The Mississippi embayment — a look underground

Water, oil, and gas wells (shown as green lines) are drilled to hundreds or thousands of feet below land surface in an area known as the Mississippi embayment. Information gathered from these wells was used to create a 3D computer model of underground formations. Many of these formations (shown as shades of grey, blue, brown, or tan surfaces) consist of layers of sand and clay. These formations are important because they contain ground water that can be pumped out of the ground and used for anything from drinking water for public supplies to irrigation water for crops to washing, cooling, or transporting products in industrial settings. With the ever increasing demand for water and concerns about availability and sustainability, visual tools such as this are important and helpful.