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Scientific Investigations Report 2009–5118

In cooperation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Assessment of Local Recharge Area Characteristics of Four Caves in Northern Arkansas and Northeastern Oklahoma, 2004-07

By Jonathan A. Gillip, Joel M. Galloway, and Rheannon M. Hart

Abstract

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A study was conducted from 2004 to 2007 by the U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to assess the characteristics of the local recharge areas of four caves in northern Arkansas and northeastern Oklahoma that provide habitat for a number of unique organisms. Characterization of the local recharge areas are important because the caves occur in a predominately karst system and because land use proximal to the caves, including areas suspected to lie within the local recharge areas, may include activities with potentially deleterious effects to cave water quality.

An integrated approach was used to determine the hydrogeologic characteristics and the extent of the local recharge areas of Civil War Cave, January-Stansbury Cave, Nesbitt Spring Cave, and Wasson’s Mud Cave. This approach incorporated methods of hydrology, structural geology, geomorphology, and geochemistry. Continuous water-level and water-temperature data were collected at each cave for various periods to determine recharge characteristics. Field investigations were conducted to determine surficial controls affecting the groundwater flow and connections of the groundwater system to land-surface processes in each study area. Qualitative groundwater tracing also was conducted at each cave to help define the local recharge areas. These independent methods of investigation provided multiple lines of evidence for effectively describing the behavior of these complex hydrologic systems.

See Report PDF for full abstract.

First posted November 30, 2009

For additional information contact:

Director, U.S. Geological Survey
Arkansas Water Science Center
401 Hardin Road
Little Rock, AR 72211-3528

http://ar.water.usgs.gov/

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Suggested citation:

Gillip, J.A., Galloway, J.M., and Hart, R.M., 2009, Assessment of local recharge area characteristics of four caves in northern Arkansas and northeastern Oklahoma, 2004-07: U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2009-5118, 25 p.



Contents

Abstract

Introduction

Assessment Methods

Assessment of Local Recharge Area Characteristics

Summary

References


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