Simulated Effects of Impoundment of Lake Seminole on Ground-Water Flow in the Upper Floridan Aquifer in Southwestern Georgia and Adjacent Parts of Alabama and Florida
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Simulated Effects of Impoundment of Lake Seminole on Ground-Water Flow in the Upper Floridan Aquifer in Southwestern Georgia and Adjacent Parts of Alabama and Florida Prepared in cooperation with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources Environmental Protection Division Georgia Geologic Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2004-5077 U.S. Department of the Interior U.S. Geological Survey Cover: Northern view of Jim Woodruff Lock and Dam from the west bank of the Apalachicola River. Photo by Dianna M. Crilley, U.S. Geological Survey. A. Map showing simulated flow net of the Upper Floridan aquifer in the lower Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint River basin under hypothetical preimpoundment Lake Seminole conditions. B. Map showing simulated flow net of the Upper Floridan aquifer in the lower Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint River basin under postimpoundment Lake Seminole conditions. Simulated Effects of Impoundment of Lake Seminole on Ground-Water Flow in the Upper Floridan Aquifer in Southwestern Georgia and Adjacent Parts of Alabama and Florida By L. Elliott Jones and Lynn J. Torak Prepared in cooperation with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources Environmental Protection Division Georgia Geologic Survey Atlanta, Georgia Scientific Investigations Report 2004-5077 U.S. Department of the Interior U.S. Geological Survey U.S. Department of the Interior Gale A. Norton, Secretary U.S. Geological Survey Charles G. Groat, Director U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, Virginia: 2004 This report is available on the World Wide Web at http://infotrek.er.usgs.gov/pubs/ For more information about the USGS and its products: Telephone: 1-888-ASK-USGS World Wide Web: http://www.usgs.gov/ Any use of trade, product, or firm names in this publication is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government. Although this report is in the public domain, permission must be secured from the individual copyright owners to reproduce any copyrighted materials contained within this report. Suggested citation: Jones, L. Elliott, and Torak, Lynn J., 2004, Simulated Effects of Impoundment of Lake Seminole on Ground-Water Flow in the Upper Floridan Aquifer in Southwestern Georgia and Adjacent Parts of Alabama and Florida: U.S. Geological Survey, Scientific Investigations Report 2004-5077, p. 22. iii Contents Abstract ……………………………………………………………………………………… 1 Introduction …………………………………………………………………………………… 1 Purpose and Scope ……………………………………………………………………… 3 Study Area and Physiography …………………………………………………………… 3 Geohydrology …………………………………………………………………………… 5 Numerical Methods …………………………………………………………………………… 8 Model Background and Assumptions …………………………………………………… 8 Vertical Hydraulic Conductance ………………………………………………………… 9 Cauchy-Type Boundaries ……………………………………………………………… 9 State-Line Flow ………………………………………………………………………… 10 Simulation Results …………………………………………………………………………… 10 Uncertainty and Variability of Parameters …………………………………………………… 16 Summary ……………………………………………………………………………………… 17 References Cited ……………………………………………………………………………… 17 Figures 1–2. Maps showing: 1. Location of study area, lower Apalachicola–Chattahoochee–Flint (ACF) River Basin area, lower ACF River Basin model area, and physiographic districts of the Coastal Plain Province ............................................................................. 2 2. Southern part of the lower Apalachicola–Chattahoochee–Flint River Basin model area, showing physiographic districts, topography, major streams, lakes, and cities .................................................................................................. 4 3. Correlation chart of geologic and hydrologic units comprising the stream-lake- aquifer flow system near Lake Seminole ................................................................................. 6 4. Diagram of hydrogeologic units and conceptualization of ground-water and surface-water flow in the vicinity of Lake Seminole ............................................................. 7 5. Map showing boundary conditions of the lower Apalachicola–Chattahoochee– Flint River Basin model in the Lake Seminole area, showing modifications for simulating hypothetical preimpoundment conditions ........................................................... 9 6. Graphs showing model-input river stage for Cauchy-type boundaries representing the Chattahoochee and Flint Rivers and Spring Creek, hypothetical preimpoundment conditions and postimpoundment conditions ....................................................................... 10 7–12. Maps showing: 7. Preliminary simulated increase in ground-water level in the Upper Floridan aquifer due to the impoundment of Lake Seminole based on initial preimpoundment conditions ............................................................................................ 10 iv 8. Estimated decrease in input-head values along the southeastern external Cauchy-type boundary to account for lower hypothetical preimpoundment water levels in the Upper Floridan aquifer .................................................................... 11 9. Simulated increase in ground-water level in the Upper Floridan aquifer due to the impoundment of Lake Seminole and accounting for lower preimpoundment water levels along the southeastern external Cauchy-type boundary ..................................................................................................... 12 10. Simulated potentiometric surface and directions of ground-water flow in the Upper Floridan aquifer from simulation of (A ) hypothetical preimpoundment conditions and (B ) postimpoundment conditions ........................................................ 13 11. Simulated ground-water recharge or discharge rates at Cauchy-type boundaries from simulation of (A) hypothetical preimpoundment conditions and (B ) postimpoundment conditions ............................................................................ 14 12. Simulated flow rates in the Upper Floridan aquifer adjacent to zones of element sides and at Cauchy-type boundaries along the Georgia–Alabama and Georgia–Florida State lines: (A ) hypothetical preimpoundment conditions; and (B ) postimpoundment conditions ............................................................................ 16 Tables 1. Simulated water-budget components for the lower Apalachicola– Chattahoochee–Flint River Basin model, hypothetical preimpoundment and postimpoundment conditions. ................................................................................................. 13 2. Simulated discharge to streams in the Lake Seminole area, hypothetical preimpoundment and postimpoundment conditions. .......................................................... 14 3. Simulated regional flow rates at external model-boundary zones in the Lake Seminole area, hypothetical preimpoundment and postimpoundment conditions. ....... 15 Conversion Factors and Datum Factors for converting inch-pound units to the International System (SI) of units are given below: Multiply By To obtain Length foot (ft) 0.3048 meter (m) mile (mi) 1.609 kilometer (km) Area square mile (mi2) 2.590 square kilometer (km2) Flow million gallons per day (Mgal/d) 0.04381 cubic meters per second (m3/s) Vertical coordinate information is referenced to the North American Vertical Datum of 1988 (NAVD 88). Historical data collected and stored as National Geodetic Vertical Datum of 1929 have been converted to NAVD 88 for this publication. Simulated Effects of Impoundment of Lake Seminole on Ground-Water Flow in the Upper Floridan Aquifer in Southwestern Georgia and Adjacent Parts of Alabama and Florida By L. Elliott Jones and Lynn J. Torak Abstract River channels converge near the Georgia-Florida State line, approximately 107 miles (mi) upstream from Apalachicola Hydrologic implications of the impoundment of Lake Bay and the Gulf of Mexico. About 250 mi of lake shoreline Seminole in southwest Georgia and its effect on components are irregularly distributed along two major impoundment arms of the surface- and ground-water flow systems of the lower on the Chattahoochee and Flint Rivers and along two minor Apalachicola–Chattahoochee–Flint (ACF) River Basin were impoundment arms on Spring Creek and Fishpond Drain, both investigated using a ground-water model. Comparison of of which are tributary to the Flint River impoundment arm. simulation results of postimpoundment drought conditions Backwater conditions inundate natural courses and floodplains (October 1986) with results of hypothetical preimpoundment of these streams, extending about 47 mi from the dam up the conditions (a similar drought prior to 1955) provides a qualita- Chattahoochee River and Flint River impoundment arms (U.S. tive measure of the changes in hydraulic head and ground- Army Corps of Engineers and others, 1984), and extending water flow to and from streams and Lake Seminole, and across lesser distances upstream of the dam along other tributaries. State lines caused by the impoundment. Jim Woodruff Lock and Dam is a multiple-purpose struc- Based on the simulation results, the impoundment of ture operated by the USACE, the primary functions of which Lake Seminole changed ground-water flow directions within are to aid navigation in the Apalachicola River downstream of about 20–30 miles of the lake, reducing the amount of ground the dam and in the Chattahoochee and Flint Rivers upstream, water flowing from Florida to Georgia southeast of the lake. and to generate hydroelectric power. Secondary benefits of the Ground-water storage was increased