Geology topics
Research about Ohio
Source-linked reports with geographic coverage including Ohio.
Analysis of ground-water flow along a regional flow path of the Midwestern Basins and Arches aquifer system in Ohio
A cross-sectional analysis of ground-water flow in central-western and northwestern Ohio was done as part of the Midwestern Basins and Arches Regional Aquifer-System Analysis project. The Midwestern Basins and Arches aquifer system is composed of carbonate bedrock of Silurian and Devonian age and overlying glacial flow analysis of the Scioto and Blanchard rivers in the study area were used to describe patrems of ground-water flow, to evaluate stream-aquifer interaction, and to quantify recharge and discharge within the ground-water-flow system along a regional ground-water-flow path. The selected regional flow path begins at a regional topographic high in Logan County, Ohio, and ends in Sandusky Bay (Lake Erie), a regional topographic low. Recharge to the ground-water system along the selected regional flow path was estimated from hydrograph separation of streamflow and averaged 3.24 inches per year. Computer model simulations indicate that 84 percent of the water entering the ground-water system flows less than 5 miles from point of recharge to point of discharge and no deeper than the upper surficial aquifers. The distance and depth that ground water travels and traveltime from point of recharge to point of discharge is controlled largely by where ground water enters the flow system. Ground water entering the flow system in the vicinity of major surface- water divides generally travels further, deeper, and longer than ground water entering the flow system elsewhere along the regional flow path. Particle tracking simulations substantiate the concept that the 80-mile-long regional flow path is within a continuous ground-water basin. Estimated traveltimes for ground-water from the regional high to Sandusky Bay range from 22,000 to 40,700 years, given a range of porosities from 8 to 22 percent for the carbonate-rock aquifer.
Ground-water levels and directions of flow near the Industrial Excess Landfill, Uniontown, Ohio, March 1994
Industrial Excess Landfill (IEL), a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Superfund site, is a closed landfill in northeastern Ohio. In March 1994, personnel from the U.S. Geological Survey, Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, and PRC Environmental Management, Inc., measured water levels in 149 wells in the area. Surface-water altitudes were measured at 13 staff gages, and water levels were measured in 9 piezometers associated with the gages. The data show that the regional pattern of ground-water flow generally is from east to west, but it is locally altered by ground-water mounds that reflect the hummocky terrain. At the landfill, regional flow is altered by two ground-water mounds one in the southeastern corner of the site and one just to the north. The relatively small ground-water mound at the landfill causes ground water to flow radially away from the southeastern corner of the landfill. Ground water that flows to the east and south flows toward Metzger Ditch, whereas flow to the west is consistent with the regional direction of ground-water flow. Ground-water flow northward from IEL is diverted east or west by the southerly component of flow from the larger ground-water mound north of IEL.
Evaluation of ground-water flow by particle tracking, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and Wright-Patterson Air Force Base (WPAFB) began a Basewide Monitoring Program (BMP) in 1992. The purpose of the BMP was to establish a long-term ground-water and surface- water sampling network in order to (1) characterize current ground-water and surface-water quality; (2) describe water-quality changes as water enters, flows across, and exits Base boundaries; (3) conduct statistical analyses of water quality; and (4) estimate the effect of WPAFB on regional water quality. As part of the BMP, the USGS conducted ground-water particle-tracking analyses based on a ground-water-flow model produced during a previous USGS study. This report briefly describes the previous USGS study, the inherent assumptions of particle-tracking analyses, and information on the regional ground-water-flow field as inferred from particle pathlines. Pathlines for particles placed at the Base boundary and particles placed within identified Installation Restoration Program sites are described.
Estimation of peak-frequency relations, flood hydrographs, and volume-duration-frequency relations of ungaged small urban streams in Ohio
Methods and step-by-step examples are presented to estimate (1) peak-frequency relations, (2) flood hydrographs and volumes, and (3) volume-duration frequency relations of small urban streams in Ohio. The methods were developed to assist planners in the design of hydraulic structures for which hydrograph routing is required or where the temporary storage of water is an important element of the design criteria. The data base for the analyses consisted of rainfall-runoff data collected at 62 small drainage basins distributed throughout Ohio.
Estimated water use in Ohio, 1990 -- Mining data
Our Nation's social and economic development has depended on and will continue to depend on the availability of usable water. In 1950, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) began publishing water-use data on a national level every 5 years to assist in the management of our Nation's water resources. The USGS currently collects and (or) estimates water-use data for the following categories: public supply, domestic, commercial, industrial, thermoelectric power, mining, livestock, animal specialties, irrigation, hydroelectric power (instream use), sewage treatment, and reservoir evaporation. In 1977, Congress authorized the National Water-Use Information Program. The program encourages the USGS and a State-level agency in each of the 50 States to cooperate in the collection and dissemination of water-use data. In Ohio, the USGS and the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Water (ODNR-DW), are cooperators in this effort. In 1990, ODNR-DW implemented the Water Withdrawal Facility Registration Program for Ohio, which requires those water consumers who have the capacity to withdraw 100,000 gallons of water daily to register with the ODNR-DW. Consumers whose daily capacity is less than 100,000 gallons are not required to register. The information collected from the registrants is maintained in computerized data bases at the ODNR-DW and the Ohio District Office of the USGS. This Fact Sheet, which summarizes Ohio's 1990 mining water-use data, is one of a series that supplements, by category, the national USGS publication on water use.
Estimated water use in Ohio, 1990 - Public supply data
Our Nation's social and economic development has depended on and will continue to depend on the availability of usable water. In 1950, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) began publishing water-use data on a national level every 5 years to assist in the wise management of our Nation's water resources. The USGS currently collects water-use data for the following categories: public supply, domestic, commercial, industrial, thermoelectric power, mining, livestock, animal specialties, irrigation, hydroelectric power, sewage treatment, and reservoir evaporation. In 1977, Congress authorized the National Water-Use Information Program. The program encourages the USGS and a State-level agency in each of the 50 States to cooperate in the collection and dissemination of water-use data. In Ohio, the USGS and the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Water (ODNR-DW), are cooperators in this effort. In 1990, ODNR-DW implemented the Water Withdrawal Facility Registration Program for Ohio, which requires those water consumers who have the capacity to withdraw 100,000 gallons of water daily to register with the ODNR-DW. Consumers whose daily capacity is less than 100,000 gallons are not required to register. The information collected from the registrants is maintained in computerized data bases at the ODNR-DW and the Ohio District Office of the USGS. This Fact Sheet, which summarizes Ohio's 1990 public-supply water-use data, is one of a series that supplements, by category, the national USGS publication on water use in 1990.
Water resources data, Ohio, water year 1992. Volume 1. Ohio River Basin excluding project data
No abstract available.
Estimation of flood volumes and simulation of flood hydrographs for ungaged small rural streams in Ohio
Methods are presented for estimating flood volumes and simulating flood hydrographs of rural streams in Ohio whose drainage areas are less than 6.5 square miles. The methods were developed to assist engineers in the design of hydraulic structures for which the temporary storage of water is a critical element of the design criteria. Examples of how to use the methods also are presented. Multiple-regression equations were developed to estimate maximum flood volumes of d-hour duration and T-year recurrence interval (dVT). Flood-volume data for all combinations of six durations (1, 2, 4, 8, 16, and 32 hours) and six recurrence intervals (2, 5, 10, 25, 50, and 100 years) were analyzed. The significant independent variables in the resulting 36 equations are drainage area, average annual precipitation, main-channel slope, and forested area. Standard errors of prediction for the 36 dVT equations range from +28 percent to +44 percent. A method is described for simulating flood hydrographs by applying a peak discharge and an estimated basin lagtime to a dimensionless hydrograph. Peak discharge may be estimated from equations in which drainage area, main-channel slope, and storage area are the significant explanatory variables, and average standard errors of prediction range from +33 to +41 percent. An equation is developed for estimating basin lagtime in which main-channel slope, forested area, and storage area are the significant explanatory variables, and the average standard error of prediction is +37 percent. A dimensionless hydrograph developed for use in Georgia was verified for use in Ohio. Step-by-step examples show how to (1) simulate flood hydrographs and compute their volumes, and (2) estimate volume-duration-frequency relations of small ungaged rural streams in Ohio. The volumes estimated by the two methods are compared. Both methods yield similar results for volume estimates of short duration, which are applicable to convective-type storm runoff. The volume-duration-frequency equations can be used to compute volume estimates of long and short duration because the equations are based on maximum-annual-volume data of long and short duration. The dimensionless-hydrograph method is based on flood hydrographs of average duration and cannot be used to compute volume estimates of long duration. Volume estimates of long duration may be considerably greater than volume estimates of short duration and are applicable to runoff from frontal-type storms.
Water resources data, Ohio, water year 1991. Volume 1. Ohio River Basin excluding project data
No abstract available.
Lithologic, natural-gamma, grain-size, and well-construction data for Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio
Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, in southwestern Ohio, overlies a buried-valley aquifer. The U.S. Geological Survey installed 35 observation wells at 13 sites on the base from fall 1988 through spring 1990. Fourteen of the wells were completed in bedrock; the remaining wells were completed in unconsolidated sediments. Split-spoon and bedrock cores were collected from all of the bedrock wells. Shelby-tube samples were collected from four wells. The wells were drilled by either the cable-tool or rotary method. Data presented in this report include lithologic and natural-gamma logs, and, for selected sediment samples, grain-size distributions of permeability. Final well-construction details, such as the total depth of well, screened interval, and grouting details, also are presented.
Water resources data, Ohio, water year 1990. Volume 1. Ohio River Basin excluding project data
No abstract available.
Geohydrology and water quality in northern Portage County, Ohio, in relation to deep-well brine injection
Geohydrology and water quality of the principal freshwater aquifers near oilfield and gasfield brine-injection wells in northern Portage County, Ohio, were evaluated. Since 1975, 13 wells in this part of the Country have been used to dispose of more than 4.5 million barrels of brine by injection into Silurian carbonate and sandstone rocks that generally are greater than 3,500 feet below land surface. More than 3,000 feet of interbedded shales, sandstones, carbonates, and evaporites separate the freshwater aquifers from these brine-injection zones. The shallowest brine-injection zone is greater than 2,200 feet below sea level. Native fluids in the injection zones have dissolved-solids concentrations greater than 125,000 milligrams per liter and are hydraulically isolated from the freshwater aquifers. No known faults or fracture systems are present in northern Portage County, although abandoned oil and gas wells could exist and serve as conduits for migration of injected brine. Pennsylvanian clastic units are freshwater bearing in northern Portage County, and two bedrock aquifers generally are recognized. The shallower bedrock aquifer (Connoquenessing Sandstone Member of the Pottsville Formation) principally consists of sandstone; this aquifer is separated from a deeper sandstone and conglomerate aquifer in the lower part of the Sharon Member (Pottsville Formation) by shale in the upper part of the Sharon Member that acts as a confining unit. The upper sandstone aquifer is the surficial aquifer where overlying glacial deposits are unsaturated in the uplands; glacial deposits comprise the surficial aquifer in buried valleys where the sandstone is absent. These two surficial aquifers are hydraulically connected and act as a single unit. The lower sandstone and conglomerate aquifer is the most areally extensive aquifer within the project area. From November 1987 through August 1988, ground-water levels remained at least 60 feet higher in the upper sandstone aquifer than in the lower sandstone and conglomerate aquifer at a topographically high recharge area. Water levels in the surficial aquifers and the lower sandstone and conglomerate aquifer were nearly the same along the Cuyahoga River. Ground water in the upper sandstone aquifer flows radially from topographically high recharge areas into the glacial deposits in the buried valleys. Much of the ground water in these surficial aquifers discharges into the Cuyahoga River. Most ground water in the lower sandstone and conglomerate aquifer flows toward discharge areas near the Cuyahoga River and Eagle Creek. In June 1988, the Cuyahoga River gained 15.8 cubic feet per second of water from the aquifers between the northern edge of Portage County and State Route 303. Ground water may have discharged into the upstream end of Lake Rockwell but did not discharge into the downstream end of the Lake during most of the period from October 1987 through September 1988. Measurements of the specific conductance of ground water sampled from areas near the 13 brine-injection wells and along the Cuyahoga River indicate no widespread ground-water contamination related to brine injection. Chemical analysis of water from 25 wells indicates that most ground waters are a calcium bicarbonate type. Water analyses show that four wells sampled contain water with chloride concentrations greater than 250 milligrams per liter. Sodium concentrations in water from these four wells ranged from 67 to 190 milligrams per liter. A mixing diagram constructed from bromide and chloride data was used to distinguish between the sources of elevated chloride concentrations in these four wells. Waters from two of the wells have been mixed with oilfield and gasfield brine, and waters from the other two wells have been mixed with a salt-solution brine such as that derived from diluted highway-deicing salts.