Abstract |
In the Whitewater, Wisconsin area, a study was made of the groundwater hydrology and the geologic factors that influence it. The unconfined groundwater under the eastern part of the Whitewater area is in the Mayville dolomite and Quaternary sediments above the shales of the Maquoketa formation. The confined 'artesian' water of the Zone of Saturation is that water confined to the permeable formations from the Cambrian Mt. Simon sandstone to the Ordovican Galena-Plattevile formations. The gradient of the water table is steepest just within the crest of the Whitewater sub-basin divide. In this mile-wide zone the average slope is toward the center of the basin at about 25 feet a mile. Wells in glacial outwash deposits have limited yields and this aquifer is generally best suited to farm supply. The most important reservoirs of groundwater for safe yield in relatively large quantities are the sandstones of the Cambrian system, especially the Mt. Simon sandstone. The average chemical composition of the waters from the local aquifers exhibit strong secondary alkalinity. (WRSIC abstract) |