Geology topics

Robert E. Kidd

Publications and source records attributed to Robert E. Kidd.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

USGS2002

Environmental setting and water-quality issues of the Mobile River Basin, Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, and Tennessee

The Mobile River Basin is one of over 50 river basins and aquifer systems being investigated as part of the U.S. Geological Survey National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program. This basin is the sixth largest river basin in the United States, and fourth largest in terms of streamflow, encompassing parts of Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, and Tennessee. Almost two-thirds of the 44,000-square-mile basin is located in Alabama. Extensive water resources of the Mobile River Basin are influenced by an array of natural and cultural factors. These factors impart unique and variable qualities to the streams, rivers, and aquifers providing abundant habitat to sustain the diverse aquatic life in the basin. Data from Federal, State, and local agencies provide a description of the environmental setting of the Mobile River Basin. Environmental data include natural factors such as physiography, geology, soils, climate, hydrology, ecoregions, and aquatic ecology, and human factors such as reservoirs, land use and population change, water use, and water-quality issues. Characterization of the environmental setting is useful for understanding the physical, chemical, and biological characteristics of surface and ground water in the Mobile River Basin and the possible implications of that environmental setting for water quality. The Mobile River Basin encompasses parts of five physiographic provinces. Fifty-six percent of the basin lies within the East Gulf section of the Coastal Plain Physiographic Province. The remaining northeastern part of the basin lies, from west to east, within the Cumberland Plateau section of the Appalachian Plateaus Physiographic Province, the Valley and Ridge Physiographic Province, the Piedmont Physiographic Province, and the Blue Ridge Physiographic Province. Based on the 1991 land-use data, about 70 percent of the basin is forested, while agriculture, including livestock (poultry, cattle, and swine), row crops (cotton, corn, soybeans, sorghum, and wheat), and pasture land accounts for about 26 percent of the study unit. Agricultural land use is concentrated along the Black Prairie Belt district of the Coastal Plain. Urban areas account for only 3 percent of the total land use; however, the areal extent of the metropolitan statistical areas (MSA) may indicate more urban influences. The MSAs include urban areas outside of the city boundaries and can include adjacent counties. Seven MSAs are delineated in the Mobile River Basin, including Montgomery, Mobile, Tuscaloosa, Birmingham, Gadsden, Anniston, and Atlanta. The total population for the Mobile River Basin was about 3,673,100 in 1990. State water-quality agencies have identified numerous causes and sources of water-body impairment in the Mobile River Basin. In 1996, organic enrichment, dissolved oxygen depletion, elevated nutrient concentrations, and siltation were the most frequently cited causes of impairment, affecting the greatest number of river miles. Bacteria, acidic pH, and elevated metal concentrations also were identified as causes of impairment. The sources for impairment varied among river basins, were largely a function of land use, and were attributed primarily to municipal and industrial sources, mining, and agricultural activities.

Water-Resources Investigations Report↗

USGS1997

Ground-water resources of the Cahaba River basin in Alabama - Subarea 7 of the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint and Alabama-Coosa-Tallapoosa river basins

Drought conditions in the 1980's focused attention on the multiple uses of the surface- and ground-water resources in the Apalachicola-Chattahooochee-Flint and Alabama-Coosa-Tallapoosa River basins in Georgia, Alabama, and Florida. State and Federal agencies also have proposed projects that would require additional water resources and revise operating practices within the river basins. The existing and proposed water projects create conflicting demands for water by the States and emphasize the problem of water-resource allocation. This study was initiated to describe ground-water availablity in the Cahaba River basin in Alabama, Subarea 7 of the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint and Alabama-Coosa-Tallapoosa River basins, and to estimate the possible effects of increased ground-water use within the basin. Subarea 7 encompasses about 1,030 square miles in north-central Alabama. Subarea 7 encompasses parts of the Piedmont, Valley and Ridge, and Coastal Plain physiographic provinces. The Piedmont Province is underlain by a two-component aquifer system that is composed of a fractured, crystalline-rock aquifer characterized by little or no primary porosity or permeability; and the overlying regolith, which can behave as a porous-media aquifer. The Valley and Ridge Province is underlain by fracture- and solution-conduit aquifer systems, similar in some ways to those in the Piedmont Province. Fracture-conduit aquifers predominante in the well-consolidated sandstones and shales of Paleozoic age; solution-conduit aquifers dedominate in the carbonate rocks of Paleozoic age. The Coastal Plain is underlain by southward-dipping, poorly consolidated deposits of sand, gravel, and clay of fluvial and marine origin. The conceptual model described for this study qualitatively subdivides the ground-water flow system into local (shallow), intermediate, and regional (deep) flow regimes. Ground- water discharge to tributaries mainly is from local and intermediate flow regimes and varies seasonally. The regional flow regime probably approximates steady-state conditions and discharges chiefly to major drains such as the Cahaba River. Ground-water discharge to major drains originates from all flow regimes. Mean-annual ground-water discharge to streams (baseflow) is considered to approximate the long-term, average recharge to ground water. The mean-annual baseflow was estimated using an atuomated hydrograph-separation method, and represents discharge from the local, intermediate, and regional flow regimes of the ground-water flow system. Mean-annual baseflow in Georgia was estimated to be 763 cubic feet per second at Centreville, Ala., where the Cahaba River exits Subarea 7 into Subarea 8. Mean-annual baseflow represented about 48 percent of total mean-annual stream discharge for the period of record. Stream discharge for selected sites on the Cahaba River and its tributaries were compiled for the years 1941, 1954, and 1986, during which sustained droughts occurred throughout most of the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint and Alabama-Coosa-Tallapoosa River basin area. Stream discharges were assumed to be sustained entirely by baseflow during the latter periods of these droughts. Estimated baseflow near the end of these droughts averaged about 21 percent of the estimated mean-annual baseflow in Subarea 7 (ranged from about 16 to 25 percent for individual drought years). The potential exists for the development of ground-water resources on a regional scale throughout Subarea 7. Estimated ground-water use in 1990 was about 2 percent of the estimated mean-annual baseflow, and 9.7 percent of the average drought baseflow near the end of the droughts of 1941, 1954, and 1986. Because ground- water use in Subarea 7 represents a relatively minor percentage of ground- water recharge, even a large increase in ground-water use in Subarea 7 is likely to have little effect on ground-water and surface-water occurrernce in Alabama. Indications of long-term ground-water dec

Open-File Report↗

USGS1997

Ground-water resources of the Alabama River Basin in Alabama; Subarea 8 of the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint and Alabama-Coosa-Tallapoosa River Basins

Drought conditions in the 1980's focused attention on the multiple uses of the surface- and ground-water resources in the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint (ACF) and Alabama-Coosa-Tallapoosa (ACT) River basins in Georgia, Alabama, and Florida. State and Federal agencies also have proposed projects that would require additional water resources and revise operating practices within the river basins. The existing and proposed water projects create conflicting demands for water by the States and emphasize the problem of water-resource allocation. This study was initiated to describe ground-water availability in the Alabama River basin of Alabama, Subarea 8 of the ACF and ACT River basins, and to estimate the possible effects of increased ground-water use within the basin. Subarea 8 encompasses about 6,750 square miles in the Coastal Plain physiographic province in central and southwestern Alabama. The Alabama River extends from the juncture of the Coosa and Tallapoosa Rivers near the city of Montgomery, to its juncture with the Tombigbee River, near the town of Calvert in Washington County. Subarea 8 includes the Cahaba River basin from the physiographic 'Fall Line' at the city of Centreville in Bibb County, to its mouth in Dallas County; and the Alabama River basin from near Montgomery to the Alabama River cutoff, about 6 miles northeast of its juncture with the Tombigbee River. The study area is underlain by sedimentary deposits of Cretaceous, Tertiary, and Quaternary ages. Major aquifers underlying Subarea 8 are, from shallowest to deepest, the Coastal lowlands aquifer system, the Floridan aquifer system, the Lisbon aquifer, The Nanafalia-Clayton aquifer, the Ripley aquifer, the Eutaw aquifer, and the Tuscaloosa aquifer. The conceptual model described for this study qualitatively subdivides the ground-water flow system into local (shallow), intermediate, and regional (deep) flow regimes. Ground-water discharge to tributaries mainly is from local and intermediate flow regimes and varies seasonally. The regional flow regime probably approximates steady- state conditions and discharges chiefly to major drains such as the Alabama River, and in upstream areas, to the Cahaba River. Ground-water discharge to major drains originates from all flow regimes. Mean-annual ground-water discharge to streams (baseflow) is considered to approximate the long-term, average recharge to ground water. The mean-annual baseflow was estimated using an automated hydrograph- separation method, and represents discharge from the local, intermediate, and regional flow regimes of the ground-water flow system. Mean-annual baseflow discharging from Subarea 8 was estimated to be 20,300 cubic feet per second. Mean-annual baseflow represented about 61 percent of total mean-annual stream discharge for the period of record. Estimated and measured stream discharge for selected sites on the Alabama River and its tributaries were compiled for the years 1941, 1954, and 1986, during which sustained droughts occurred throughout most of the ACF-ACT area. Stream discharges were assumed to be sustained entirely by baseflow during the latter periods of these droughts. Estimated baseflow near the end of the individual drought years was about 17 percent of the estimated mean-annual baseflow at the Alabama River cutoff, the most downstream point of Subarea 8. The potential exists for the development of ground-water resources on a regional scale throughout Subarea 8. Estimated ground-water use in 1990 was less than 1 percent of the estimated mean-annual baseflow, and about 2.4 percent of baseflow during the droughts of 1941, 1954, and 1986. Because ground-water use in Subareas 5 and 6 represents a relatively minor percentage of ground-water recharge, even a large increase in ground-water use in Subareas 5 and 6 in Georgia probably would have little effect on the quantity of ground water and surface water in Alabama. In addition, ground-water use in Subarea 3 in Georgia probably h

Open-File Report↗

USGS1995

Hydrogeology and ground-water quality in the Black Belt area of west-central Alabama, and estimated water use for aquaculture, 1990

Commercial production of catfish in west-central Alabama began about 1970, and by 1991 catfish ponds covered about 16,000 acres in the Black Belt area of the State. The rapid increase in catfish farming or aquaculture and the associated demand for ground water led the U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with other Federal and State agencies in 1990 to initiate a study to better define the ground-water resources in the Black Belt area. The major aquifers in the study area are sand and gravel beds in the Eutaw, Gordo, and Coker Formations. Recharge to these aquifers occurs primarily in areas where those formations crop out. The average recharge to the major aquifers in the study area, as estimated from baseflow analysis of streams in the outcrop area, is 11.4 inches per year. Water from the major aquifers in the study area generally is of good quality and suitable for most uses. Water from the Eutaw aquifer, however, contains chloride in concentrations greater than 500 milligrams per liter in central Greene County and in downdip areas in Marengo and Wilcox Counties and is not suitable for public water supply. Some ground water with elevated chloride concentrations is used for catfish farming in these areas, however. The total estimated water use for aquaculture in the study area in 1990 was 21.83 million gallons per day, 16.08 million gallons per day from ground-water sources, and 5.75 million gallons per day from surface water sources. About 13.54 million gallons per day of water was used for filling catfish ponds and an additional 8.29 million gallons per day was used to replace evaporation losses.

Alabama↗

USGS1987

Application of the precipitation-runoff model in the Warrior coal field, Alabama

A deterministic precipitation-runoff model, the Precipitation-Runoff Modeling System, was applied in two small basins located in the Warrior coal field, Alabama. Each basin has distinct geologic, hydrologic, and land-use characteristics. Bear Creek basin (15.03 square miles) is undisturbed, is underlain almost entirely by consolidated coal-bearing rocks of Pennsylvanian age (Pottsville Formation), and is drained by an intermittent stream. Turkey Creek basin (6.08 square miles) contains a surface coal mine and is underlain by both the Pottsville Formation and unconsolidated clay, sand, and gravel deposits of Cretaceous age (Coker Formation). Aquifers in the Coker Formation sustain flow through extended rainless periods. Preliminary daily and storm calibrations were developed for each basin. Initial parameter and variable values were determined according to techniques recommended in the user's manual for the modeling system and through field reconnaissance. Parameters with meaningful sensitivity were identified and adjusted to match hydrograph shapes and to compute realistic water year budgets. When the developed calibrations were applied to data exclusive of the calibration period as a verification exercise, results were comparable to those for the calibration period. The model calibrations included preliminary parameter values for the various categories of geology and land use in each basin. The parameter values for areas underlain by the Pottsville Formation in the Bear Creek basin were transferred directly to similar areas in the Turkey Creek basin, and these parameter values were held constant throughout the model calibration. Parameter values for all geologic and land-use categories addressed in the two calibrations can probably be used in ungaged basins where similar conditions exist. The parameter transfer worked well, as a good calibration was obtained for Turkey Creek basin.

Water Supply Paper↗

USGS1982

A summary of selected publications, project activities, and data sources related to hydrology in the Warrior and Plateau coal fields of Alabama

The report is a reference source on hydrologic information related to coal-mining activities in the Warrior and Plateau coal fields of Alabama. It contains a bibliography of more than 200 references and selected annotations. Also included is information on maps, automated-data bases, water-monitoring programs, and data-source agencies and organizations.

Open-File Report↗