Altitude and configuration of the water table in the High Plains aquifer in Kansas, 1980

The High Plains aquifer in Kansas is part of a regional system that extends into Colorado, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, and Wyoming.  The aquifer in Kansas underlies an area of 31,000 square miles in the western and south-central part of the State.  This aquifer is a hydraulically connected assemblage of unconsolidated water-bearing deposits.  In western Kansas, the High Plains aquifer consists principally of the Ogallala Formation of late Tertiary age and the overlying deposits of Quaternary age.  In south-central Kansas, the aquifer consists of unconsolidated deposits principally of the Quaternary age.  Valley alluvium of Quaternary age also is included in the deposits in both areas.  The High Plains aquifer is delimited on the east by outcrops of Permian or Cretaceous rocks and by unsaturated deposits of Quaternary age.