are of relatively impermeable types, but solution and removal of salt has resulted in collapse of the rocks in some places. Collapse and fracturing of the rocks could result in increased vertical permeability. This might result in movement of brine under hydrostatic head from the Glorieta Sandstone into overlying fresh-water aquifers, in places where an upward hydraulic gradient exists or is created by an increase in pressure within the Glorieta. Abandoned or inadequately sealed boreholes also are possible conduits for such fluids. The mixing of water in the fresh-water aquifers with brines injected into the Glorieta is not known to have occurred anywhere in the report area, but the information available is not adequate to show positively whether or not this may have occurred locally. Much additional information on the stratigraphy and hydrology--particularly, data on the potentiometric surface of water in the Glorieta--needs to be collected and analyzed before conclusions can be drawn regarding the possibility of vertical movement of oil-field brines from the Glorieta to fresh-water aquifers above.