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WEARY, David J.1, HARLOW, George E. Jr2, ORNDORFF, Randall C.1, and ALEMÁN-GONZÁLEZ, Wilma1, (1) U.S. Geol Survey, MS 926A, Reston, VA 20192,
dweary@usgs.gov, (2) U.S. Geol Survey, 1730 East Parham Road, Richmond, VA
23228
As a rapidly expanding “bedroom community”
for the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, the northern Shenandoah Valley of
Virginia is facing increased human impacts on ground-water resources.
Expansion of industrial and housing development combined with low water
tables experienced during recent drought years have prompted local
governments to support scientific studies of the karst aquifers of the northern
Shenandoah Valley. The aquifer comprises
Lower Paleozoic carbonate rocks that have been extensively folded, faulted,
and fractured. In many places the fractures have been enlarged by solution
into caves and conduits for ground water. In cooperation with the Frederick
Co. Sanitation Authority, U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) geologists and
hydrologists are studying the geology and ground-water resource in the area
around Winchester, VA. The effort, supported by the National
Cooperative Geologic Mapping Program (NCGMP), includes new 1:24,000 scale
geologic mapping in quadrangles containing the karst aquifer. Special
emphasis is put on identifying faults and other structures that may affect
the partitioning and movement of ground water on a regional scale. Fracture
measurement and analysis are being performed in an attempt to characterize
the anisotropy of the bedrock with respect to ground-water flow at local and
regional scales. Preliminary results indicate that ground water moves
preferentially along strike in the folded and faulted rocks of this area, and
many conduits develop along the intersections of joints and bedding planes.
The effort also includes installation and monitoring of stream gauges for
base-flow data as well as an extensive well monitoring and aquifer tests.
Data collected will be incorporated into a numeric ground-water flow model
being developed for the entire Shenandoah Valley
watershed.
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Session No.
249--Booth# 125
Geological
Mapping: Providing for Successful Water and Land Resource Planning (Posters)
Colorado Convention Center: Exhibit Hall
1:30 PM-5:30 PM, Wednesday, November 10, 2004
Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, Vol. 36, No. 5,
p. 578
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© Copyright 2004 The Geological Society of America
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