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At least 1,117 records · Page 62Linked to original sources
USGS1988

Flood of May 26-27, 1984 in Tulsa, Oklahoma

The greatest flood disaster in the history of Tulsa, Oklahoma occurred during 8 hours from 2030 hours May 26 to 0430 hours May 27, 1984, as a result of intense rainfall centered over the metropolitan area. Storms of the magnitude that caused this flood are not uncommon to the southern great plains. Such storms are seldom documented in large urban areas. Total rainfall depth and rainfall distribution in the Tulsa metropolitan area during the May 26-27 storm were recorded by 16 recording rain gages. This report presents location of recording rain gages with corresponding rainfall histograms and mass curves, lines of equal rainfall depth (map A), and flood magnitudes and inundated areas of selected streams within the city (map B). The limits of the study areas (fig. 1) are the corporate boundaries of Tulsa, an area of about 185 square miles. Streams draining the city are: Dirty Butter, Coal, and Mingo Creeks which drain northward into Bird Creek along the northern boundary of the city; and Cherry, Crow, Harlow, Joe Haikey, Fry, Vensel, Fred, and Mooser Creeks which flow into the Arkansas River along the southern part of the city. Flooding along Haikey, Fry, Fred, Vensel, and Mooser Creeks was not documented for this report. The Arkansas River is regulated by Keystone Dam upstream from Tulsa (fig. 1). The Arkansas River remained below flood stage during the storm. Flooded areas in Tulsa (map B) were delineated on the topographic maps using flood profiles based on surveys of high-water marks identified immediately after the flood. The flood boundaries show the limits of stream flooding. Additional areas flooded because of overfilled storm drains or by sheet runoff are not shown in this report. Data presented in this report, including rainfall duration and frequency, and flood discharges and elevations, provide city officials and consultants a technical basis for making flood-plain management decisions.

Hydrologic Atlas↗
USGS1990

Hydrologic framework of Long Island, New York

Long Island, N.Y., is underlain by a mass of unconsolidated geologic deposits of clay, silt, sand, and gravel that overlie southward-sloping consolidated bedrock. These deposits are thinnest in northern Queens County (northwestern Long Island), where bedrock crops out, and increase to a maximum thickness of 2,000 ft in southeastern Long Island. This sequence of unconsolidated deposits consists of several distinct geologic units ranging in age from late Cretaceous through Pleistocene, with some recent deposits near shores and streams. These units are differentiated by age, depositional environment, and lithology in table 1. Investigations of ground-water availability and flow patterns may require information on the internal geometry of the hydrologic system that geologic correlations and interpretation alone cannot provide; hydrologic interpretations in which deposits are differentiated on the basis of water-transmitting properties are generally needed also. This set of maps and vertical sections depicts the hydrogeologic framework of the unconsolidated deposits that form Long Island's ground-water system. These deposits can be classified into eight major hydrogeologic units (table 1). The hydrogeologic interpretations presented herein are not everywhere consistent with strict geologic interpretation owing to facies changes and local variations in the water-transmitting properties within geologic units. These maps depict the upper-surface altitude of seven of the eight hydrogeologic units, which, in ascending order, are: consolidated bedrock, Lloyd aquifer, Raritan confining unit, Magothy aquifer, Monmouth greensand, Jameco aquifer, and Gardiners Clay. The upper glacial aquifer—the uppermost unit—is at land surface over most of Long Island and is, therefore, not included. The nine north-south hydrogeologic sections shown below depict the entire sequence of unconsolidated deposits and, together with the maps, provide a detailed three-dimensional interpretation of Long Island's hydrogeologic framework. The structure-contour map that shows the upper-surface altitude of the Cretaceous deposits is included to illustrate the erosional unconformity between the Cretaceous and overlying Pleistocene deposits. Pleistocene erosion played a major role in determining the shape and extent of the Lloyd aquifer, the Raritan confining unit, and the Magothy aquifer, and thus partly determined their hydrogeologic relation with subsequent (post-Cretaceous) deposits.

Hydrologic Atlas↗
USGS1987

Average Annual Runoff in the United States, 1951-80

Runoff is the water in a river or stream that results from precipitation falling on the drainage basin. It is the net discharge into the stream from surface-water and ground-water sources with losses occurring from evapotranspiration and other consumptive uses. Runoff can be expressed by a variety of numerical values, but average depth of water over the drainage basin, in inches per year, probably is the most widely used unit of measurement. The map of average annual runoff (fig. 1), in inches per year, shows the geographical distribution of runoff in tributary streams for the years 1951—80; it describes the magnitudes and variations of runoff nationwide. The map was prepared to reflect the runoff of tributary streams rather than in major rivers in order to represent more accurately the local or small scale variation in runoff with precipitation and other geographical characteristics. The 1951–80 period was selected to conform to the period chosen by the World Meteorological Organization for study of climatic variations. The map should not be used to estimate the streamflow for any specific site. More detailed information for a specific area can be obtained from streamflow data collected by the U.S. Geological Survey, other Federal agencies, and State agencies.

Hydrologic Atlas↗
USGS1990

Water type and concentration of dissolved solids, chloride, and sulfate in water from the St. Francois aquifer in Missouri, Arkansas, Kansas, and Oklahoma

The St. Francois aquifer, the lowermost of three regional aquifers that form part of the Ozark Plateaus aquifer system, is composed of water-bearing sandstone and dolostone of Late Cambrian age. The aquifer was studied as part of the Central Midwest Regional Aquifer-System Analysis (CMRASA, Jorgensen and Signor, 1981), a study of regional aquifer systems in the midcontinent United States that includes parts of 10 States. Because of its significance as a source of freshwater in and adjacent to the Ozark Plateaus province (index map) of Missouri, Arkansas, Kansas, and Oklahoma, a subregional project was established to investigate the Ozark Plateaus aquifer system in more detail than the regional study could provide. The geologic and hydrologic relation between the Ozark Plateaus aquifer system and other regional aquifer systems of the Midwest is presented in Jorgensen an others (in press). The relation of the St. Francois aquifer to the Ozark Plateaus aquifer system is explained in Imes [in press (a)]. A companion publication, Imes [in press (b)], contains contour maps of the altitude of the top, thickness, and potentiometric surface of the St. Francois aquifer. This report contains maps that show water type and concentration of dissolved solids, chloride, and sulfate in water from the St. Francois aquifer. Most of the data from which these maps are compiled is stored in the CMRASA hydrochemical data base (R.B. Leonard, U.S. Geological Survey, written commun., 1986). Only water quality analyses that ionically balanced to within 10 percent are included in this report. Because few water wells are completed in the St. Francois aquifer beyond the vicinity of the St. Francois Mountains in southeastern Missouri (index map), water-quality data, with few exceptions, are limited to a relatively small area near the outcrop of the aquifer.

Hydrologic Atlas↗
USGS1991

Water type and concentration of dissolved solids, chloride, and sulfate in water from the Ozark aquifer in Missouri, Arkansas, Kansas, and Oklahoma

The Ozark aquifer is a thick sequence of water-bearing dolostone, limestone, and sandstone of latest Cambrian through Middle Devonian age that is widely used as a source of water throughout the Ozark Plateaus province (index map). The Ozark aquifer is the largest of three aquifers that form part of the Ozark Plateaus aquifer system. The aquifer was studied as part of the Central Midwest Regional Aquifer-System Analysis (CMRASA; Jorgensen and Signor, 1981), a study of regional aquifer systems in the midcontinent United States that includes parts of 10States. Because of its significance as a source of freshwater in parts of Missouri, Arkansas, Kansas, and Oklahoma, a subregional project was established to investigate the Ozark Plateaus aquifer system in more detail than the regional study could provide. The geologic and hydrologic relation between the Ozark Plateaus aquifer system and other regional aquifer systems of the Midwest is presented in Jorgensen and others (in press). The relation of the Ozark aquifer to the Ozark Plateaus aquifer system is explained in Imes [in press (a)]. A companion publication, Imes [1990 (b)], contains contour maps of the altitude of the top, thickness, and potentiometric surface of the Ozark aquifer. This report contains maps that show water type and concentrations of dissolved solids, chloride, and sulfate in water from the Ozark aquifer. Most of the data from which these maps are compiled is stored in the CMRASA hydrochemical data base (R.B. Leonard, U.S. Geological Survey, written commun., 1986). Data for Oklahoma were also taken from data published by Havens (1978). The maps in this report on the Ozark subregion may contain small differences from maps in other CMRASA publications because the criteria for data selection may be different and the subregional maps may contain additional data. However, regional trends in these maps are consistent with other maps published as part of the regional project.

Hydrologic Atlas↗
USGS1991

Correlation of regional geohydrologic units to geological formations in southern Missouri

As part of the U.S Geological Survey's Regional Aquifer-System Analysis Program, geologic formations in southern Missouri (index map) were grouped into eight regional geohydrologic units on the basis of relative rock permeability and well yields (imes and Emmett, in press). Geohydrologic unit boundaries do not necessarily coincide with geologic unit boundaries or geologic time lines, but are determined by regional hydrologic properties, which may vary from one area to another. The geologic formaitons were grouped into the geohydrologic units to determine the hydrologic characteristics of regional aquifer systems and associated regional confining units in parts of Arkansas, Kansas,Missouri, and Oklahoma. This report presents a correlation of the regional geohydrologic units to corresponding geologic formations in southern Missouri. Included in the report is a brief geologic history of southern Missouri.

Missouri↗
USGS1990

Reconnaissance study of the thickness of the unsaturated zone in the western conterminous United States

In 1984, the U.S. Geological Survey began a study of the geologic and hydrologic characteristics of the unsaturated zone in the western conterminous United States. The study area extends from the eastern edge of the Rocky Mountains westward and includes all or parts of the 12 westernmost conterminous States. The goal of the study is to characterize unsaturated flow systems to aid in identifying environments in the western United States that may merit further study for isolation of hazardous waste, including high- and low-level radioactive waste and other toxic waste. The major physiographic areas discussed in this report (see index map below thickness map) are: (1) Rocky Mountain System consisting of the Southern, Middle, and Northern Rocky Mountains, and the Wyoming Basin; (2) Intermontane Plateaus consisting of the Basin and Range province, and the Colorado and Columbia Plateaus; and (3) Pacific Mountain System (Fenneman, 1946). Two of these areas, the Colorado and Columbia plateaus, exhibit a variety of geohydrologic conditions, and therefore are further subdivided in the discussions that follow. Outstanding features peculiar to the mountainous area of the Rocky Mountain and the Pacific Mountain Systems are the high rugged mountains and steep relief. These mountains receive greater precipitation than do the lower parts of the otherwise dry western United States. Generally moisture-laden air masses move eastward across the continent, and the mountains force them to higher, cooler altitudes. As the air cools, moisture condenses and precipitates. As a result, the Rocky Mountain and Pacific Mountain Systems have annual precipitation in excess of 30 in. The Wyoming Basin of the Rocky Mountain System and the Basin and Range province, Colorado Plateaus, and Columbia Plateaus of the Intermontane Plateaus generally have lower altitudes and less relief than do the mountainous areas. The climate throughout most of these provinces generally is semiarid to arid. Annual precipitation is generally less than 16 in. throughout most of the area, and is less than 4 in. in some parts. The mean annual free-water-surface evaporation ranges from 20 to 100in. A large part of the study area is subject to a water deficit because potential evapotranspiration exceeds precipitation. As a consequence of the large water deficit, ground-water recharge generally is small, surface runoff is small, perennial streams and lakes are few, and the depth to ground water commonly is large. The generalized thickness of the unsaturated zone (the depth to ground water), in the western conterminous United States is presented on the map.

Hydrologic Atlas↗