GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA OPEN FILE 5624 The Vars–Winchester esker aquifer, South Nation River watershed, Ontario: CANQUA Fieldtrip, June 6, 2007 Cummings, D. I., Russell, H. A. J. 2007 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA OPEN FILE 5624 The Vars–Winchester esker aquifer, South Nation River watershed, Ontario: CANQUA Fieldtrip, June 6, 2007 Compiled by Don I. Cummings and Hazen A. J. Russell With contributions from Sam Alpay, Anne-Marie Chapman, Coralie Charland, George Gorrell, Marc J. Hinton, Tessa Di Iorio, André Pugin, Susan Pullan, and David R. Sharpe 2007 ©Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada 2007 Available from Geological Survey of Canada 601 Booth Street Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0E8 Cummings, D. I. and Russell, H. A. J. 2007: The Vars–Winchester esker aquifer, South Nation River watershed, Ontario, CANQUA Fieldtrip Guidebook, June 6th 2007; Geological Survey of Canada, Open File 5624, 68 p. Open files are products that have not gone through the GSC formal publication process. Figure 1. Field-trip route and key geographic features. Mapped location of eskers includes known (exposed) and interpreted (buried) sections (from Gorrell, 1991). iii Contributors Sam Alpay Tessa Di Iorio Geological Survey of Canada South Nation Conservation Authority Natural Resources Canada P. O. Box 69 601 Booth Street, Ottawa, ON 15 Union Street Canada K1A 0E8 Berwick, ON K0C 1G0 Telephone: (613) 996-2373 Telephone: 613-984-2948 ext. 295 E-mail: [email protected] Toll Free: 877-984-2948 [email protected] Anne-Marie Chapman André Pugin South Nation Conservation Authority Geological Survey of Canada P. O. Box 69 Natural Resources Canada 15 Union Street 601 Booth Street, Ottawa, ON Berwick, ON K0C 1G0 Canada K1A 0E8 Telephone: 613-984-2948 ext. 250 Telephone: (613) 943-6513 Toll Free: 877-984-2948 E-mail: [email protected] E-mail: [email protected] Coralie Charland Susan E. Pullan Department of Earth Sciences Geological Survey of Canada University of Ottawa, Natural Resources Canada Ottawa, Ontario, 601 Booth Street, Ottawa, ON Canada, K1N 6N5 Canada K1A 0E8 E-mail: [email protected] Telephone: (613) 992-3483 E-mail: [email protected] Don I. Cummings Hazen A.J. Russell Geological Survey of Canada Geological Survey of Canada Natural Resources Canada Natural Resources Canada 601 Booth Street, Ottawa, ON 601 Booth Street, Ottawa, ON Canada K1A 0E8 Canada K1A 0E8 Telephone: (613) 992- Telephone: (613) 992-3059 E-mail : [email protected] E-mail : [email protected] George Gorrell David R. Sharpe Gorrell Resource Investigations Geological Survey of Canada RRR 1 Oxford Mills, Natural Resources Canada Ontario K0G, 1S0 601 Booth Street, Ottawa, ON E-mail: [email protected] Canada K1A 0E8 Telephone: (613) 992-3059 E-mail: [email protected] Marc J. Hinton Geological Survey of Canada Natural Resources Canada 601 Booth Street, Ottawa, ON Canada K1A 0E8 Telephone: (613) 992-3059 E-mail: [email protected] iv Table of Contents Contributors........................................................................................................................................... iii Table of Contents ..............................................................................................................................iv Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................................v Field Trip Itinerary .............................................................................................................................vi 1. 0 Introduction..................................................................................................................................1 1.1 Trip objectives and outline ..........................................................................................................2 2.0 South Nation Source Water Protection Region.........................................................................2 2.1 Source water protection In Ontario .............................................................................................2 2.2 Land use in South Nation............................................................................................................3 2.3 Water management in South Nation...........................................................................................4 3.0 Environmental Setting..................................................................................................................6 3.1 Temperature and precipitation ....................................................................................................6 3.2 Evapotranspiration ......................................................................................................................6 3.3 Hydrology ....................................................................................................................................7 3.4 Hydrogeology ..............................................................................................................................8 3.5 Inferences from regional groundwater geochemistry..................................................................9 4.0 Geological Setting ......................................................................................................................11 4.1 Landscape and bedrock geology ..............................................................................................11 4.2 Stratigraphy...............................................................................................................................14 5.0 Hydrogeological implications ..................................................................................................38 6.0 Fieldtrip Stops.............................................................................................................................41 Stop 1. Seismic section French Hill Road East...............................................................................34 Stop 2. Regimbald Road pit ............................................................................................................36 Stop 3. Watson Road pit .................................................................................................................38 Stop 4. Route 300 seismic profiles and cores................................................................................41 Stop 5 Kemptville/Loughlin Ridge esker – subaqueous fan ...........................................................46 v 7.0 References ..................................................................................................................................58 8.0 Appendix: Methods ...................................................................................................................65 A.1 Basin analysis approach...........................................................................................................65 A.2. Database development............................................................................................................65 A.3 Outcrop and core studies..........................................................................................................66 A.4 Shallow seismic reflection methods..........................................................................................66 A.5 Simple, inexpensive methods for hydraulic head measurements and groundwater flux estimations ......................................................................................................................................72 Acknowledgements The work presented in this guidebook was made possible thanks to the generous support of the South Nation and Raisin river conservation authorities, who funded the project using source-water protection money from the Ministry of Environment and the Ontario Geological Survey. Funds from the Earth Science Sector Groundwater Program of Natural Resources Canada allowed additional data to be collected. Data support by the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and the Ottawa–Carleton Regional Municipality is acknowledged, as is the permission of Tackaberry Sand and Gravel and Laurent Leblanc Inc. for access to their pits for field-trip stops. Seismic data was collected by R. Good, R. Burns, T. Patterson and M. Douma (Geological Survey of Canada). Assistance by R Lacroix on a number of graphics is greatly appreciated. The authors appreciate the GIS and database assistance of C. Logan and L Robertson. D. Ponomarenko calculated paleodischarge for the Ottawa River incised valley and analyzed air photos. André Martel of the Canadian Museum of Nature graciously identified several shell fragments collected from the esker. A critical review by R. Knight helped clarify and streamline the document. This publication is a contribution of the Geological Survey of Canada Groundwater Program and is part of a project entitled “Groundwater Inventory: Aquifer Systems in Canada Project Activities in Southern Ontario”. vi Field Trip Itinerary 8:15 Carleton University Proceed via Hwy 417 east toward Orleans changing to Route 17. Travel along the Ottawa River shoreline to Cumberland. Proceed south on rue Cameron, Market and Dunning. Proceed south on Dunning for ~5 km. Turn east on French Hill Road. Stop on flat field just east of 3233 French Hill Road. (~ 40 km) Stop 1: Field trip overview, then discussion of French Hill Road buried valley with Seismic Landstreamer Demonstration (tentative) From Stop 1, turn back and