Publications

Current ground-water use is required for the High Plains Regional Aquifer-System Analysis. In response to this need, a sampling approach was developed to estimate water pumped for irrigation on the High Plains during 1980. Pumpage was computed by combining application estimates with mapped irrigated-acreage information. Irrigation application (inches of water applied) was measured at 480...

The rapid increase of ground-water withdrawal has caused concern over the future use of the Ogallala aquifer, the principal source of water in Ford County, in southwestern Kansas. Saturated portions of deposits of Tertiary and Quaternary age--excluding the Arkansas River alluvium--form the Ogallala aquifer. Saturated thickness of the Ogallala ranged from 0 to about 350 feet on the...

Disturbances resulting from intensive coal mining in the Cherry Creek basin of southeastern Kansas were investigated using color and color-infrared aerial photography in conjunction with water-quality data from simultaneously acquired samples. Imagery was used to identify the type and extent of vegetative cover on strip-mined lands and the extent and success of reclamation practices...

A study was made, in cooperation with the Division of Water Resources, Kansas State Board of Agriculture, to determine geohydrologic conditions in an area comprising nearly 850,000 acres along the Arkansas River valley in Kearny and Finney Counties, southwestern Kansas. The Arkansas River meanders atop and interacts hydraulically with the area's multilayered, unconsolidated aquifer...

A map of the water table in the Solomon River valley from Waconda Lake to Solomon presents current (1980) data on water levels in the unconsolidated deposits. The study was made, in cooperation with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, to obtain information for use in a water-management study of the Soloman River Basin.

Water-level measurements were made, mostly in January 1982, in about 1,530 wells in western and south-central Kansas. The measurements were made in mid-winter when pumping was minimal and water levels had recovered, for the most part, from the effects of pumping during the previous irrigation season. Annual hydrologic data are provided for relating water-level changes from a ' base...

A computer model was developed to assist the Southwest Kansas Groundwater Management District No. 3 in the evaluation of applications to appropriate ground water. The model calculated the drawdown due from a proposed well at all existing wells in the section of the proposed well and at all wells in the adjacent eight sections. The depletion expected in the 9-square-mile area due to all...

The Ogallala Formation comprises the High Plains aquifer in Oklahoma and southwestern Kansas. Regional ground-water flow is from west to east in the Ogallala Formation, and the concentration of dissolved solids in ground water increases in the direction of flow. This increase may be influenced by residence time, but underlying bedrock appears to control ground-water chemistry. The...

Historical information on ground-water pumpage for irrigation is required for use with a computer model of the High Plains aquifer. Available historical data on ground-water pumpage in the High Plains were inadequate for use with the computer model. Consequently, a method was developed to estimate historical pumpage data. Two principal components were used to develop estimates of ground...

A statistical technique, called kriging, was programmed for a computer to interpolate hydrologic data based on a network of 296 measured values in west-central Kansas and eastern Colorado. The computer program generated estimated values of selected hydrologic data at the center of each 1-mile section in the Western Kansas Groundwater Management District No. 1. This program facilitated...

Strippable reserves of Mulberry coal underlie an area of approximately 300 square miles of Miami, Linn, and Bourbon Counties of eastern Kansas. Although subject to State reclamation law, current and projected strip mining of this relatively thin coal seam could alter and hydrologic environment of the study area. Drained by the Marais des Cygnes and Little Osage Rivers and their...

Analysis of hydrologic data from the Kansas River basin suggests that the channels of the lower Solomon, Saline, and Smoky Hill Rivers have narrowed and stabilized as a result of construction of upstream reservoirs. The Kansas River channel, however, remains relatively unstable and locally active. Streamflow regulation and sediment trapping by reservoirs are possible causes of changes...