Hydrogeologic framework and ground-water resources at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, North Carolina

Abstract

A preliminary hydrogeologic framework of the Seymour Johnson Air Force Base was constructed from published data, available well data, and reports from Air Base files, City of Goldsboro and Wayne County records, and North Carolina Geological Survey files. Borehole geophysical logs were run in selected wells; and the surficial, Black Creek, and upper Cape Fear aquifers were mapped. Results indicate that the surficial aquifer appears to have the greatest lateral variability of clay units and aquifer material of the three aquifers. A surficial aquifer water-level surface map, constructed from selected monitoring wells screened exclusively in the surficial aquifer, indicates the general direction of ground-water movement in this mostly unconfined aquifer is toward the Neuse River and Stoney Creek. However, water-level gradient data from a few sites in the surficial aquifer did not reflect this trend, and there are insufficient hydrologic and hydrogeologic data to determine the cause of these few anamalous measurements. The Black Creek aquifer underlies the surficial aquifer and is believed to underlie most of Wayne County, including the Air Base where the aquifer and overlying confining unit are estimated from well log data to be as much as 100 feet thick. The Black Creek confining unit ranges in thickness from less than 8 feet to more than 20 feet. There are currently no accessible wells screened exclusively in the Black Creek aquifer from which to measure water levels. The upper Cape Fear aquifer and confining unit are generally found at depths greater than 80 feet below land surface at the Air Base, and are estimated to be as much as 70 feet thick. Hydrologic and hydrogeologic data are insufficient to determine localized surficial aquifer hydrogeology, ground-water movement at several sites, or hydraulic head differences between the three aquifers.