Geology topics

Research about Beaver County, Cimarron County, Texas County, Oklahoma

Source-linked reports with geographic coverage including Beaver County, Cimarron County, Texas County, Oklahoma.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

USGS1976

Geohydrology of the Oklahoma Panhandle, Beaver, Cimarron, and Texas Counties

The Ogallala aquifer, which consists of semiconsolidated clay, sand, and gravel, is the principal source of ground water in the Oklahoma Panhandle. This aquifer commonly yields 500 to 1,000 gallons per minute (32 to 63 litres per second) and may yield as much as 2,500 gallons per minute (158 litres per second). Based on an estimated average storage coefficient of 0.1, the quantity of water stored in the Ogallala aquifer was computed at approximately 50 million acre-feet (6.17 x 101° cubic metres). Local overdevelopment of this water resource has resulted in water-level declines of more than 40 feet (12 metres) from 1966 to 1972 in some areas of concentrated well development. The amount of ground water in storage has been reduced about 2 percent during this period. Aquifer tests indicate that transmissivity ranges from 500 to 11,800 feet squared per day (46 to 1,100 metres squared per day), the storage coefficient ranges from 0.002 to 0.11, and hydraulic conductivity ranges from 2.1 to 55 feet per day (0.6 to 16.8 metres per day). In addition to these tests, 802 specific-capacity tests were used to extend transmissivity data. Recharge to the Ogallala aquifer is primarily from precipitation and may be as much as 1 inch (25 millimetres) per year in areas where catchment and percolation are most favorable. Discharge is primarily from pumping and a small amount of natural discharge. Aquifers of limited importance are the Dakota Sandstone and the Cheyenne Sandstone Member of the Purgatoire Formation which provide water to irrigation wells in the southwestern part of Cimarron County. Irrigation wells generally are completed jointly in these aquifers and yields of 300 to 500 gallons per minute (19 to 32 litres per second) are common. Water levels in these aquifers have not shown the pronounced declines that have occurred in the Ogallala aquifer. Permian red beds provide only small quantities of water to domestic and stock wells. Water in the Ogallala aquifer, Dakota Sandstone, and Cheyenne Sandstone Member generally has a dissolved-solids concentration of less than 500 milligrams per litre. The dissolved-solids concentration in water from the Permian red beds generally exceeds 500 milligrams per litre and locally exceeds 2,000 milligrams per litre.

Oklahoma↗

USGS1973

Records of selected water wells and test holes in the Oklahoma Panhandle

Since 1963 use of ground water for irrigation in the Oklahoma panhandle has increased greatly as illustrated by the rapid increase in the number of irrigation wells (fig. 1). Because of increased use of ground water, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Oklahoma Water Resources Board, in 1966 began detailed study of the area's ground-water resources. As part of this study, physical data such as well depth, well yield, or water level was collected on approximately 1,500 water wells and test holes; these data are tabulated in this report. This information will be useful to those concerned with development of ground water in the panhandle. The locations of all known irrigation wells drilled before 1972 and selected domestic and stock wells in Beaver, Cimarron, and Texas Counties are shown in figures 2, 3, and 4, respectively. More wells are shown on the map than are listed in the table because for several hundred wells no information other than location is available. The generalized section of geologic formations briefly describes the character and water supply available from each unit.

Oklahoma↗

USGS1972

Records of water-level measurements in wells in the Oklahoma panhandle, 1971-72

Investigations of the ground-water resources of the Oklahoma panhandle by the U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with the Oklahoma Water Resources Board includes collection of water-level records; the systematic collection of these records began in 1937. Records of many shallow wells were compiled in 1937 and periodic measurements were made in a few wells until 1966. Owing to the heavy development of irrigation during the 1960's (fig. 1) an expanded network of observation wells established in Texas County in 1966 and in Beaver and Cimarron Counties in 1967; measurement of water levels have been made on an annual basis since those times. This report contains water-level records for the period 1971-72 and the water-level change for the period 1966-72 in Texas County, and for the period 1967-72 in Beaver and Cimarron Counties. At the present time (1972) the annual observation-well network includes 521 wells, of which 97 are in Beaver County, 203 are in Cimarron County, and 221 are in Texas County. These data provide an index to available ground-water supplies; they will be useful in planning and studying water resources development; and they will serve as a framework of data for the detailed hydrologic investigation now in progress in the panhandle.

Oklahoma↗