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Research about New Jersey

Source-linked reports with geographic coverage including New Jersey.

At least 487 records · Page 27Linked to original sources
USGS1963

Public water supplies in Gloucester County, New Jersey

Gloucester County is in the southwestern part of New Jersey, below Camden, and is a part of the Lower Delaware River Valley. This area is attracting new industry and has shown a population increase of about 47 percent from 1950 to 1960, mostly urban. With the economic growth of the county, the availability and quality of water become increasingly important. The county is in the Coastal Plain of New Jersey. It is underlain by unconsolidated sands and clays of Quaternary, Tertiary, and Cretaceous age. The Raritan and Magothy Formations constitute the most important aquifers and yield more than 95 percent of the water pumped by the public water systems in the county. These formations are capable of yielding 1,400 gpm (gallons per minute) or more to large diameter wells. High yielding wells generally can be drilled anywhere in the county, although the formations are deeper toward the Atlantic Ocean. The Cohansey Sand, second most important aquifer, yields up to 800 gpm or more from large diameter wells. This aquifer is present only in the sparsely populated southeastern half of the county. The Wenonah Formation and Mount Laurel Sand are capable of yielding 100 to 200 gpm in certain areas. The overall chemical quality of the naturally occurring ground water is good. The water generally meets the U.S. Public Health Service's (1962) suggested limit for dissolved solids; however, in some areas, the water carries objectionable amounts of iron and nitrate in solution and has a low pH. Contamination of ground water by salt-water encroachment or by pollution from industrial activity or organic waste in densely populated areas should be prevented. The quality rather than the quantity of water may be the important factor in future ground-water developments. The 21 public water systems in Gloucester County pumped about 1.3 billion gallons of water during 1948 and some 2.7 billion gallons during 1959. This is slightly more than a hundred percent increase in pumpage in 12 year s. The average per capita public water supply consumption in 1959 was approximately 75 gallons per day. This report includes a summary of the history of the present installations, groundwater conditions, quality and availability of water, and potential future yield for the 2 public water systems in Gloucester County.

New Jersey↗
USGS1962

Salt-water encroachment into aquifers of the Raritan Formation in the Sayreville Area, Middlesex County, New Jersey

The principal sources of ground water in the Sayreville area are the Old Bridge Sand and Farrington Sand Members of the Raritan Formation of Late Cretaceous age. These aquifers yielded about 32.3 mgd (million gallons per day) for public and industrial water supplies in 1958; about 24.5 mgd was withdrawn from the Old Bridge Sand Member. Although the Old Bridge Sand Member is exposed to salt water in the Raritan Bay near South Amboy and in the South River near Old Bridge, there is no widespread salt-water encroachment problem in this aquifer. However, the intensity and distribution of pumping has been limited by the threat of such encroachment. Widespread salt-water encroachment in the Farrington Sand Member has caused numerous wells to be abandoned; the greatest advance of salt water has been in the area south of Parlin. If not restricted, the encroachment of salt water threatens to render a considerable part of this aquifer unfit for use in most of the area south of Parlin. The potential benefits of a proposed tidal dam on the South River are discussed. This dam would provide water for infiltration into the Old Bridge Sand Member and water for industrial and public supplies.

New Jersey↗
USGS1960

Petrography of the Upper Cambrian dolomites of Warren County, New Jersey

Petrographic investigation of the Upper Cambrian dolomites along the Delaware River in Warren County, New Jersey, has led to the distinction of six different microfacies each representing a specific sedimentary environment. In order of decreasing relative depth these microfacies are: dololutite, dolarenite, oolitic dolarenite, dolorudite, cryptozoan dolomite and desiccation dolorudite. Over 1,200 samples spaced at an average interval of 1.8 feet were collected from two measured sections, one at Riegelsville, N. J., and another at Carpentersville, N. J. Thin sections, cut perpendicular to the bedding were made and analyzed according to the method used by Albert V. Carozzi which consists of the statistical measurement of the sizes and frequencies of detrital, authigenic and organic components of a sedimentary rock. In this investigation, three general types of parameters were investigated: detrital components, degree of crystallinity and chemical composition. The detrital components present in sufficient abundance for study are quartz, pyrite, oolites and reworked lithic fragments. The maximum size of the largest optically continuous dolomite crystals for each thin section was measured to obtain the degree of crystallinity. Chemical composition was investigated by means of an X-ray diffractometer. The results of the statistical measurements are interpreted by means of a bathymetrical curve showing the variations of relative depth as a function of thickness. The oscillations in the bathymetrical curve exhibit superposed asymmetrical cycles of sedimentation. The ideal cycle begins with structureless dololutite (deepest water facies) and grades upward through progressively shallower facies and terminates with desiccation dolorudite. Immediately overlying this dolorudite is a dololutite which begins the superjacent cycle. The bathymetrical curve also displays a rhythmic occurrence of series of cycles or megacycles. Within each megacycle, each superposed cycle terminates in a progressively shallower microfacies. The two investigated sections do not overlap stratigraphically and therefore correlation could not be attempted. Although correlation on the basis of individual cycles is probably limited to short distances, the megacycles and the major groups of cycles could provide a valuable means of correlation in this general area.

New Jersey↗
USGS1960

Earthquake fluctuations in wells in New Jersey

New Jersey is fortunate to be situated in a region that is relatively stable, geologically. For this reason scientists believe, on the basis of the best scientific evidence available, that the chances of New Jersey experiencing a major earthquake are very small. The last major earthquake on the east coast occurred at Charleston, S. C., in 1886. Minor shocks have been felt in New Jersey, however, from time to time. Reports of dishes being rattled or even of plaster in buildings being cracked are not uncommon. These minor disturbances are generally restricted to relatively small areas.

New Jersey↗
USGS1960

Factual data for public-supply wells and selected irrigation wells in Monmouth County, New Jersey

The investigation of the ground-water resources of Monmouth County is part of a Statewide water-resources program. This study was made by the U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with the new Jersey Department of Conservation and Economic Development, Division of Water Policy and Supply. It was under the general direction of Philip E. LaMoreaux, Chief of the Ground Water Branch of the U.S. Geological Survey, and under the direct supervision of Allen Sinnott, District Geologist. This report presents data for most of the public-supply wells and for several irrigation wells in Monmouth County. The data for these wells are believed to be representative of large-capacity wells tapping the major aquifers present in the county. The information is released at this time in advance of an interpretive report because of its value to prospective users of ground water in Monmouth County. An earlier report presented data on small-capacity wells tapping both major and minor aquifers in the county. The data in these two reports form, in part, the basis for a comprehensive interpretive report on the ground-water resources of Monmouth County, now in preparation. Also to be included in the latter report are data for certain large-capacity industrial wells.

New Jersey↗
USGS1959

Recent saprolite

Thick saprolite has formed in northern New Jersey since the last Pleistocene glacial stage.

New Jersey↗
USGS1959

Radioactive rare-earth deposit at Scrub Oaks mine, Morris County, New Jersey

A deposit of rare-earth minerals in the Scrub Oaks iron mine, Morris County, N. J., was mapped and sampled in 1955. The rare-earth minerals are mainly in coarse-grained magnetite ore and in pegmatite adjacent to it. Discrete bodies of rare-earth-bearing magnetite ore apparently follow the plunge of the main magnetite ore body at the north end of the mine. Radioactivity of the ore containing rare earths is about 0.2 to 0.6 mllliroentgens per hour. The principal minerals of the deposit are quartz, magnetite, hematite, albiteoligoclase, perthite and antiperthite. Xenotime and doverite aggregates and bastnaesite with intermixed leucoxene are the most abundant rare-earth minerals, and zircon, sphene, chevkinite, apatite, and monazite are of minor abundance in the ore. The rare-earth elements are partly differentiated into cerium-rich bastnaesite, chevkinite, and monazite, and yttrium-rich xenotime and doverite. Apatite, zircon, and sphene contain both cerium and yttrium group earths. Eleven samples of radioactive ore and rock average 0.009 percent uranium, 0.062 percent thorium, 1.51 percent combined rare-earth oxides including yttrium oxide and 24.8 percent iron. Scatter diagrams of sample data show a direct correlation between equivalent uranium, uranium, thorium, and combined rare^ earth oxides. Both cerium- and yttrium-group earths are abundant in the rare-earth minerals. Radioactive magnetite ore containing rare-earth minerals probably formed as a variant of the magnetite mineralization that produced the main iron ore of the Scrub Oaks deposit. The rare-earth minerals and the iron ore were deposited contemporaneously. Zircon crystals, probably deposited at the same time, have been determined by the Larsen method to be about 550 to 600 million years old (late Precambrian age). Uranium, thorium, and rare-earth elements are potential byproducts of iron in the coarse-grained magnetite ore.

New Jersey↗