Applications of Spatial Analysis for Bedrock Structures and Groundwater Wells A thesis presented to the faculty of the Russ College of Engineering and Technology of Ohio University In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Master of Science Erik G. McPeek March 2008 2 This thesis titled Applications of Spatial Analysis for Bedrock Structures and Groundwater Wells by ERIK G. MCPEEK has been approved for the Department of Civil Engineering and the Russ College of Engineering and Technology by Tiao J. Chang Professor of Civil Engineering Dennis Irwin Dean, Russ College of Engineering and Technology 3 Abstract MCPEEK, ERIK G., M.S., March 2008, Civil Engineering APPLICATIONS OF SPATIAL ANALYSIS FOR BEDROCK STRUCTURES AND GROUNDWATER WELLS (123 pp.) Director of Thesis: Tiao J. Chang Until recently, bedrock data have not been available in a digitized format for the state of Ohio. The Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) has created digitized bedrock elevation data from 1:24,000-scale bedrock-geology maps, which were made between 1991 through 1997 [ODGS, 2003]. Digitized geographic and geologic information enables the spatial and 3-D analysis by Geographical Information Systems (GIS). The benefit for using GIS is that analysis can be performed on a large scale for beneficial applications in many industries. The analysis that was performed in this thesis looked at digitized bedrock and groundwater well data to assess trends in groundwater over time and correlations between bedrock and groundwater. Methodology to create a 3-D bedrock environment using GIS is provided. This digital environment enables analysis to show groundwater trends as they relate to different bedrock structures in the state of Ohio. A spatial analysis was performed to determine and map groundwater tables and fluctuation over time in Ohio. A regional analysis was performed to show local trends in areas where there are clusters of groundwater wells below bedrock structures. Approved: _____________________________________________________________ Tiao J. Chang Professor of Civil Engineering 4 Table of Contents Abstract…………………………………………………………………………....….......3 List of Tables ..................................................................................................................... 6 List of Figures.................................................................................................................... 7 I Introduction................................................................................................................. 8 I.1 Bedrock Data ...................................................................................................... 8 I.2 Groundwater Well Data ...................................................................................... 9 I.3 Need for Modeling and Analysis ...................................................................... 11 I.4 Geographical Information Systems (GIS) ........................................................ 12 I.5 Scope of the Study ............................................................................................ 13 I.5.1 Analysis of Bedrock Structures and Groundwater Elevation ....................... 14 I.5.2 Analysis for Groundwater............................................................................. 15 II Literature Review...................................................................................................... 16 II.1 Ohio Geology and Geography .......................................................................... 16 II.1.1 Ohio Bedrock............................................................................................ 16 II.1.2 Ohio Drift.................................................................................................. 19 II.1.3 Ohio Physiology ....................................................................................... 20 II.2 Ohio Bedrock Mapping..................................................................................... 23 II.2.1 Shaded Drift-Thickness Map of Ohio....................................................... 24 II.2.2 Shaded Bedrock Topography Map of Ohio.............................................. 25 II.3 Case Study ........................................................................................................ 25 II.4 Applications of ArcGIS .................................................................................... 27 II.4.1 Raster Creation from Point and Line Data................................................ 28 II.5 Model Accuracy................................................................................................ 29 III Bedrock and Groundwater Well Analysis Methodology...................................... 32 III.1 Creating 3-D Bedrock Surfaces ........................................................................ 32 III.1.1 Data Collection ......................................................................................... 32 III.1.2 Methodology............................................................................................. 33 III.2 Water Well and Bedrock Analysis.................................................................... 50 III.2.1 Performing the Water Well Analysis........................................................ 50 III.2.2 Surface Spot Tool ..................................................................................... 51 III.2.3 Excel/VB Analysis.................................................................................... 52 III.3 Regional Groundwater and Bedrock Analysis.................................................. 53 III.3.1 Data Collection ......................................................................................... 53 III.3.2 Regional Analysis Methodology............................................................... 54 IV Application and Results ........................................................................................ 58 IV.1 3-D Bedrock Surfaces....................................................................................... 58 IV.1.1 Description of Final Bedrock Surfaces as TIN Surfaces .......................... 58 IV.1.2 Usability of the Final TIN Surfaces.......................................................... 62 IV.2 Ground Water Wells and Bedrock Surface Analysis........................................ 63 IV.3 Groundwater Surface Maps .............................................................................. 67 IV.3.1 Groundwater Surface by Depth to Groundwater ...................................... 67 IV.3.2 Groundwater Surface by Elevation of Groundwater ................................ 74 IV.4 Physiographic Regions and Groundwater......................................................... 77 5 IV.5 Time Variations of Groundwater (Regionally)................................................. 82 IV.5.1 Regional Bedrock Analysis Results.......................................................... 82 V Conclusions............................................................................................................... 88 References......................................................................................................................... 93 Appendix A: Ohio Department of Natural Resources Maps .............................................97 Appendix B: Visual Basic Script .....................................................................................110 Appendix C: Groundwater Wells within Bedrock Layers...............................................112 Appendix D: Ohio Groundwater Surface Maps...............................................................117 6 List of Tables Table 1. Functions commonly provided by GIS software [Bolstad, 2002] ...................... 13 Table 2. Bedrock geology units of Ohio [University of Toledo, 2006]............................ 18 Table 3. Water well and bedrock analysis results............................................................ 65 Table 4. Bedrock surface description [ODGS, 2003]....................................................... 66 Table 5. Groundwater well surface over time................................................................... 67 Table 6. Groundwater wells divided by Physiographic Region ....................................... 78 Table 7. Bedrock wells separated by Physiographic Region............................................ 79 Table 8. Number of wells in each of the three NE Ohio groundwater groups ................. 82 Table 9. Time increments of each of the three groups of NE Ohio groundwater wells ... 83 Table 10. Mean ground surface results............................................................................. 85 7 List of Figures Figure 1. Geologic map and cross section of Ohio [ODNR, 2004].................................. 17 Figure 2. Glaciated and unglaciated regions of Ohio [Swinford, 2001]........................... 20 Figure 3. Physiographic regions of Ohio [ODNR DNAP, 2005] ..................................... 21 Figure 4. Example of a hand drawn bedrock topography milar map [McDonald et al., 2003] ................................................................................................................................. 37 Figure 5. Example of bedrock topography over quadrangle map [ArcGIS (Version 9.0)] ........................................................................................................................................... 38 Figure 6. Identifying quadrangle unit code example .......................................................