DELINEATION OF KARST BASIN BOUNDARIES USING RECHARGE DISCHARGE RELATIONSHIPS, BYRDS MILL SPRING, OKLAHOMA

The recharge area of a spring in a karst groundwater system can be difficult to determine. Topography is often used to demarcate recharge basins in groundwater systems, but this method is often not applicable in karst aquifers. This study aims to define the recharge area of the largest spring in Oklahoma, Byrds Mill Spring in Pontotoc County, utilizing the spring’s recharge discharge relationship. Byrds Mill Spring is the primary water supply for the city of Ada, OK, and discharges directly from the Arbuckle-Simpson aquifer. Uncertainty in the recharge zone for the spring needs to be limited in order to delineate proper rights to water, and manage land use above the spring to maintain spring water quality. Recharge data for the spring were acquired from a previous study generated to help develop a groundwater model, and were compared to spring discharge responses. Data that correlated with spring discharge was converted to an ArcGIS Layer to further analyze: these points of recharge are highly spatially variable, and will be used to establish a recharge boundary. Recharge data that does not correlate with spring discharge will also be examined to eliminate areas that do not recharge to Byrds Mill Spring.