DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR Hubert Work, Secretary V. 8. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY George Oti» Smith, Director Water-Supply Paper 576 THE GROUND-WATER RESOURCES OF MISSISSIPPI BY LLOYD W. STEPHENSON, WILLIAM N. LOGAN AND GERALD A. WARING WITH DISCUSSIONS OF THE CHEMICAL CHARACTER OF THE WATERS By C.S. HOWARD Prepared in cooperation with the Mississippi State Geological Survey UNITED STATES CSOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE WASHINGTON 1928 ADDITIONAL COPIES OF THIS PUBLICATION MAY BE PROCURED THE SUPEEINTENDENT OF DOCUMENTS U.S.GOTEENM ENT^PBINTING^OFFIC E WASHINGTON, D. C. AT 90 CENTS PER COPY CONTENTS Page Introduction_____________________________________________ 1 PWj^gWphy- - - - - - 2 General features---_-_-____-_-__---____---_.________________ 2 Tombigbee and Tennessee River Hills___--_______--_---_--___-_ 2 Black Prairie belt__________________________________ 4 Pontotoc Hills._________________________________________________ 5 Matwoods_________________________________ 6 North Central Hills____..____.__________________ 6 Jackson Prairie belt________________________________ ____ 6 Long-leaf Pine Hills________________ _ 7 Coastal Pine Meadows __________________________________.__ 7 Loess or Bluff Hills.___________________________... 8 Mississippi alluvial plain______________________________________ 9 Precipitation. _____________________________________ 9 Surface waters..___________________________________________ 10 Streams_ __ ____________________ 10 Lakes and ponds____________________________.________.________ II Swamps___________________________________________ 12 Quality of water_--_____-_________-____-______ ____ 12 Ground waters________________________________________________ . 14 Source..__________________________________________________ 14 Disposal- _______________________________________________ 14 Quantity______________________________.___.___..__.... 15 Springs._____ _______________________________ ___________ 15 Nonartesian waters__________________________________________ 16 Artesian waters____________.______________________________ 16 Definition________________________________ 16 Artesian conditions in Mississippi___-_-_____-_____-----__._- 17 Areas of flowing wells determined by topography______ ______ 17 Causes of decrease in static level and in yield._ ______________ 19 Blowing wells____ _______________________ __ 19 Quality of water________________________________ 20 Sources of data___--_--___-___-_-__-__-_________ __._ 21 Methods of analysis___________________-____________-__-___ 21 Constituents determined__-_.______________________ 21 Calculation of sodium________________________________ 21 Classification of waters.___________________________________ 23 Domestic use____________________________ __________ 23 Sanitary considepations-__-_-____---_-----___------ 23 Hardness____________________-__-__-____-. 23 Iron________________________________ 24 Boiler use____________________________________ 24 Scale___._________________________ 24 Water softening._____________________ _________ 25 Relations of chemical composition of ground waters to water­ bearing formations __________________.______!___ 26 ill IV CONTENTS Page General geology,__________________________________________ 27 Character and age of the rocks .____ ___- ____ ________,_ 27 The geologic formations and their contained water._____________ .29 Paleozoic rocks...________________________________ 29 Cretaceous system_______________________________________ 29 Upper Cretaceous series___________________________ 2ft Tuscaloosa formation ________>_______.__.____ 29. Eutaw formation_________________________ 31 Selma chalk____________________ _ __ 36 Hipley formation________ __,________________ 39 Tertiary System____________________________ _____ 43 Eocene series_________________________________ 43 Midway group..________________. _____ 43 Clayton formation____ __,_ __ _____ 43 Porters Creek clay___ _____ 44 Wilcox group._____________._________ 45 Ackerman f ormation. _ _ _ _ ___________ 45 Holly Springs sand __________ 46 Bashi (" Woods Bluff ") formation__________ 48 Grenada formation _______ 48: Hatchetigbee formation., _________ _ 48 Undifferentiated Wilcox deposits _____________ 49 Claiborne group_______ ___. ___________ 50 Tallahatta formation.______. 50 Lisbon formation.____ __ 50 Yegua formation..- ___- _ -_-_- ___ 52 Jackson formation..___________ ____________ 53 Oligocene series._________ _______ 54 Vicksburg group..... _ ________ _ 54 Miocene series__________ . 55 Catahoula sandstone.... - _____ ______ 55 Hattiesburg clay________ -, 56 Pascagoula clay_ ___ _ _ 57 Pliocene series._________._ . _. 59 Citronelle formation___. 59 Pliocene terrace deposits of undetermined relations _ 60 Quaternary system...._______________ _______ ... 61 Pleistocene series_______ 61 Terrace deposits along the Gulf coast. _ _ _ 61 Natchez formation,... 61 Alluvial terrace deposits ("second bottoms")-- - 61 Loess.. _._.__ .. - 62 Port Hudson formation,__ _ ___ _ , , 63 Recent series._______ -,- - 63 Alluvium of Mississippi Elver...______ _ _ 63 Ground-water resources by counties._,__ ..____-__ _ -«.__- _ 64 Adams County,...- __ __ __ - 64 Alcorn County ______________ _____ --- 69 Amite County________________________. _______ _ 75 AttaU County T - 81 Benton County______________ __________ ________ ______ 86 Bolivar County.._____________________________-_____---_--- .88 Calhoun County____.____________________________ ____ 95 CarroU County______-__ 98 Chickasaw County.___.______.__-_______ __._ ._-- 103 Qround-water resources by coutitiea Continued. ^ B£^e Choctaw County_____________________________________,_,.,.._._, 110 Claiborne County---,___________________________., _ . ,.,.. ,4 113 , ' Clarke County. _ _____________________ _.- ' 116 Clay County____________________________v-i-i-- 125 Coahoma County_____________________________________..-«-. 132 Copiah County__.________________v --- -- 138 Covington County __ ____._. .._ 146 De Soto County.. _________________.__.___ . -..__ 152 Fqrrest County ___-__>,__ ___________ +» .». _ 155 Franklin County_._,__________________.^.,__;._,-- 165 George County________________________,__-_u_-___ 169 Greene County________________________________ 172 Grenada County ______________ ,.__ _ 175 Hancock County_.___,,._____.-_-________________ ._ 181 Harrison County.._____________________________, 189 Hinds County_______________________________,__ 200 Holmes County.....____,_____________________ 210 Humphreys County___________________________________ 219 Issaquena County _.__ ______ ___ 225 Itawamba County_________________«_________ 226 Jackson County.__.__________________________ 227 Jasper County___ _ ___ _ _______ ______ ____________ _ 236 'Jefferson County________________________________ 240 Jefferson Davis County_____________________________ 246 Jones County__________________^___________ 248 Kemper County_________________________________ 255 Lafayette County_______________________________ 259 Lamar County __________ _____.____..____ 266 Lauderdale County___________________________________ 272 Lawrence County________________________________ 278 Leake County__________,_______...__________ 284 Lee County______________________i_______________ 286 Leflore County. _ ______________ ___________ 297 Lincoln County_________________._____l ________ 303 Lowndes County..._______________________________________ 307 Madison County______ ______________________________ 315 Marion County._______________________________________ 323 Marshall County___________________________ ___ 328 Monroe County_______________________________________ 333 Montgomery County-_-_---_--____-___________________.______ 344 Neshoba County. ________________________ 348 Newton County.___________________________________________ 350 Noxube County...-. ______________________ 356 Oktibbeha County...__________________________ 366 Panola County... _______________________ 373 Pearl River County.__________________________________ 378 Perry County-"--- _______________________ 383 Pike County______________________________________________ 387 Pontotoc County..._____________________________ 394 Prentiss County___________!________________________ 400 Quitman County_________________________.________ 405 Bankin County. ___________________________ 407 S^wttrCounty________________..___________ 412 Sharkey County.. _ ._._________._____ 418 VI CONTENTS Ground-water resources by counties Continued. Page Simpson County_____________________________________ 421 Smith County_____________________________________ 423 Stone County____ _________________________________ 426 Sunflower County___________________________________________ 431 TatiJRhatchie County_________________._________ 436 Tate County______________________.___________ 443 Tippah County__________________________________________ 448 Tishomingo County..________________.____.____ 457 Tunica County. _____________________..._____ 460 Union County _ _____ _ . _______ _ 463 Walthall County._._________________________L___ 468 Warren County _______________-_-_-_-----_--____-_-_ 470 Washington County-_______-______-_-_---___----.-_-___-_._-___ 475 Wayne County__________________._---__--_-______ 482 Webster County.____________________________ 485 Wilkinson County__________-_--__-___-____----_---_---_-_-___ 487 Winston County_____________________...._____ 490 Yalobusha County ______________________._______ 493 Yazoo County.___________________--____________ 499 Index______________ ___________________-.__________ 507 ILLUSTRATIONS Page PLATE 1. A, The Loess or Bluff Hills