Analysis and computer simulation of stream-aquifer hydrology, Arkansas River valley, southwestern Kansas

A study was made, in cooperation with the Division of Water Resources, Kansas State Board of Agriculture, to determine geohydrologic conditions underlying nearly 110,000 acres of the Arkansas River Valley between the Colorado-Kansas State line and the Bear Creek Fault zone in southwestern Kansas. The Arkansas River meanders atop and interacts hydraulically with the area's unconfined sand and gravel aquifer. Owing to decreasing recharge and increasing discharge during the 1970's, water levels declined an average of 4 feet during 1970-79. Average annual streamflow at Syracuse, Kansas, also decreased from 232 cubic feet per second during 1951-69 to 85 cubic feet per second during 1970-79.