Prepared in cooperation with the Oklahoma Water Resources Board Hydrogeological Framework, Numerical Simulation of Groundwater Flow, and Effects of Projected Water Use and Drought for the Beaver-North Canadian River Alluvial Aquifer, Northwestern Oklahoma Beaver-North Canadian River alluvial aquifer Area enlarged OKLAHOMA Scientific Investigations Report 2015–5183 Version 1.1, February 2016 U.S. Department of the Interior U.S. Geological Survey Front cover: Top, Canton Lake. Photo by Kevin Smith, U.S. Geological Survey Oklahoma Water Science Center. Bottom, Canton Lake. Photo by Derek Ryter, U.S. Geological Survey Oklahoma Water Science Center. Back cover: Top, Photo by Kevin Smith, U.S. Geological Survey Oklahoma Water Science Center. Bottom, Photo by Kevin Smith, U.S. Geological Survey Oklahoma Water Science Center. Hydrogeological Framework, Numerical Simulation of Groundwater Flow, and Effects of Projected Water Use and Drought for the Beaver-North Canadian River Alluvial Aquifer, Northwestern Oklahoma By Derek W. Ryter and Jessica S. Correll Prepared in cooperation with the Oklahoma Water Resources Board Scientific Investigations Report 2015–5183 Version 1.1, February 2016 U.S. Department of the Interior U.S. Geological Survey U.S. Department of the Interior SALLY JEWELL, Secretary U.S. Geological Survey Suzette M. Kimball, Director U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, Virginia First release: 2016 Revised: February 2016 (ver. 1.1) For more information on the USGS—the Federal source for science about the Earth, its natural and living resources, natural hazards, and the environment—visit http://www.usgs.gov or call 1–888–ASK–USGS. For an overview of USGS information products, including maps, imagery, and publications, visit http://www.usgs.gov/pubprod/. Any use of trade, firm, or product names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government. Although this information product, for the most part, is in the public domain, it also may contain copyrighted materials as noted in the text. Permission to reproduce copyrighted items must be secured from the copyright owner. Suggested citation: Ryter, D.W., and Correll, J.S., 2016, Hydrogeological framework, numerical simulation of groundwater flow, and effects of projected water use and drought for the Beaver-North Canadian River alluvial aquifer, northwestern Oklahoma (ver. 1.1, February 2016): U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2015–5183, 63 p., http://dx.doi.org/10.3133/sir20155183. ISSN 2328-031X (print) ISSN 2328-0328 (online) iii Acknowledgements This study was conducted as part of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Cooperative Water Program in cooperation with the Oklahoma Water Resources Board (OWRB). The authors thank the OWRB for support on this project and OWRB Water Resources geologist Christopher Neel for help with defining study objectives and providing hydrogeologic and water-use permit data. The authors thank USGS employees Shana Mashburn for help estimating aquifer hydraulic properties and Andrew Long and Bruce Campbell for providing constructive reviews of this work. The authors also thank former USGS employees Christopher Kunkel for help with the numerical simulations, analysis, and report editing; Noel Osborne for help with data collection and preliminary research; Logan Chatterton, Joseph Nadolsky, and Robert Frye for help with compiling tabular and geospatial datasets and building the numerical models; Trevor Grout for processing streamflow data and interpreting seepage-run results; and Matthew Collier for assisting with model analysis. v Contents Acknowledgements .....................................................................................................................................iii Abstract ..........................................................................................................................................................1 Introduction ....................................................................................................................................................3 Purpose and Scope .............................................................................................................................3 Location and Description of Study Area ..........................................................................................3 Previous Investigations .......................................................................................................................5 Land Use and Population ....................................................................................................................5 Water Use and Management .............................................................................................................6 Hydrology .......................................................................................................................................................9 Climate ...................................................................................................................................................9 Streamflow Characteristics .............................................................................................................12 Hydrogeological Framework .....................................................................................................................15 Geology ................................................................................................................................................16 Hydrogeological Units .......................................................................................................................18 Potentiometric Surface and Water-Level Fluctuations ...............................................................18 Aquifer Hydraulic Properties ...........................................................................................................21 Conceptual Flow Model .............................................................................................................................25 Hydrological Boundaries ..................................................................................................................25 Stream Base Flow ..............................................................................................................................26 Reach I Seepage Runs .............................................................................................................26 Reach I Base-Flow Separation ...............................................................................................29 Reach II Seepage Run .............................................................................................................29 Groundwater Recharge ....................................................................................................................31 Soil-Water-Balance Model .....................................................................................................31 Local Recharge Estimation .....................................................................................................33 Woodward Site .................................................................................................................36 Seiling Site ........................................................................................................................36 Water Use ...........................................................................................................................................38 Evapotranspiration and Springs ......................................................................................................38 Conceptual Flow Model Water Budget ..........................................................................................39 Numerical Groundwater-Flow Model ......................................................................................................40 Assumptions .......................................................................................................................................40 Model Extents and Discretization ...................................................................................................40 Boundary Conditions .........................................................................................................................42 Model Calibration Methods .............................................................................................................44 Reach I Calibration Results ..............................................................................................................44 Reach II Calibration Results .............................................................................................................48 Model Sensitivity ................................................................................................................................50 Equal-Proportionate-Share Estimation ...................................................................................................50 Estimated Equal-Proportionate-Share Pumping in Reach I .......................................................51 Estimated Equal-Proportionate-Share Pumping in Reach II ......................................................52 Effects of Projected Water Use and Drought .........................................................................................53 vi Projected Water Use .........................................................................................................................53