Hawaiian volcanic-rock aquifer
Science Center Objects
As part of the Hawai‛i Volcanic-Rock Aquifer Study, water-budget models were used to compute groundwater recharge and other water-budget components for four of the Hawaiian Islands: Kaua‛i, O‛ahu, Maui, and Hawai‛i Island.
The main islands of Hawai‛i are formed by enormous basaltic shield volcanoes that were built from the ocean floor by mid-plate hot-spot volcanism. The islands are successively younger toward the southeast of the chain, with Miocene-age basalt on Ni‛ihau and Kaua‛i at the northwestern end and active volcanoes on the Big Island at the southeastern end. The shield volcanoes along the island chain are also at different stages of geologic development. Lava flows from three stages in the life of Hawaiian volcanoes–shield, postshield, and rejuvenation–formed the land mass above sea level. This webpage provides links to download geospatial data associated with the Hawai‛i Volcanic-Rock Aquifer study and Volcanic aquifers of Hawai‘i—Hydrogeology, water budgets, and conceptual models (USGS Scientific Investigations Report 2015-5164).
As part of the Hawai‛i Volcanic-Rock Aquifer Study, water-budget models were used to compute groundwater recharge and other water-budget components for four of the Hawaiian Islands: Kaua‛i, O‛ahu, Maui, and Hawai‛i Island. The water-budget components were computed for predevelopment, recent, and current conditions, as described in USGS Scientific Investigations Report 2015-5164. Spatial datasets used within the model were those that characterize the spatial distribution of hydrologic and physical conditions (rainfall, fog interception, irrigation, reference evapotranspiration, direct runoff, soil type, and land cover) that were used to compute groundwater recharge and other water-budget components. The downloadable shapefiles below include information for those attributes. The recharge estimates may be used in numerical groundwater models that can evaluate the effects of groundwater withdrawals on groundwater levels, streamflow, coastal discharge, and salinities in public and private wells.
Click on the links below to download files for this aquifer. For information about the available file types, see Aquifer data: Explanation of spatial data formats.
Mean annual water-budget components for Kaua‛i, O‛ahu, Maui, and Hawai‛i Island (USGS Science Data Catalog search)
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Date published: March 8, 2021Status: ActivePrincipal Aquifers of the United States
This website compiles USGS resources and data related to principal aquifers including Aquifer Basics, principal aquifers maps and GIS data, and the National Aquifer Code Reference List.
Contacts: Ask USGSAttribution: Water Resources -
Date published: February 28, 2019Status: ActiveNational Water Census: Regional Groundwater Availability Studies
The National Water Census includes regional analysis of groundwater availability, enabling information to be integrated and consistent so the resource can be analyzed and understood on an aquifer–wide scale. The NWC also seeks to increase capacity to integrate groundwater and surface water into watershed-level assessments of water availability.
Attribution: Water Resources
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Year Published: 2018Volcanic aquifers of Hawai‘i—Hydrogeology, water budgets, and conceptual models
Hawai‘i’s aquifers have limited capacity to store fresh groundwater because each island is small and surrounded by saltwater. Saltwater also underlies much of the fresh groundwater. Fresh groundwater resources are, therefore, particularly vulnerable to human activity, short-term climate cycles, and long-term climate change. Availability of fresh...
Izuka, Scot K.; Engott, John A.; Rotzoll, Kolja; Bassiouni, Maoya; Johnson, Adam G.; Miller, Lisa D.; Mair, AlanAttribution: Pacific Islands Water Science Center, Water ResourcesView CitationIzuka, S.K., Engott, J.A., Rotzoll, Kolja, Bassiouni, Maoya, Johnson, A.G., Miller, L.D., and Mair, Alan, 2018, Volcanic aquifers of Hawai‘i—Hydrogeology, water budgets, and conceptual models (ver. 2.0, March 2018): U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2015-5164, 158 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/sir20155164.
Ground Water Atlas of the United States
PrefaceThe Ground Water Atlas of the United States presents a comprehensive summary of the Nation's ground-water resources and is a basic reference for the location, geography, geology, and hydrologic characteristics of the major aquifers in the Nation. The information was collected by the U.S. Geological Survey and other agencies during the...
Principal aquifers [of the United States]
No abstract available.
Miller, James A.