Potentiometric surface of the Black Creek Aquifer in the central coastal plain of North Carolina, December 1986

Water level measurements were made in 95 wells open to the Black Creek aquifer at the end of 1986 to determine the configuration of its potentiometric surface over an area of about 4,900 sq mi in the central Coastal Plain of North Carolina. The altitude of the potentiometric surface of the Black Creek ranges between 80 and 100 ft above sea level along the western limit of the aquifer. From there the potentiometric surface slopes southeasterly toward a large, elongated cone of depression that has coalesced from cones that have developed around three main pumping centers and several smaller ones. The potentiometric surface in the Black Creek has declined to more than 120 ft below sea level in the southernmost cone developing near Jacksonville in Onslow County.