Pennsylvanian and Mississippian Aquifers of the Appalachian Plateaus
Science Center Objects
The Appalachian Plateaus region occupies approximately 86,000 square miles in portions of Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. Aquifers in this region consist of alternating sequences of fractured sandstone, siltstone, shale, limestone, and coal in Permian-, Pennsylvanian-, and Mississippian-age rock formations.
A regional Soil-Water-Balance model was constructed for a 160,000-square-mile study area that extended to the topographic divide of all streams originating outside but flowing into areas underlain by Appalachian Plateaus aquifers. The model incorporated soil, landscape, and climate variables to estimate the water budget for the 32-year period from 1980 to 2011.
The data files listed below are supplemental to Hydrologic budget and conditions of Permian, Pennsylvanian, and Mississippian aquifers in the Appalachian Plateaus physiographic province (USGS Scientific Investigations Report 2015-5106). The report includes a description of methods used to derive the data.
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 and mean-seasonal estimates of precipitation, evapotranspiration, and recharge: Metadata (31 KB) Geodatabase (2.8 MB) Text Files (27.3 MB)
Annual and average estimates of water-budget components (precipitation, evapotranspiration, streamflow, and six estimates of base flow, runoff, and base-flow index) also were determined for the period of 1900 to 2011 at 849 continuous-record streamflow-gaging stations from Mississippi to New York using hydrograph separation and precipitation data from parameter-elevation regressions on independent slopes model (PRISM). The data files listed below are supplemental to Annual and average estimates of water-budget components based on hydrograph separation and PRISM precipitation for gaged basins in the Appalachian Plateaus Region, 1900-2011 (USGS Data Series Report 944).
- Point Locations of 849 Continuous Record Streamflow Gages: Metadata (39 KB) Geodatabase (40.5 MB)
- Annual Estimates of Water-Budget Components: Metadata (51 KB) Geodatabase (40.5 MB)
- Average Estimates of Water-Budget Components: Metadata (45 KB) Geodatabase (40.5 MB)
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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
Hydrologic budget and conditions of Permian, Pennsylvanian, and Mississippian aquifers in the Appalachian Plateaus physiographic province
In response to challenges to groundwater availability posed by historic land-use practices, expanding development of hydrocarbon resources, and drought, the U.S. Geological Survey Groundwater Resources Program began a regional assessment of the Appalachian Plateaus aquifers in 2013 that incorporated a hydrologic landscape approach to estimate all...
McCoy, Kurt J.; Yager, Richard M.; Nelms, David L.; Ladd, David E.; Monti,, Jack; Kozar, Mark D.
Annual and average estimates of water-budget components based on hydrograph separation and PRISM precipitation for gaged basins in the Appalachian Plateaus Region, 1900-2011
As part of the U.S. Geological Survey’s Groundwater Resources Program study of the Appalachian Plateaus aquifers, annual and average estimates of water-budget components based on hydrograph separation and precipitation data from parameter-elevation regressions on independent slopes model (PRISM) were determined at 849 continuous-record...
Nelms, David L.; Messinger, Terence; McCoy, Kurt J.
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.