MULTIDISCIPLINARY STUDIES OF GROUND-WATER AVAILABILITY IN A KARST AQUIFER SYSTEM, LEETOWN SCIENCE CENTER, WEST VIRGINIA

The Leetown Science Center (LSC) is a research facility operated by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). Folded, faulted, and fractured Cambrian and Ordovician carbonate and siliciclastic rocks underlie the LSC. The LSC’s primary mission is to provide and interpret data on the health and habits of aquatic species. The Center’s work requires large quantities of water and most of the water comes from highly productive karst limestone springs located on the facility. These springs supply adequate water during normal to wet climatic conditions, however the availability of water during dry conditions is not well known. The USGS has conducted geologic mapping, karst mapping, audio-magnetotelluric soundings, and down-hole geophysical measurements in the area encompassing the LSC. These data improve our understanding of the geologic structure and the role of fractures, faults, joints, and bedding planes in controlling ground water flow. Comprehensive analysis of the ground-water resource by the USGS includes: installation of monitoring wells, assessment of current and past land-use, water-level monitoring, long-term drawdown tests of the backup supply wells for the LSC, and dye-tracer tests. Future ground water flow modeling for the LSC will yield a budget of available ground-water and an assessment of current and future water demands at the Center. Results of the modeling will test pumping scenarios to minimize impacts to the springs at the facility if the two standby wells or new monitoring wells are tapped as an additional source of water for the Center. Preliminary results show that high yielding wells and springs are coincident with the troughs of synclinal features and fault zones. Wells drilled within synclines produced as much as 300 gal/min while wells on anticlines produced lesser amounts averaging about 18 gal/min. Wells drilled on faults also yielded in excess of 300 gal/min. Springs on the facility are associated with both thrust faults and cross-strike faults. Techniques and models derived from this study will be transferable to Future studies in areas with similar geology and ground-water issues will benefit from techniques and models derived from this study.