Simulated effects of impoundment of lake seminole on ground-water flow in the upper Floridan Aquifer in southwestern Georgia and adjacent parts of Alabama and Florida

L. Elliott Jones; Lynn J. Torak

doi:10.3133/sir20045077

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Simulated effects of impoundment of lake seminole on ground-water flow in the upper Floridan Aquifer in southwestern Georgia and adjacent parts of Alabama and Florida

L. Elliott Jones·Lynn J. Torak

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Abstract

Hydrologic implications of the impoundment of Lake Seminole in southwest Georgia and its effect on components of the surface- and ground-water flow systems of the lower Apalachicola?Chattahoochee?Flint (ACF) River Basin were investigated using a ground-water model. Comparison of simulation results of postimpoundment drought conditions (October 1986) with results of hypothetical preimpoundment conditions (a similar drought prior to 1955) provides a qualitative measure of the changes in hydraulic head and ground-water flow to and from streams and Lake Seminole, and across State lines caused by the impoundment. Based on the simulation results, the impoundment of Lake Seminole changed ground-water flow directions within about 20?30 miles of the lake, reducing the amount of ground water flowing from Florida to Georgia southeast of the lake. Ground-water storage was increased by the impoundment, as indicated by a simulated increase of as much as 26 feet in the water level in the Upper Floridan aquifer. The impoundment of Lake Seminole caused changes to simulated components of the ground-water budget, including reduced discharge from the Upper Floridan aquifer to streams (315 million gallons per day); reduced recharge from or increased discharge to regional ground-water flow at external model boundaries (totaling 183 million gallons per day); and reduced recharge from or increased discharge to the undifferentiated overburden (totaling 129 million gallons per day).

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Source-reported bounding extent: 29.017748018496047° to 33.4955977448657° latitude; -86.385498046875° to -82.72705078125° longitude. This indicates report coverage, not an exact sampling location. View area on OpenStreetMap.

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L. Elliott Jones, Lynn J. Torak. 2004. Simulated effects of impoundment of lake seminole on ground-water flow in the upper Floridan Aquifer in southwestern Georgia and adjacent parts of Alabama and Florida. https://doi.org/10.3133/sir20045077

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