The Mississippi Embayment - Declining Water Levels in a Deep Aquifer

The USGS recently constructed a computer model of groundwater in the Mississippi embayment. This model was used to simulate the rise or decline of water level in a deep aquifer. Water from this deep aquifer is utilized to meet the industrial and public supply needs in the area. In the animation, groundwater levels decline more than 400 feet from 1870 to 2007 in some areas of the deep middle Claiborne aquifer in Arkansas and Louisiana. When pumping is forecast to 2038, based on trends of past pumping amounts and climatic variations, areas of water level declines from 100 to 200 feet expand throughout Arkansas, Tennessee, and Mississippi.