Large quantities of ground water and surface water are available in Choctaw County. Major sources of ground water are the Nanafalia Formation, Tuscahoma Sand, Hatchetigbee Formation, and Gosport Sand and Lisbon Formation. The Nanafalia Formation is the most productive source of ground water, and individual wells will yield as much as 1.0 mgd (million gallons per day). The depths to aquifers and the quality of ground water in the south half of the county are governed in part by geologic structures.
The average flow of the Tombigbee River at the southeast corner of the county is 16,500 mgd and the 7-day Q2 exceeds 1,000 mgd. Kinterbish, Tuckabum, and Okatuppa Creeks have average flows that range from 115 to 265 mgd at their confluences with the Tombigbee River and 7-day Q2's that exceed 10 mgd in their downstream reaches. Average runoff originating in the county is about 786 mgd or 0.8 mgd per square mile.
Water in aquifers tapped by wells generally contains less than 500 mg/1 (milligrams per liter) dissolved solids and is soft to moderately hard. In southeastern parts of the county, in the vicinity of the Hatchetigbee anticline, wells have been abandoned because of the poor quality of water.
Water in streams, with the exception of that in Okatuppa Creek and some of its tributaries near Gilbertown and Barrytown, is generally soft and contains less than 140 mg/1 dissolved solids. The quality of water in Okatuppa Creek and some of its tributaries reflects contamination by oil-field brines. Biweekly samples collected from Okatuppa Creek from September 1965 to May 1967 show an average chloride content of 312 mg/1 and specific conductances indicate an average dissolved solids content of 630 mg/ 1.
","language":"English","publisher":"U.S. Geological Survey","doi":"10.3133/ofr75477","usgsCitation":"Newton, J.G., and McCain, J.F., 1975, Water availability of Choctaw County, Alabama: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 75-477, Report: 21 p.; 5 Figures: 31.40 x 27.96 inches or smaller; 4 Tables: 16.39 x 28.21 inches or smaller; 1 Plate: 20.48 x 27.12 inches, https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr75477.","productDescription":"Report: 21 p.; 5 Figures: 31.40 x 27.96 inches or smaller; 4 Tables: 16.39 x 28.21 inches or smaller; 1 Plate: 20.48 x 27.12 inches","costCenters":[],"links":[{"id":431471,"rank":4,"type":{"id":27,"text":"Table"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/1975/0477/table-2.pdf","text":"Table 2","linkFileType":{"id":1,"text":"pdf"}},{"id":431478,"rank":11,"type":{"id":29,"text":"Figure"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/1975/0477/figure-5.pdf","text":"Figure 5","linkFileType":{"id":1,"text":"pdf"}},{"id":431477,"rank":10,"type":{"id":29,"text":"Figure"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/1975/0477/figure-4.pdf","text":"Figure 4","linkFileType":{"id":1,"text":"pdf"}},{"id":431469,"rank":2,"type":{"id":11,"text":"Document"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/1975/0477/report.pdf","linkFileType":{"id":1,"text":"pdf"}},{"id":144094,"rank":1,"type":{"id":24,"text":"Thumbnail"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/1975/0477/report-thumb.jpg"},{"id":431470,"rank":3,"type":{"id":27,"text":"Table"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/1975/0477/table-1.pdf","text":"Table 1","linkFileType":{"id":1,"text":"pdf"}},{"id":431472,"rank":5,"type":{"id":27,"text":"Table"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/1975/0477/table-3.pdf","text":"Table 3","linkFileType":{"id":1,"text":"pdf"}},{"id":431473,"rank":6,"type":{"id":27,"text":"Table"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/1975/0477/table-4.pdf","text":"Table 4","linkFileType":{"id":1,"text":"pdf"}},{"id":431474,"rank":7,"type":{"id":29,"text":"Figure"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/1975/0477/figure-1.pdf","text":"Figure 1","linkFileType":{"id":1,"text":"pdf"}},{"id":431475,"rank":8,"type":{"id":29,"text":"Figure"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/1975/0477/figure-2.pdf","text":"Figure 2","linkFileType":{"id":1,"text":"pdf"}},{"id":431476,"rank":9,"type":{"id":29,"text":"Figure"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/1975/0477/figure-3.pdf","text":"Figure 3","linkFileType":{"id":1,"text":"pdf"}},{"id":463539,"rank":12,"type":{"id":17,"text":"Plate"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/1975/0477/plate-1.pdf","linkFileType":{"id":1,"text":"pdf"}}],"country":"United States","state":"Alabama","county":"Choctaw County","geographicExtents":"{\n \"type\": \"FeatureCollection\",\n \"features\": [\n {\n \"type\": \"Feature\",\n \"properties\": {},\n \"geometry\": {\n \"coordinates\": [\n [\n [\n -88.49794724980626,\n 30.348935880205744\n ],\n [\n -84.75557268883918,\n 30.348935880205744\n ],\n [\n -84.75557268883918,\n 35.06988706066666\n ],\n [\n -88.49794724980626,\n 35.06988706066666\n ],\n [\n -88.49794724980626,\n 30.348935880205744\n ]\n ]\n ],\n \"type\": \"Polygon\"\n }\n }\n ]\n}","noUsgsAuthors":false,"publicationStatus":"PW","scienceBaseUri":"4f4e4a08e4b07f02db5fa341","contributors":{"authors":[{"text":"Newton, John G.","contributorId":22323,"corporation":false,"usgs":true,"family":"Newton","given":"John","email":"","middleInitial":"G.","affiliations":[],"preferred":false,"id":161527,"contributorType":{"id":1,"text":"Authors"},"rank":1},{"text":"McCain, Jerald F.","contributorId":104039,"corporation":false,"usgs":true,"family":"McCain","given":"Jerald","email":"","middleInitial":"F.","affiliations":[],"preferred":false,"id":161528,"contributorType":{"id":1,"text":"Authors"},"rank":2}]}} ,{"id":10788,"text":"ofr75256 - 1975 - Preliminary experiments with a modified tracer technique for measuring stream reaeration coefficients","interactions":[],"lastModifiedDate":"2012-02-02T00:06:34","indexId":"ofr75256","displayToPublicDate":"1994-01-01T00:00:00","publicationYear":"1975","noYear":false,"publicationType":{"id":18,"text":"Report"},"publicationSubtype":{"id":5,"text":"USGS Numbered Series"},"seriesTitle":{"id":330,"text":"Open-File Report","code":"OFR","onlineIssn":"2331-1258","printIssn":"0196-1497","active":true,"publicationSubtype":{"id":5}},"seriesNumber":"75-256","title":"Preliminary experiments with a modified tracer technique for measuring stream reaeration coefficients","language":"ENGLISH","publisher":"U.S. Geological Survey,","doi":"10.3133/ofr75256","usgsCitation":"Rathbun, R.E., Shultz, D.J., and Stephens, D.W., 1975, Preliminary experiments with a modified tracer technique for measuring stream reaeration coefficients: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 75-256, 36 p. :map. ;28 cm.; (39 p. - PGS), https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr75256.","productDescription":"36 p. :map. ;28 cm.; (39 p. - PGS)","costCenters":[],"links":[{"id":112951,"rank":300,"type":{"id":11,"text":"Document"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/1975/0256/report.pdf","size":"1137","linkFileType":{"id":1,"text":"pdf"}},{"id":144868,"rank":0,"type":{"id":24,"text":"Thumbnail"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/1975/0256/report-thumb.jpg"}],"noUsgsAuthors":false,"publicationStatus":"PW","scienceBaseUri":"4f4e4ac9e4b07f02db67c379","contributors":{"authors":[{"text":"Rathbun, R. E.","contributorId":61796,"corporation":false,"usgs":true,"family":"Rathbun","given":"R.","email":"","middleInitial":"E.","affiliations":[],"preferred":false,"id":161965,"contributorType":{"id":1,"text":"Authors"},"rank":1},{"text":"Shultz, David J.","contributorId":35324,"corporation":false,"usgs":true,"family":"Shultz","given":"David","email":"","middleInitial":"J.","affiliations":[],"preferred":false,"id":161963,"contributorType":{"id":1,"text":"Authors"},"rank":2},{"text":"Stephens, Doyle W.","contributorId":40195,"corporation":false,"usgs":true,"family":"Stephens","given":"Doyle","email":"","middleInitial":"W.","affiliations":[],"preferred":false,"id":161964,"contributorType":{"id":1,"text":"Authors"},"rank":3}]}} ,{"id":16169,"text":"ofr75260 - 1975 - Floodflow characteristics of White River at U.S. Highway 167 at Batesville, Arkansas","interactions":[],"lastModifiedDate":"2024-07-24T20:04:09.957065","indexId":"ofr75260","displayToPublicDate":"1994-01-01T00:00:00","publicationYear":"1975","noYear":false,"publicationType":{"id":18,"text":"Report"},"publicationSubtype":{"id":5,"text":"USGS Numbered Series"},"seriesTitle":{"id":330,"text":"Open-File Report","code":"OFR","onlineIssn":"2331-1258","printIssn":"0196-1497","active":true,"publicationSubtype":{"id":5}},"seriesNumber":"75-260","title":"Floodflow characteristics of White River at U.S. Highway 167 at Batesville, Arkansas","docAbstract":"The Arkansas State Highway Department plans to build a new two-lane highway bridge, parallel to and approximately 50 feet (15.2 metres) downstream from the centerline of the existing U.S. Highway 167 bridge, over the White River at Batesville. The present bridge will be altered and remain in service, thus providing a four-lane crossing after completion of the new bridge.
The State Highway Department requested a hydraulic analysis of the 5O-year flood at the site, considering the effect of upstream flood storage in existing (1974) reservoirs. The purpose of this study was to determine for the regulated 50-year food: (1) the discharge and elevation of peak flow and resulting backwater with existing bridge in place; (2) the discharge and elevation of peak flow and resulting backwater if an additional bridge of the same length, parallel to and 50 feet (15.2 metres) downstream from the existing bridge, is added; and 3) the reduction in length of relief span of proposed four-lane bridge that could be made without flooding existing buildings on the north bank of the upstream flood plain.
Information is provided in this report to assist the Highway Department in deciding upon the most practical and economical river crossing within existing limitations. Floodflow characteristics of the design (50-year) flood are summarized in table 1 for (1) existing bridge and embankment, (2) proposed four-lane bridge the sane length as present structures, (3) proposed four-lane bridge with length of relief span reduced to 3,000 feet (914 metres), (4) Tenth of relief span reduced to 2,000 feet (610 metres), (5) length of relief span reduced to 1,000 feet X 305 metres), and (6) without a relief span.
All elevations listed in this report are referenced to highway datum, which is mean sea level.
Supplemental irrigation of well-drained sandy soils has prompted an evaluation of ground water in the Appleton area. Glacial drift aquifers are the largest source of ground water. The surficial outwash sand and gravel is the most readily available and a really extensive drift aquifer and underlies much of the sandy soil area. Saturated thickness of the outwash is more than 80 feet (24 metres) in places and potential well yields may exceed 1,200 gallons per minute (76 litres per second) in some areas. In about 17 percent of the area, yields of more than 300 gallons per minute (19 litres per second) are obtainable.
Recharge to the outwash aquifer occurs primarily during the spring thaw and averages about 5 inches (12.7 centimetres) annually. Most discharge from the aquifer appears as base flow in the Pomme de Terre River. Despite dissolved-solids concentrations ranging from 280 to 1,350 milligrams per litre the water is chemically suitable for irrigation.
Increasing demands for water supplies, plans for irrigating new lands, proposals to divert water from the Yakima River by users downstream from the reservation, and ground-water problems have made an accounting of the overall availability of water very important to water management on the reservation. This report, which broadly outlines the water resources of the Toppenish Creek basin, has been developed as part of the cooperative study by the Tribal Council of the Yakima Indian Nation and the U.S. Geological Survey.
Precipitation averages about 20 inches a year over the basin but only about 2 inches fall during the April-September growing season. However, diversions from the Yakima River make the Toppenish Creek valley one of the best agricultural areas in the State.
Ground water in the basin occurs in three distinct units: the basalt, old valley fill deposits, and young valley fill deposits. Each unit is capable of yielding more than 1,000 gallons per minute to properly constructed wells. Water levels in wells tapping the young valley fill are higher under present (1974) irrigation conditions than they were in the past, but some water-level declines have occurred in the old valley fill in response to pumping. Water levels in the basalt wells in some areas have been lowered as much as 80 feet by pumping during the past 15 years. Some additional pumping in these areas can be allowed without lowering the water level more than a few feet if the amount of pumpage and spacing of wells are carefully controlled.
The young valley fill in the eastern part of the lower valley is the best source of ground water in the basin. The zones of coarse sand and gravel to depths of about 150 feet in this area can produce large quantities of water. Irrigation water, from the Yakima River which seeps into the ground, yearly builds up this ground-water supply. About 120,000 acre-feet of water goes into temporary storage each irrigation season in the young valley fill.
","language":"English","publisher":"U.S. Geological Survey","doi":"10.3133/ofr7519","collaboration":"Prepared in cooperation with the Yakima Tribal Council","usgsCitation":"Gregg, D.O., and Laird, L.B., 1975, A general outline of the water resources of the Toppenish Creek basin, Yakima Indian Reservation, Washington: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 75-19, v, 37 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr7519.","productDescription":"v, 37 p.","costCenters":[],"links":[{"id":431149,"rank":2,"type":{"id":11,"text":"Document"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/1975/0019/report.pdf","linkFileType":{"id":1,"text":"pdf"}},{"id":145251,"rank":1,"type":{"id":24,"text":"Thumbnail"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/1975/0019/report-thumb.jpg"}],"country":"United States","state":"Washington","otherGeospatial":"Toppenish Creek basin, Yakima Indian Reservation","geographicExtents":"{\n \"type\": \"FeatureCollection\",\n \"features\": [\n {\n \"type\": \"Feature\",\n \"properties\": {},\n \"geometry\": {\n \"type\": \"Polygon\",\n \"coordinates\": [\n [\n [\n -121.25,\n 46.1\n ],\n [\n -120.1,\n 46.1\n ],\n [\n -120.1,\n 46.6\n ],\n [\n -121.25,\n 46.6\n ],\n [\n -121.25,\n 46.1\n ]\n ]\n ]\n }\n }\n ]\n}","noUsgsAuthors":false,"publicationStatus":"PW","scienceBaseUri":"4f4e4b24e4b07f02db6ae80a","contributors":{"authors":[{"text":"Gregg, Dean O.","contributorId":28577,"corporation":false,"usgs":true,"family":"Gregg","given":"Dean","email":"","middleInitial":"O.","affiliations":[],"preferred":false,"id":168603,"contributorType":{"id":1,"text":"Authors"},"rank":1},{"text":"Laird, Leslie Bostwick","contributorId":101251,"corporation":false,"usgs":true,"family":"Laird","given":"Leslie","email":"","middleInitial":"Bostwick","affiliations":[],"preferred":false,"id":168604,"contributorType":{"id":1,"text":"Authors"},"rank":2}]}} ,{"id":9410,"text":"ofr75178 - 1975 - Selected stratigraphic sections of Cambrian and Ordovician rocks in Arizona, New Mexico, and western Texas","interactions":[],"lastModifiedDate":"2024-07-17T19:33:03.32256","indexId":"ofr75178","displayToPublicDate":"1994-01-01T00:00:00","publicationYear":"1975","noYear":false,"publicationType":{"id":18,"text":"Report"},"publicationSubtype":{"id":5,"text":"USGS Numbered Series"},"seriesTitle":{"id":330,"text":"Open-File Report","code":"OFR","onlineIssn":"2331-1258","printIssn":"0196-1497","active":true,"publicationSubtype":{"id":5}},"seriesNumber":"75-178","title":"Selected stratigraphic sections of Cambrian and Ordovician rocks in Arizona, New Mexico, and western Texas","docAbstract":"Information from 68 surface localities that I visited was used in the preparation of a report on the Cambrian and Ordovician rocks of Arizona, New Mexico, and western Texas (Hayes, 1975). Descriptions of the stratigraphic sequence at many of these localities have been published in various reports and a majority of those descriptions are reasonably good if not excellent. The rocks at some other localities are either so poorly exposed or faulted or altered that neither useful nor trustworthy sections are measurable there. Included herein are descriptions of part or all of the Cambrian and Ordovician sequence at three localities where the sections have not been described previously in the literature, at two localities whose excellent sections have previously been presented only in generalized graphic form, and at five localities whose previously published descriptions are at considerable variance with my observations in some way (fig. 1). It is doubtful if interest in any of these sections is sufficiently widespread at this time to justify formal publication of these descriptions but they are presented here for those few persons who may have special interest in them. Enclosed in parentheses following the name of each section is the locality number used in my published report (Hayes, 1975).
Color terminology for the rocks are adapted from the Rock Color Chart. Bedding thicknesses, when not given in inches, are approximately as follows: thin-bedded for beds up to 6 inches thick, medium-bedded for beds 6 inches to 2 feet thick, thick-bedded for beds 2-5 feet thick; massive for beds more than 5 feet thick.
All the sections in this report were measured with the capable assistance of George C. Cone.
Fossil collections referred to in this report are described in Hayes (1975).
","language":"English","publisher":"U.S. Geological Survey","doi":"10.3133/ofr75178","usgsCitation":"Hayes, P.T., 1975, Selected stratigraphic sections of Cambrian and Ordovician rocks in Arizona, New Mexico, and western Texas: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 75-178, i, 51 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr75178.","productDescription":"i, 51 p.","costCenters":[],"links":[{"id":431153,"rank":2,"type":{"id":11,"text":"Document"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/1975/0178/report.pdf","linkFileType":{"id":1,"text":"pdf"}},{"id":141881,"rank":1,"type":{"id":24,"text":"Thumbnail"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/1975/0178/report-thumb.jpg"}],"country":"United States","state":"Arizona, New Mexico, Texas","geographicExtents":"{\n \"type\": \"FeatureCollection\",\n \"features\": [\n {\n \"type\": \"Feature\",\n \"properties\": {},\n \"geometry\": {\n \"coordinates\": [\n [\n [\n -114.34184692869019,\n 37.13766330653634\n ],\n [\n -114.34184692869019,\n 30.060916980452788\n ],\n [\n -102.23541617667809,\n 30.060916980452788\n ],\n [\n -102.23541617667809,\n 37.13766330653634\n ],\n [\n -114.34184692869019,\n 37.13766330653634\n ]\n ]\n ],\n \"type\": \"Polygon\"\n }\n }\n ]\n}","noUsgsAuthors":false,"publicationStatus":"PW","scienceBaseUri":"4f4e4a03e4b07f02db5f8229","contributors":{"authors":[{"text":"Hayes, Philip Thayer","contributorId":8071,"corporation":false,"usgs":true,"family":"Hayes","given":"Philip","email":"","middleInitial":"Thayer","affiliations":[],"preferred":false,"id":159638,"contributorType":{"id":1,"text":"Authors"},"rank":1}]}} ]}