Publications

This report gives the results of an investigation to determine the chemical and physical characteristics of ground and surface water in Van Buren County and to relate these characteristics to the agricultural use of land. Chemical inputs to the hydrologic system, including those from precipitation, animal wastes, septic tanks, and fertilizers, are assessed. Land-use, geologic setting...

The ground-water system in the Twin Cities Metropolitan Area includes five aquifers; two of these aquifers the Prairie du Chien-Jordan and the Mount Simon-Hinckley supply about 80 percent and 10 percent, respectively, of the ground water pumped for public supply. Water levels and changes in water levels in these two aquifers differ greatly in the Twin Cities Metropolitan Area. The...

Water samples were collected periodically from 124 wells completed in sand-plain aquifers in Hubbard, Morrison, Otter Tail, and Wadena Counties, Minnesota, to determine baseline water quality, provide data for evaluation of trends, and to investigate seasonal variations in concentrations of selected chemical constituents during a 3-year study that began in October 1979. Results of the...

Outwash deposits consisting of medium to very coarse sand constitute a major aquifer in Todd County and in parts of Cass and Morrison Counties. The outwash ranges in thickness from 0 to 150 feet. Depth to water is generally less than 15 feet, and annual water-level fluctuations are less than 5 feet. Aquifer-test results indicate that transmissivities range from 4,600 to 18,500 feet...

Water-quality data collected at 20 stations in Michigan were used to develop regression equations relating loads of dissolved and suspended substances to discharge. These equations and mean daily discharge were used to estimate long-term loads, which then were converted to estimates of drainage basin yields. These yields were compared to measured yields and to previous estimates...

Water levels, locations, depths, and aquifers tapped are given for 115 observation wells. Tabulated data include extremes of water levels for 1983 and for the period of record, pumpage of most major ground-water users in the State, and quality data on selected wells. The largest reported user of ground-water, the city of Lansing, pumped 8.1 billion gallons from the Saginaw Formation and...

Annual ground-water use in the Twin Cities Metropolitan Area from 1970-79 is presented by aquifer and type of use. The data show that most ground water is withdrawn from wells in the Prairie du Chien-Jordan aquifer and that major uses of the water are for self-supplied industry and public supplies. Annual ground-water-use data are presented by county for each of the five major aquifers...

Research on the hydrology of Williams Lake, north-central Minnesota includes study of evaporation. Presented here are those climatic data needed for energy-budget and mass-transfer studies,including: water-surface temperature, dry-bulb and wet-bulb air temperatures, wind speed, precipitation, and solar radiation. Data are collected at raft and land stations.

The surf icial sands in the Pomme de Terre and Chippewa River valleys in Grant, Pope, Stevens, and Swift Counties have been studied to determine the occurrence, availability, and quality of ground water in these aquifers. In the northern part of the Pomme de Terre and Chippewa River valleys, the aquifers consist of coarse sand and gravel ranging from 0 to 100 feet in thickness...

Operation of a coal-tar distillation and wood-preserving plant from 1918 to 1972 in St. Louis Park, a suburb of Minneapolis, Minn., resulted in ground-water contamination. This preliminary evaluation presents an overview of the problem based on the results of the first year (1979) of an ongoing study. By 1932, water in the Prairie du Chien-Jordan aquifer, the region's major source of...

This report contains a summary of ground-water-quality data for Wisconsin and an evaluation of the adequacy of these data for assessing the impact of land disposal of wastes on ground-water quality. Chemical analyses used in data summaries were limited to those stored in the USGS computer system (WATSTORE). Information on documented instances of ground-water contamination and sources of...

Sands Plain, a 225-square mile area, is near the Marquette iron-mining district in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Gribben Basin, a settling basin for disposal of waste rock particles from iron-ore concentration, is in the western part. Because Sands Plain is near iron-ore deposits, but not underlain by them, parts of the area are being considered as sites for additional tailings basins...