Aquifer texture data describing the Long Island aquifer system (ver. 2.0, March 2021)

Dates

Publication Date: 2020-10-01
Time Period: 2018
Last Revision: 2021-03-19

Citation

Finkelstein, J.S., Walter, D.A., and Monti, Jack, Jr., 2020, Aquifer texture data describing the Long Island aquifer system (ver. 2.0, March 2021): U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/10.5066/P954DLLC.

Summary

This dataset has been archived; it has been superseded by version 3.0 (November 2021) which can be found at https://doi.org/10.5066/P954DLLC . The data contained in this data release support USGS Scientific Investigations Report 2020-5023, "Distribution of selected hydrogeologic characteristics of the upper glacial and Magothy aquifers, Long Island, New York" (Walter and Finkelstein, 2020). This data release contains estimates of aquifer texture describing the Long Island aquifer system. These estimates in total can be considered a model of aquifer texture describing unconsolidated sediments in the following principal units: 1) Upper glacial aquifer, 2) Jameco aquifer, 3) Monmouth Greensand confining unit, and 4) Magothy aquifer. [...]

Summary

This dataset has been archived; it has been superseded by version 3.0 (November 2021) which can be found at https://doi.org/10.5066/P954DLLC .

The data contained in this data release support USGS Scientific Investigations Report 2020-5023, "Distribution of selected hydrogeologic characteristics of the upper glacial and Magothy aquifers, Long Island, New York" (Walter and Finkelstein, 2020).

This data release contains estimates of aquifer texture describing the Long Island aquifer system. These estimates in total can be considered a model of aquifer texture describing unconsolidated sediments in the following principal units: 1) Upper glacial aquifer, 2) Jameco aquifer, 3) Monmouth Greensand confining unit, and 4) Magothy aquifer. The Lloyd aquifer, a major aquifer on Long Island, is not included in the model due to a lack of available data. Aquifer texture characteristics estimated include: 1) horizontal hydraulic conductivity, 2) vertical hydraulic conductivity, and 3) the probabilities of occurrence of a) clay/silt, b) lignite, and c) pyrite. Probabilities of lignite and pyrite occurrence are limited to the Magothy aquifer and Monmouth Greensand.

The aquifer texture was estimated using lithologic descriptions obtained from 1,769 boreholes across Long Island using methods similar to Arihood (2008), Faunt and others (2010), and Walter and others (2018). In total, 36,364 unique lithologic descriptions from the boreholes were compiled and categorized into 45 separate USGS Ground-Water Site-Inventory (GWSI) System codes (USGS, 2004). The boreholes used to derive the texture model targeted the deepest hole within each 1-mi2 cell of a Long Island-wide grid. The 45 GWSI codes were further aggregated into 14 categories: 7 each for glacial and Cretaceous aquifer sediments. Each of the 14 categories were assigned estimated values of horizontal and vertical conductivity based on previous investigations and literature values for the Long Island aquifer system (Smolensky and others, 1989; Lindner and Reilly, 1983; McClymonds and Franke, 1972; Franke and Getzen, 1976) and similar hydrogeologic environments on the coastal plain of Massachusetts (Barlow and Hess, 1993; Barlow, 1989; Masterson and Barlow, 1997; Masterson and others, 1998; Guswa and LeBlanc, 1985; Guswa and Londquist, 1976; LeBlanc and others, 1986; Walter and others, 1996).

Horizontal and vertical hydraulic conductivities were estimated for each of the 14 aggregated lithologic codes. Subsequent calculations were applied to these values to determine a thickness-weighted mean and geometric mean hydraulic conductivity for 10-foot intervals across Long Island. An ordinary kriging interpolation was performed on these points within each 10-foot interval to generate a set of grids, with a 500-foot resolution.

The probability of occurrence of clay, lignite, and pyrite was determined from binary variables assigned using keywords in the lithologic descriptions. Descriptions containing the appropriate keywords were assigned a probability of 1, while a value of 0 was assigned to those without the keywords. The mean probability of the occurrence of clay, lignite, and pyrite (represented as binary variables) was computed for each 10-foot interval for each borehole. Ultimately, a database of X, Y, and Z coordinates, estimates of horizontal and vertical hydraulic conductivity and the probability of occurrence of clay, lignite, and pyrite was assembled.

The results of this analysis are documented as two sets of comma-delimited text files that include the location and altitude of the center of each cell along with an estimated value of each textural characteristic. Spatial coordinates are in feet, relative to the NAD27 datum. The altitude is in feet, NAVD88 datum. Data describing the upper glacial aquifer is contained in the file named ‘Pleistocene_Sediments.txt’. Data for the Cretaceous sediments underlying the glacial aquifer, are broken into three separate text files (Cretaceous_Sediments_1, 2, and 3) due to their size.

First posted October 1, 2020, ver. 1.0
Revised March 2021, ver. 2.0

Version 2.0: This version of the dataset now includes the data points that were omitted in version 1.0.

Version 1.0: This version of the dataset had data points omitted that should have been included in the Pleistocene and Cretaceous text files.

Contacts

Point of Contact :: Jason Finkelstein
Originator :: Jason Finkelstein, Donald A Walter, Jack Monti
Metadata Contact :: Jason Finkelstein, New York Water Science Center
Publisher :: U.S. Geological Survey
SDC Data Owner :: New York Water Science Center
USGS Mission Area :: Water Resources
Distributor :: U.S. Geological Survey - ScienceBase

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Arihood, L.D., 2008, Processing, analysis, and general evaluation of well-driller logs for estimating hydrogeologic parameters of the glacial sediments in a ground-water flow model of the Lake Michigan basin: U.S. Geologic Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2008-5184	https://pubs.usgs.gov/sir/2008/5184
Barlow P.M., 1989, Determination of aquifer properties from a thermal tracer experiment: EOS, v.70, no. 15, p. 137	https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/23249250/70/15
Barlow P.M. and Hess, K.M., 1993, Simulated hydrologic responses of the Quashnet River stream-aquifer system to proposed ground-water withdrawals: U.S. Geologic Survey Water-Resources Investigations Report 93-4064, 52 p.	https://pubs.er.usgs.gov/publication/wri934064
Faunt, C.C., Belitz, Kenneth, and Hanson, R.T., 2010, Development of a three-dimensional model of sedimentary texture in valley-fill deposits of Central Valley, California: Hydrogeology Journal, v.18, no. 3, pp. 625-649	https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10040-009-0539-7
Franke, O.L., and Cohen, Philip, 1972, Regional rates of ground-water movement on Long Island, New York, in Geological Survey Research 1972: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 800-C, p. C271-277	https://pubs.er.usgs.gov/publication/pp800C
Franke, O.L. and Getaen, R.T., 1976, Evaluation of hydrologic properties of the Long Island ground-water reservoir using cross-sectional analog models: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 75-679, 80 p.	https://pubs.er.usgs.gov/publication/ofr75679
Guswa, J.H., and LeBlanc, D.R., 1985, Digital flow models of ground-water flow in the Cape Cod aquifer system, Massachusetts: U.S. Geological Survey Water-Supply Paper 2209, 112 p.	https://pubs.er.usgs.gov/publication/wsp2209
Guswa, J.H., and Londquist, C.J., 1976, Potential for development of ground water at a test site near Truro, Massachusetts: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 76-614	https://pubs.er.usgs.gov/publication/ofr76614
LeBlanc, D.R., Guswa, J.H., Frimpter, M.H., and Londquist, C.J., 1986, Ground-water resources of Cape Cod, Massachusetts: U.S. Geological Survey Hydrologic Atlas 692, 4 pls.	https://pubs.er.usgs.gov/publication/ha692
Lindner, J.B., and Reilly, T.E., 1983, Analysis of three tests of the unconfined aquifer in southern Nassau County, Long Island, New York: U.S. Geological Survey Water¬ Resources Investigations Report 82-4021, 52 p.	https://pubs.er.usgs.gov/publication/wri824021
Masterson, J.P. and Barlow, P.M., 1997, Effects of simulated ground-water pumping and recharge on ground-water flow in Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard, and Nantucket Basins, Massachusetts: U.S. Geological Survey Water Supply Paper 2447	https://pubs.er.usgs.gov/publication/wsp2447
Masterson. J.P. Walter, D.A., and Savoie, Jennifer, 1998, Use of particle-tracking to improve numerical model calibration and to analyze ground-water flow and contaminant migration, Massachusetts Military Reservation, western Cape Cod, Massachusetts: U.S. Geological Survey Water-Supply Paper 2482	https://pubs.er.usgs.gov/publication/ofr96214
McClymonds, N.E., and Franke, O.L., 1972, Water-transmitting properties of aquifers on Long Island, N.Y.: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 627-E, 24 p.	https://pubs.er.usgs.gov/publication/pp627E
Smolensky, D.A., Buxton, H.T., and Shernoff, P.K., 1989, Hydrogeologic framework of Long Island, New York: U.S. Geological Survey Hydrologic Investigations Atlas HA–709, 3 pls.	http://pubs.er.usgs.gov/publication/ha709
U.S. Geological Survey, 2004, User's Manual For The National Water Information System Of The U.S. Geological Survey: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2004-1238 Version 4.3, accessed January 23, 2018	https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2004/1238/
Walter, D.A., Masterson, J.P., and Barlow, P.M., 1996, Hydrogeology and analysis of ground-water-flow system, Sagamore marsh area, southeastern Massachusetts: U.S. Geological Survey Water-Resources Investigations Report 96-4200	https://pubs.er.usgs.gov/publication/wri964200
Walter, D.A, McCobb, T.D., and Fienen, M.N., 2018, Use of a numerical model to simulate the hydrologic system and transport of contaminants near Joint Base Cape Cpd, western Cape Cod, Massachusetts: U.S. Geologic Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2018-5139, 98p	https://pubs.er.usgs.gov/publication/sir20185139

Type: Related Primary Publication

Walter, D.A., and Finkelstein, J.S., 2020, Distribution of selected hydrogeologic characteristics of the upper glacial and Magothy aquifers, Long Island, New York: U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2020–5023, 21 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/sir20205023.	https://doi.org/10.3133/sir20205023

Purpose

In 2016, the U.S Geological Survey’s National Water Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program began an investigation into the distribution of groundwater age in the aquifer and how age relates to contaminant susceptibility, for Long Island, New York. Existing data were compiled and analyzed, and the results were used to develop a numerical model of the aquifer system. As part of this effort, lithologic descriptions, geophysical data and ancillary well construction data were compiled from deep boreholes across the island. These data were assembled into a GIS database and used to develop three-dimensional renderings of key aquifer characteristics, including horizontal and vertical hydraulic conductivity and the probability of occurrence of lignite and clay. These modeled distributions were used to inform development of groundwater-flow models and statistical models of water quality.

Aquifer texture data describing the Long Island aquifer system (ver. 2.0, March 2021)

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