DIGITAL MAP OF THE AQUIFER BOUNDARY FOR THE HIGH PLAINS AQUIFER IN PARTS OF COLORADO,
KANSAS, NEBRASKA, NEW MEXICO, OKLAHOMA, SOUTH DAKOTA, TEXAS, AND WYOMING

By Sharon Qi

2010

U.S. Geological Survey Data Series 543

This report supercedes U.S. Geological Survey Open_File Report 99-267

I. ABSTRACT
This digital data set represents the extent of the High Plains aquifer in the central United States. The extent of the
High Plains aquifer covers 174,000 square miles in eight states; Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico,
Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, and Wyoming. This data set represents a compilation of information from
digital and paper sources and personal communication. This boundary is an update to the boundary published
in U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1400-B and this report supersedes Open-File Report 99-267.

The purpose of this data set is to refine and update the extent of the High Plains aquifer based on currently 
vailable information.

This data set represents a compilation of arcs from a variety of sources and scales that represent the 174,000
square-mile extent of the High Plains aquifer within eight states: Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico,
Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, and Wyoming. Where updated information was not available, the original
boundary extent defined by OFR 99-267 was retained. The citations for the sources in each State are listed
below. The boundary also contains internal polygons, or "islands", that represent the areas within the
aquifer boundary where the aquifer is not present due to erosion or non-deposition.

Colorado: The arcs used to define the boundary were modified from:

Green, G.N., 1992, The digital geologic map of Colorado in ARC/INFO format: U.S. Geological survey
Open-File Report 92-507-D-O. Available at URL http://pubs.er.usgs.gov/usgspubs/ofr/ofr92507DO

Scott, G.R. 1978, Map showing geology, structure, and oil and gas fields in the Sterling 1 x 2 Quadrangle, Colorado,
Nebraska, and Kansas: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Investigations Map IMAP-1092. Available
at URL http://pubs.er.usgs.gov/usgspubs/i/i1092

Weist, William G., 1965, Reconnaissance of the ground-water resources in parts of Larimer, Logan, Morgan,
Sedgwick, and Weld Counties, Colorado: U.S. Geological Survey Water Supply Paper 1809-L. Available at
URL http://pubs.er.usgs.gov/usgspubs/wsp/wsp1809L

Kansas:
Kansas Geospatial Community Commons, 1995, High Plains aquifer:Kansas Geological Survey, at
The University of Kansas. Available at URL http://www.kansasgis.org/catalog/catalog.cfm

Nebraska:
Cederstrand, J.R., Becker, M.F., 1999, Digital map of aquifer boundary for the High Plains Aquifer in parts
of Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, and Wyoming:
U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 99-267. Available at URL http://pubs.er.usgs.gov/usgspubs/ofr/ofr99267

New Mexico:
Eifler, G.K., Jr., Reeves, C.C., Jr. and Barnes, V.E., 1974, Geologic atlas of Texas, Brownfield Sheet: Austin,
University of Texas at Austin, Bureau of Economic Geology, 1 sheet, scale 1:250,000.

Eifler, G.K., Jr., Reeves, C.C., Jr. and Barnes, V.E., 1976, Geologic atlas of Texas, Hobbs Sheet: Austin,
University of Texas at Austin, Bureau of Economic Geology, 1 sheet, scale 1:250,000.

Eifler, G.K., Jr., Reeves, C.C., Jr. and Barnes, V.E., 1977, Geologic atlas of Texas, Clovis Sheet: University
of Texas at Austin, Bureau of Economic Geology, 1 sheet, scale 1:250,000.

To purchase the above map sheets: Bureau of Economic Geology publications are available at URL: http://www.beg.utexas.edu/mainweb/publications/pubs-CrossSecAtlas.htm


Green, G.N., Jones, G.E., 1997, The digital geologic map of New Mexico in ARC/INFO format:
U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 97-52. Available at URL http://pubs.er.usgs.gov/usgspubs/ofr/ofr9752.

Hart, D.L., McAda, D.P., 1985, Geohydrology of the High Plains Aquifer in southeastern New Mexico:
U.S. Geological Survey Hydrologic Atlas 679. Available at URL http://pubs.er.usgs.gov/usgspubs/ha/ha679.

Cederstrand, J.R., Becker, M.F., 1999, Digital map of aquifer boundary for the High Plains Aquifer in
parts of Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, and Wyoming:
U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 99-267. Available at URL http://pubs.er.usgs.gov/usgspubs/ofr/ofr99267.

Oklahoma:
Becker, C.J., Runkle, D.L., Rea, A.H., 1997, Digital data sets that describe aquifer characteristics of
the High Plains Aquifer in western Oklahoma: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 96-451.
Available at URL http://pubs.er.usgs.gov/usgspubs/ofr/ofr96451.

South Dakota:
Cederstrand, J.R., Becker, M.F., 1999, Digital map of aquifer boundary for the High Plains Aquifer
in parts of Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, and Wyoming:
U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 99-267. Available at URL http://pubs.er.usgs.gov/usgspubs/ofr/ofr99267.

Texas:
Texas Water Development Board, 2006, Major aquifers of Texas, NMAquifers.mdb (geodatabase), 
Major_aquifers (shapefile):Texas Water Development Board, Austin, Tex. Available at
URL http://www.twdb.state.tx.us/mapping/gisdata.asp.

Wyoming:
Cederstrand, J.R., Becker, M.F., 1999, Digital map of aquifer boundary for the High Plains Aquifer in
parts of Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, and Wyoming:
U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 99-267. Available at URL http://pubs.er.usgs.gov/usgspubs/ofr/ofr99267.
 
II. DISCLAIMERS

This database, identified as DS543, has been approved for release and publication by the Director of the USGS.
Although this database has been subjected to rigorous review and is substantially complete, the USGS reserves
the right to revise the data pursuant to further analysis and review. Furthermore, it is released on condition that
neither the USGS nor the United States Government may be held liable for any damages resulting from its
authorized or unauthorized use.

Although these data have been processed successfully on a computer system at the U.S. Geological Survey,
no warranty, expressed or implied is made regarding the display or utility of the data on any other system, or
for general or scientific purposes, nor shall the act of distribution constitute such warranty.  The U.S. Geological
Survey shall not be held liable for improper or incorrect use of the data described and/or contained herein.

Although this information product, for the most part, is in the public domain, it also contains copyrighted
materials as noted in the text. Permission to reproduce copyrighted items for other than personal use must
be secured from the copyright owner.

Any use of trade, product or firm names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement
by the U.S. Government.

III. CONTENTS

00README.txt

IV. LOCATION OF DATA

The datasets that pertain to this report can be found on the U.S. Geological Survey’s NSDI
(National Spatial Data Infrastructure)Node:

http://water.usgs.gov/lookup/getspatial?ds543

V. INSTRUCTIONS AND DOCUMENTATION FOR U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY DATA SERIES 543

The metadata files and links to the datasets can be downloaded via the web from:
http://pubs.usgs.gov/ds/543, or the URL’s mentioned above.