Kevin John Cunningham, PhD
Science and Products
Carbonate Aquifer Characterization Laboratory
The Carbonate Aquifer Characterization Laboratory (CACL) was initiated to promote collaborative research on carbonate aquifer characterization between the USGS and other governmental scientific agencies and academia. And, also to provide applied research for local, state, and federal agencies, and private industry, when research needs are within the scope of the USGS mission. As the primary...
Seawater chemistry and physical property profiling using CDT casts above two seafloor pockmarks on the Miami Terrace offshore of southeastern Florida, 2016
In the Atlantic Ocean and above the Miami Terrace off southeastern Florida, a total of nine CTD (conductivity, temperature, and depth) casts were performed using the 115-foot Research Vessel (R/V) Weatherbird II above the submerged Miami Terrace at the Miami pockmark and Key Biscayne pockmark from May 4 to May 8, 2016. A CTD is a package of electronic instruments and sampling devices...
Multibeam sonar bathymetric data for the Miami Pockmark and Key Biscayne Pockmark
Multibeam sonar data showing the bathymetric survey of two offshore submarine pockmarks, Miami Pockmark and Key Biscayne Pockmark. A series of dives were performed to produce the bathymetric surveys using an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) with a multibeam-sonar. These data were collected between May 5-8, 2016 using a Bluefin B12 AUV equipped with a Imagenex MBDelta and an onboard...
Methane, nitrogen, oxygen, and carbon dioxide data for the Miami Pockmark and Key Biscayne Pockmark
Methane, nitrogen, oxygen, and carbon dioxide data were collected at two offshore submarine pockmarks, Miami Pockmark and Key Biscayne Pockmark. A series of dives were performed to gather the data using an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) with an Underwater Mass Spectrometer (UMS) instrument. The data were collected May 5-8, 2016 using a Bluefin B12 AUV equipped with a UMS and an...
Conductivity, temperature, and salinity data for the Miami Pockmark and Key Biscayne Pockmark
Conductivity, temperature, and salinity data were collected from two offshore submarine pockmarks, Miami Pockmark and Key Biscayne Pockmark. A series of dives were performed to gather conductivity, temperature, and salinity data using an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) with a Conductivity, Temperature and Depth (CDT) instrument. These data were collected between May 5-8, 2016 using a...
Land and marine seismic profiles used to assess the seismic stratigraphy and structure of the intermediate confining unit and Floridan aquifer system, Broward County, Florida
In southeastern Florida, the need exists to more accurately map previously defined stratiform permeability units of the Floridan aquifer system and map areas of possible vertical cross-formational fluid flow. Primarily, this is because at some deep-well injection sites in southeastern Florida upward cross-formational movement of effluent injected into the saline lower Floridan aquifer...
Correlation Between Seismic-Reflection Profiles and Well Data, Broward County, FL
Synthetic seismograms provide a means to calibrate (groundtruth) seismic-reflection profiles to specific subsurface stratigraphic events observed in one-dimensional core and geophysical log data acquired from wells. Independently, Walker Marine Geophysical Company and Geokinetics Incorporated used velocity data from 13 borehole-compensated sonic logs as input for specialized geophysical...
Hydrogeology and ground-water flow at Levee 31N, Miami-Dade County, Florida, July 2003 to May 2004: As part of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan
IntroductionThe Levee 31N Seepage Management Pilot Project began in 2001, as part of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP). The pilot project seeks to determine the appropriate technology needed to control seepage from Everglades National Park (ENP), and provide the appropriate amount of ground-water flow to minimize potential impacts to the West Well Field and Biscayne...
Filter Total Items: 35
Formation of vertical columnar seismic structures and seafloor depressions by groundwater discharge in the drowned Miami Terrace platform and overlying deep-water carbonates, southeastern Florida
The presence of vertical cross-formational fluid migration passageways within sedimentary basins can profoundly impact aquifer and reservoir fluid-flow and their identification is fundamental to informing management of subsurface fluid resources (groundwater, oil, gas). In an onshore and offshore southeastern part of Florida, 2D/3D seismic-reflection and bathymetry data document ∼153...
Authors
Kevin J. Cunningham, Richard L. Westcott, Sean Norgard, Edward Robinson, Harry J. Dowsett, Marci M. Robinson
New larger benthic foraminifera from the subsurface Lower to Middle Eocene Oldsmar Formation of southeastern Florida (USA)
We describe two larger benthic foraminiferal taxa collected from wells drilled in the subsurface Eocene rocks of southeastern Florida that are new to peninsular Florida and the Caribbean region. Saudia floridana n.sp. is characteristic of a foraminiferal assemblage, along with Helicostegina gyralis, wide forms of the Cushmania americana group, and Gunteria floridana, in an upper part of...
Authors
Edward Robinson, Kevin J. Cunningham
Hydrogeologic characterization of part of the Lower Floridan aquifer at the South District Wastewater Treatment Plant, Miami-Dade County, Florida
The South District Wastewater Treatment Plant in southeastern Miami-Dade County, Florida, includes a Class I treated wastewater injection well system. The detection of ammonia in monitoring zones above the injection zone in the Lower Floridan aquifer has elicited a need to understand the nature of confinement within the Lower Floridan aquifer as it pertains to the vertical migration of...
Authors
Kevin L. DeFosset, Kevin J. Cunningham
Three-dimensional seismic characterization of karst in the Floridan aquifer system, southeastern Miami-Dade County, Florida
Two three-dimensional seismic surveys totaling 3.4 square miles were acquired in southeastern Miami-Dade County during 2015 as part of an ongoing broad regional investigation by the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Miami-Dade Water and Sewer Department, that includes mapping and karst characterization of the Floridan aquifer system in southeastern Florida. Twenty...
Authors
Kevin J. Cunningham, Joann F. Dixon, Richard L. Westcott, Sean Norgard, Cameron Walker
Statistical approach to neural network imaging of karst systems in 3D seismic reflection data
The current lack of a robust, standardized technique for geophysical mapping of karst systems can be attributed to both the complexity of the environment and prior technological limitations. Abrupt lateral variations in physical properties that are inherent to karst systems generate significant geophysical noise, challenging conventional seismic signal processing and interpretation...
Authors
Daniel Ebuna, Jared W. Kluesner, Kevin J. Cunningham, Joel H. Edwards
Sequence stratigraphy, seismic stratigraphy, and seismic structures of the lower intermediate confining unit and most of the Floridan aquifer system, Broward County, Florida
Deep well injection and disposal of treated wastewater into the highly transmissive saline Boulder Zone in the lower part of the Floridan aquifer system began in 1971. The zone of injection is a highly transmissive hydrogeologic unit, the Boulder Zone, in the lower part of the Floridan aquifer system. Since the 1990s, however, treated wastewater injection into the Boulder Zone in...
Authors
Kevin J. Cunningham, Jared W. Kluesner, Richard L. Westcott, Edward Robinson, Cameron Walker, Shakira A. Khan
Lithofacies and sequence stratigraphic description of the upper part of the Avon Park Formation and the Arcadia Formation in U.S. Geological Survey G–2984 test corehole, Broward County, Florida
Rock core and sediment from U.S. Geological Survey test corehole G–2984 completed in 2011 in Broward County, Florida, provide an opportunity to improve the understanding of the lithostratigraphic, sequence stratigraphic, and hydrogeologic framework of the intermediate confining unit and Floridan aquifer system in southeastern Florida. A multidisciplinary approach including...
Authors
Kevin J. Cunningham, Edward Robinson
Geostatistical borehole image-based mapping of karst-carbonate aquifer pores
Quantification of the character and spatial distribution of porosity in carbonate aquifers is important as input into computer models used in the calculation of intrinsic permeability and for next-generation, high-resolution groundwater flow simulations. Digital, optical, borehole-wall image data from three closely spaced boreholes in the karst-carbonate Biscayne aquifer in southeastern...
Authors
Michael C. Sukop, Kevin J. Cunningham
Seismic-sequence stratigraphy and geologic structure of the Floridan aquifer system near "Boulder Zone" deep wells in Miami-Dade County, Florida
The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Miami-Dade Water and Sewer Department, acquired, processed, and interpreted seismic-reflection data near the North and South District “Boulder Zone” Well Fields to determine if geologic factors may contribute to the upward migration of injected effluent into that upper part of the Floridan aquifer system designated by the U.S...
Authors
Kevin J. Cunningham
Lattice Boltzmann methods applied to large-scale three-dimensional virtual cores constructed from digital optical borehole images of the karst carbonate Biscayne aquifer in southeastern Florida
Digital optical borehole images at approximately 2 mm vertical resolution and borehole caliper data were used to create three-dimensional renderings of the distribution of (1) matrix porosity and (2) vuggy megaporosity for the karst carbonate Biscayne aquifer in southeastern Florida. The renderings based on the borehole data were used as input into Lattice Boltzmann methods to obtain...
Authors
Michael C. Sukop, Kevin J. Cunningham
Geologic and hydrogeologic frameworks of the Biscayne aquifer in central Miami-Dade County, Florida
Evaluations of the lithostratigraphy, lithofacies, paleontology, ichnology, depositional environments, and cyclostratigraphy from 11 test coreholes were linked to geophysical interpretations, and to results of hydraulic slug tests of six test coreholes at the Snapper Creek Well Field (SCWF), to construct geologic and hydrogeologic frameworks for the study area in central Miami-Dade...
Authors
Michael A. Wacker, Kevin J. Cunningham, John H. Williams
Integration of seismic-reflection and well data to assess the potential impact of stratigraphic and structural features on sustainable water supply from the Floridan aquifer system, Broward County, Florida
The U.S. Geological Survey and Broward County water managers commenced a 3.5-year cooperative study in July 2012 to refine the geologic and hydrogeologic framework of the Floridan aquifer system (FAS) in Broward County. A lack of advanced stratigraphic knowledge of the physical system and structural geologic anomalies (faults and fractures originating from tectonics and karst-collapse...
Authors
Kevin J. Cunningham
Science and Products
Carbonate Aquifer Characterization Laboratory
The Carbonate Aquifer Characterization Laboratory (CACL) was initiated to promote collaborative research on carbonate aquifer characterization between the USGS and other governmental scientific agencies and academia. And, also to provide applied research for local, state, and federal agencies, and private industry, when research needs are within the scope of the USGS mission. As the primary...
Seawater chemistry and physical property profiling using CDT casts above two seafloor pockmarks on the Miami Terrace offshore of southeastern Florida, 2016
In the Atlantic Ocean and above the Miami Terrace off southeastern Florida, a total of nine CTD (conductivity, temperature, and depth) casts were performed using the 115-foot Research Vessel (R/V) Weatherbird II above the submerged Miami Terrace at the Miami pockmark and Key Biscayne pockmark from May 4 to May 8, 2016. A CTD is a package of electronic instruments and sampling devices...
Multibeam sonar bathymetric data for the Miami Pockmark and Key Biscayne Pockmark
Multibeam sonar data showing the bathymetric survey of two offshore submarine pockmarks, Miami Pockmark and Key Biscayne Pockmark. A series of dives were performed to produce the bathymetric surveys using an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) with a multibeam-sonar. These data were collected between May 5-8, 2016 using a Bluefin B12 AUV equipped with a Imagenex MBDelta and an onboard...
Methane, nitrogen, oxygen, and carbon dioxide data for the Miami Pockmark and Key Biscayne Pockmark
Methane, nitrogen, oxygen, and carbon dioxide data were collected at two offshore submarine pockmarks, Miami Pockmark and Key Biscayne Pockmark. A series of dives were performed to gather the data using an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) with an Underwater Mass Spectrometer (UMS) instrument. The data were collected May 5-8, 2016 using a Bluefin B12 AUV equipped with a UMS and an...
Conductivity, temperature, and salinity data for the Miami Pockmark and Key Biscayne Pockmark
Conductivity, temperature, and salinity data were collected from two offshore submarine pockmarks, Miami Pockmark and Key Biscayne Pockmark. A series of dives were performed to gather conductivity, temperature, and salinity data using an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) with a Conductivity, Temperature and Depth (CDT) instrument. These data were collected between May 5-8, 2016 using a...
Land and marine seismic profiles used to assess the seismic stratigraphy and structure of the intermediate confining unit and Floridan aquifer system, Broward County, Florida
In southeastern Florida, the need exists to more accurately map previously defined stratiform permeability units of the Floridan aquifer system and map areas of possible vertical cross-formational fluid flow. Primarily, this is because at some deep-well injection sites in southeastern Florida upward cross-formational movement of effluent injected into the saline lower Floridan aquifer...
Correlation Between Seismic-Reflection Profiles and Well Data, Broward County, FL
Synthetic seismograms provide a means to calibrate (groundtruth) seismic-reflection profiles to specific subsurface stratigraphic events observed in one-dimensional core and geophysical log data acquired from wells. Independently, Walker Marine Geophysical Company and Geokinetics Incorporated used velocity data from 13 borehole-compensated sonic logs as input for specialized geophysical...
Hydrogeology and ground-water flow at Levee 31N, Miami-Dade County, Florida, July 2003 to May 2004: As part of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan
IntroductionThe Levee 31N Seepage Management Pilot Project began in 2001, as part of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP). The pilot project seeks to determine the appropriate technology needed to control seepage from Everglades National Park (ENP), and provide the appropriate amount of ground-water flow to minimize potential impacts to the West Well Field and Biscayne...
Filter Total Items: 35
Formation of vertical columnar seismic structures and seafloor depressions by groundwater discharge in the drowned Miami Terrace platform and overlying deep-water carbonates, southeastern Florida
The presence of vertical cross-formational fluid migration passageways within sedimentary basins can profoundly impact aquifer and reservoir fluid-flow and their identification is fundamental to informing management of subsurface fluid resources (groundwater, oil, gas). In an onshore and offshore southeastern part of Florida, 2D/3D seismic-reflection and bathymetry data document ∼153...
Authors
Kevin J. Cunningham, Richard L. Westcott, Sean Norgard, Edward Robinson, Harry J. Dowsett, Marci M. Robinson
New larger benthic foraminifera from the subsurface Lower to Middle Eocene Oldsmar Formation of southeastern Florida (USA)
We describe two larger benthic foraminiferal taxa collected from wells drilled in the subsurface Eocene rocks of southeastern Florida that are new to peninsular Florida and the Caribbean region. Saudia floridana n.sp. is characteristic of a foraminiferal assemblage, along with Helicostegina gyralis, wide forms of the Cushmania americana group, and Gunteria floridana, in an upper part of...
Authors
Edward Robinson, Kevin J. Cunningham
Hydrogeologic characterization of part of the Lower Floridan aquifer at the South District Wastewater Treatment Plant, Miami-Dade County, Florida
The South District Wastewater Treatment Plant in southeastern Miami-Dade County, Florida, includes a Class I treated wastewater injection well system. The detection of ammonia in monitoring zones above the injection zone in the Lower Floridan aquifer has elicited a need to understand the nature of confinement within the Lower Floridan aquifer as it pertains to the vertical migration of...
Authors
Kevin L. DeFosset, Kevin J. Cunningham
Three-dimensional seismic characterization of karst in the Floridan aquifer system, southeastern Miami-Dade County, Florida
Two three-dimensional seismic surveys totaling 3.4 square miles were acquired in southeastern Miami-Dade County during 2015 as part of an ongoing broad regional investigation by the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Miami-Dade Water and Sewer Department, that includes mapping and karst characterization of the Floridan aquifer system in southeastern Florida. Twenty...
Authors
Kevin J. Cunningham, Joann F. Dixon, Richard L. Westcott, Sean Norgard, Cameron Walker
Statistical approach to neural network imaging of karst systems in 3D seismic reflection data
The current lack of a robust, standardized technique for geophysical mapping of karst systems can be attributed to both the complexity of the environment and prior technological limitations. Abrupt lateral variations in physical properties that are inherent to karst systems generate significant geophysical noise, challenging conventional seismic signal processing and interpretation...
Authors
Daniel Ebuna, Jared W. Kluesner, Kevin J. Cunningham, Joel H. Edwards
Sequence stratigraphy, seismic stratigraphy, and seismic structures of the lower intermediate confining unit and most of the Floridan aquifer system, Broward County, Florida
Deep well injection and disposal of treated wastewater into the highly transmissive saline Boulder Zone in the lower part of the Floridan aquifer system began in 1971. The zone of injection is a highly transmissive hydrogeologic unit, the Boulder Zone, in the lower part of the Floridan aquifer system. Since the 1990s, however, treated wastewater injection into the Boulder Zone in...
Authors
Kevin J. Cunningham, Jared W. Kluesner, Richard L. Westcott, Edward Robinson, Cameron Walker, Shakira A. Khan
Lithofacies and sequence stratigraphic description of the upper part of the Avon Park Formation and the Arcadia Formation in U.S. Geological Survey G–2984 test corehole, Broward County, Florida
Rock core and sediment from U.S. Geological Survey test corehole G–2984 completed in 2011 in Broward County, Florida, provide an opportunity to improve the understanding of the lithostratigraphic, sequence stratigraphic, and hydrogeologic framework of the intermediate confining unit and Floridan aquifer system in southeastern Florida. A multidisciplinary approach including...
Authors
Kevin J. Cunningham, Edward Robinson
Geostatistical borehole image-based mapping of karst-carbonate aquifer pores
Quantification of the character and spatial distribution of porosity in carbonate aquifers is important as input into computer models used in the calculation of intrinsic permeability and for next-generation, high-resolution groundwater flow simulations. Digital, optical, borehole-wall image data from three closely spaced boreholes in the karst-carbonate Biscayne aquifer in southeastern...
Authors
Michael C. Sukop, Kevin J. Cunningham
Seismic-sequence stratigraphy and geologic structure of the Floridan aquifer system near "Boulder Zone" deep wells in Miami-Dade County, Florida
The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Miami-Dade Water and Sewer Department, acquired, processed, and interpreted seismic-reflection data near the North and South District “Boulder Zone” Well Fields to determine if geologic factors may contribute to the upward migration of injected effluent into that upper part of the Floridan aquifer system designated by the U.S...
Authors
Kevin J. Cunningham
Lattice Boltzmann methods applied to large-scale three-dimensional virtual cores constructed from digital optical borehole images of the karst carbonate Biscayne aquifer in southeastern Florida
Digital optical borehole images at approximately 2 mm vertical resolution and borehole caliper data were used to create three-dimensional renderings of the distribution of (1) matrix porosity and (2) vuggy megaporosity for the karst carbonate Biscayne aquifer in southeastern Florida. The renderings based on the borehole data were used as input into Lattice Boltzmann methods to obtain...
Authors
Michael C. Sukop, Kevin J. Cunningham
Geologic and hydrogeologic frameworks of the Biscayne aquifer in central Miami-Dade County, Florida
Evaluations of the lithostratigraphy, lithofacies, paleontology, ichnology, depositional environments, and cyclostratigraphy from 11 test coreholes were linked to geophysical interpretations, and to results of hydraulic slug tests of six test coreholes at the Snapper Creek Well Field (SCWF), to construct geologic and hydrogeologic frameworks for the study area in central Miami-Dade...
Authors
Michael A. Wacker, Kevin J. Cunningham, John H. Williams
Integration of seismic-reflection and well data to assess the potential impact of stratigraphic and structural features on sustainable water supply from the Floridan aquifer system, Broward County, Florida
The U.S. Geological Survey and Broward County water managers commenced a 3.5-year cooperative study in July 2012 to refine the geologic and hydrogeologic framework of the Floridan aquifer system (FAS) in Broward County. A lack of advanced stratigraphic knowledge of the physical system and structural geologic anomalies (faults and fractures originating from tectonics and karst-collapse...
Authors
Kevin J. Cunningham