Geology And Ground- Water Resources Of The Henderson Area Kentucky - USGS

2 'GEOLOGY, GROUND-WATER RESOURCES, HENDERSON AREA, KENTUCKYeludes a large part of the tilled farmland. The aquifers are recharged by precipitation onthe outcrop areas in the uplands both within the area and to the east. Water is dischargedfrom these aquifers by underflow to the alluvium, by plants, and by wells.Water from these aquifers to depths of 300 feet is usually of satisfactory chemical quality for most uses, but extremely variable in many respects. The hardness ranges from 8 to440 ppm; nitrate from 0 to 72 ppm. Water from the Anvil Rock sandstone member in manyplaces contains enough nitrate to be dangerous to infants using the water. Water from thesandstone of the Carbondale formation may contain enough fluoride to cause mottling ofteeth of small children.It is estimated that about 7,800 million gallons or 24,000 acre-feet of water is usedannually in the Henderson area. Of this total, 82 percent is derived from ground-water reservoirs, 17 percent is taken directly from the Ohio River, and 1 percent is from ponds.Much more ground water can be obtained in the flood plain where thick beds of sand andgravel occur. Geologic sections and a bedrock contour map show the extent of these deposits. On the terrace northeast of Henderson there is little chance for large-scale development. As bedrock can be seen along the water's edge at Henderson when the river is inpool stage (338 feet above mean sea level), it is doubtful that more than a few gallons perminute can be obtained from wells in the city. In the large plain of Canoe Creek, where itenters the Ohio River from the south, oil and coal tests penetrated a small amount of sandand gravel. Although no vertical screened wells have been constructed in that area, it ispossible that supplies of 50 gpm may be developed in some parts of it.INTRODUCTIONPURPOSE AND SCOPE OF REPORTThis report on the source, occurrence, and quality of groundwater supplies in the Henderson area is one of a series of studieson the ground water resources of Kentucky, being made by theUnited States Geological Survey in cooperation with the KentuckyAgricultural and Industrial Development Board. Figure 1 is anindex map of Kentucky showing the location of the Henderson areaand of other areas in the State where ground-water investigationshave been commenced or completed.The area covered by this report is the Kentucky portion of theHenderson 15-minute quadrangle of the U. S. Geological Survey,which includes the northern part of Henderson County, Ky. , andthe southern parts.of Vanderburgh and Posey Counties, Ind. TheKentucky portion of the quadrangle extends to the north bank ofthe Ohio River and covers about 130 square miles. As the indexmap shows, the area lies on the northern margin of the section ofKentucky commonly known as the Western Coal Field. The principal city in the area is Henderson. Anthoston is an unincorporatedvillage in the southeastern section, and Geneva is an unincorporated village about 5 miles west of Henderson.An ever-increasing need is developing for basic informationconcerning the quality and quantity of available ground-water

INTRODUCTION

4GEOLOGY, GROUND-WATER RESOURCES, HENDERSON AREA, KENTUCKYsupplies. This report is designed to show the extent and thicknessof the water-bearing formations, where they are most productiveand least productive, and the chemical quality of the water theyyield. The Henderson area is representative of much of the OhioValley in this region, and of the Western Coal Field, so that theinformation presented here can be used as a guide elsewhere inthe Western Coal Field region.PREVIOUS INVESTIGATIONSThere have been no previous investigations of ground water inthis area, but the basic geology is described in several reports.In 1922 C. V. Theis1 described the geology of Henderson Countyand later (1927) prepared a contour map on the No. 9 coal inHenderson County. The Kentucky Geological Survey has publisheda report by F. H. Walker and others (1951) on the geology andmineral resources of the Henderson quadrangle.Geologic publications on areas surrounding Henderson County,useful in the preparation of this report, are referred to in thelist of references.METHODS OF INVESTIGATIONA complete inventory of all wells in the Henderson area wasstarted in the fall of 1949. Information was obtained on about1, 200 water wells, springs, and coal-test and oil-test holes. Welldepths; depths to water; pumping levels when obtainable; nature,depth, and thickness of the aquifer; and the quality of the waterwere among the kinds of information gathered. The data obtainedin this inventory are given in tables 11 and 12. Plates 1, 2, 3, and4 show the locations of all the wells and other borings, and springsthat were scheduled.Logs of water wells were obtained from many drillers and wellowners, and a number of samples of drillings were obtained fromwells being drilled during the investigation. The samples wereexamined in the field or office with a hand lens or binocularmicroscope. Logs of coal-mine shafts and borings for coal,gas, and oil were obtained also. Logs selected for the report" aregiven on pages 203-224 andmany others are available in the files ofthe U. S. Geological Survey. Because of the thick cover of soiland windblown silt or loess, there are few exposures of rock iniTheis, C. V., 1922, The geology of Henderson County, Ky.: Unpublished doctoral thesisin files of library of Univ. of Cincinnati, Ohio, 223 p.

INTRODUCTION0the area. Plate 5 is a map based on subsurface informationshowing the elevation of bedrock in the buried channel of the OhioRiver. The map shows also the availability of water in the alluvium of the main valley and the tributaries. Plates 8 and 10 arecontour maps of the upper surfaces of the two widely used sandstone aquifers, the upper sandstone member of the Carbondaleformation and the Anvil Rock sandstone member of the Lismanformation. Plates 6 and 7 show geologic sections across the area.Water-level measurements were made in many wells by tape orrecording gages to determine the nature and magnitude of thefluctuations of water level. These water-level measurements arepresented in table 14. Continuous water-level records, such asthose obtained with a recording gage, show the fluctuations causedby changes of atmospheric pressure or by pumping; they alsoshow whether the water levels respond quickly or slowly to rainfall or river rise. Plates 12 and 13 show hydrographs of selectedwells compared with rainfall and stage of the Ohio River. Plates9 and 11 show by contours the elevations of water levels overparts of the area in the upper sandstone member of the Carbondaleformation and the Anvil Rock sandstone member.Samples of water were collected from 66 wells and 3 springs.Five wells were resampled at different seasons. The analysesare presented in table 4. Medians of analyses are presented intable 5. Selected analyses are shown graphically on the crosssections on plate 7 and in figure 10. The samples were collectedby members of the party in the field and sent to the Quality ofWater Laboratory of the U. S. Geological Survey in Columbus,Ohio, where the analyses were made under the direction ofW. L. Lamar, district chemist. The Kentucky State Departmentof Health, through the Henderson Health Center, analyzed samplesfrom many wells in Henderson County for bacterial contaminationand nitrate content. This information was collected periodicallyat the Health Center to supplement Survey analyses for nitratecontent of ground water and to aid in geologic correlation.Ground-water investigations are under the general supervisionof A. N. Sayre, chief of the Ground Water Branch, of the U. S.Geological Survey. M. I. Rorabaugh, district engineer in Kentucky,and E. H. Walker, geologist, were the immediate supervisors.During the course of this work the author was assisted by B. W.Maxwell and R. W. Devaul.

6GEOLOGY, GROUND-WATER RESOURCES, HENDERSON AREA, KENTUCKYWELL-NUMBERING SYSTEMAll wells, coal and oil tests, bridge borings, and other testholes on which data are available were assigned numbers at thetime the information was collected. The 15-minute quadranglewas divided into nine 5-minute rectangles and the longitude andlatitude of the east and south boundaries of each rectangle wereused to designate well locations as shown in figure 2.Figure 2. Map of Henderson area, Kentucky, showing well-numbering system.

GEOGRAPHY7Wells in the southeast 5-minute rectangle are designated by thelongitude of the eastern boundary, 87 30', and the latitude of thesouthern boundary, 37 45'. The first well inventoried is given thecomplete designation of 8730 3745 1. The second well inventoriedis designated 8730 3745-2. Similarly the first well inventoried inthe south-central rectangle is designated 8735-3745 1. In tables11 and 12, the we 11 and spring inventories, directions and distancesfrom Henderson or a small town are given to facilitate location ofwells on the various maps.ACKNOWLEDGMENTSHomeowners and farmers of the area were very cooperative ingiving information used in this report. Roscoe Jenkins, FieldingJones, Ashford Robards, Stanton Sircy, R. A. Toombs, and J. D.Tucker, drillers in the area, cooperated in saving samples ofwell cuttings, in making water-level measurements in wellsunder construction, and in supplying information on wells drilledin previous years. The Heldt-Monroe Hardware, Co., the DiehlPump and Supply Co., of Evansville, Ind., and the Ranney Construction Co., of Louisville, Ky., supplied information on thelarger ground-water supplies in the area.The writer is indebted to the oil producers and drilling contractors who fur

5. Map of Henderson area, showing contours on top of bedrock and availability of ground water in the alluvium. 6. Geologic sections of the Ohio River valley in the Henderson area. 7. Geologic sections across the Henderson area showing quality of water at specific locations. 8. Map of Henderson area, showing availability of ground water in, and