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Learn about the groundwater systems in Florida, including confined and unconfined aquifers, their classification, and the geologic materials involved. Discover the importance of these aquifers and their vulnerability to pollution.
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Aquifers Consolidated Unconsolidated Confined Unconfined
Unconsolidated Aquifer Consolidated Aquifer Basic Aquifer Classification Unconsolidated or Consolidated Unconsolidated: granular sand or gravel Consolidated: sandstone, limestone, granite Can be low-yield or high-yield Granite, sandstone Limestone, sand/gravel
Unconfined Aquifer Water High permeability Low Conductivity Geologic or Soil material Conductivity: the ease with which water moves through material
Confined Aquifer An inclined, water-bearing formation located below an impermeable layer of clay, rock, or shale. Flow High pressure
Confined and Unconfined Flow aquitard High pressure
Georgia Channel Suwannee Current Florida’s Aquifers • Florida has both confined and unconfined aquifers • Florida exists on a raised platform • The Florida platform was dominated by carbonate deposition • from the Jurassic (-200 my) to the Miocene (-25 my). • 4. During the Miocene, clayey sediments blanketed the platform. • 5. These sediments form a confining unit for Florida’s main aquifer • 6. The major aquifer is a consolidated, carbonate confined aquifer. • 7. Unconfined aquifers exist above the clay confining unit. sediments
Basics Recent Deposits Sands Miocene Clay 25 to 5 Mya Jurassic To Miocene CaCO3 200 Mya to 25 Mya
Sinkholes and springs are a product of the geology of Florida Solution cavities exist in the limestone Water in cavities is under pressure Sinkholes: collapse of material into cavities Springs: water bursts through thin confining units
Springs Springs form best when the overlying clay layer is thin.
Springs Hawthorne Thickness First magnitude: 100 ft3/s Florida: 27 of 78 nationally (64.6 million gallons per day) Thin or absent 30 – 200 ft sandy 30 – 200 ft clayey Confining unit less than 100 feet thick or is absent > 200 ft thick
Poe Spring Manatee Ginnie Little Devil http://www.underwaterflorida.homestead.com/springs.html
Florida’s Dominant Aquifer Systems Florida is the largest groundwater user east of the Mississippi
Biscayne Aquifer Unconfined Confined Floridan Aquifer Intermediate aquifer
Sea Levels Temporary reestablishment of carbonate deposition
The Floridan Aquifer Confined • 100,000 square miles • southern Alabama • southeastern Georgia • southern South Carolina • all of Florida Miocene clay deposits (Hawthorne) are the confining unit
Withdrawals 3 billion gallons per day of freshwater withdrawn Agriculture – 39% Domestic use – 47% Industry – 8.5% Misc.- 5.5%
Water-Bearing Units A thick sequence of carbonate rocks (limestone and dolomite) CaCO3 + MgCO3 The thickest and most productive formations of the system are the Avon Park Formation and the Ocala Limestone of Eocene age (37-58 million years ago)
600 1200 1800 2400 Thickness In feet 3000
Biscayne Aquifer surficial Floridan Aquifer Intermediate aquifer
The Intermediate Aquifer System • Between the surficial aquifer system • and the Floridan aquifer system • Used where the underlying Floridan aquifer system is • deeply buried and/or contains brackish or saltwater. • Clay confining units are above the Floridan and • below the surficial aquifer. • Artesian, but yields less • water than the Floridan • Sand, limestone, shell beds • 298 million gallons per day
Intermediate Aquifer confined Sand, shell, limestone
The Intermediate Aquifer System Polk Co. Collier Co.
Polk: 120 ft Main source of water supply for Charlotte, Lee, and Sarasota counties. flow
Comparison Floridan Aquifer: Intermediate Aquifer: Withdrawal = 3 billion gal/day Withdrawal = 298 million gal/day Intermediate aquifer is used where the Floridan is inadequate
Surficial aquifers Water stored above an impermeable layer and unconfined at the surface
Surficial aquifers Soils or Geologic Materials water high conductivity low conductivity
Biscayne Aquifer 4,000 square miles Dade Broward Palm Beach
Biscayne Aquifer Plio-pliestocence highly permeable sand, limestone, sandstone, shells, marl 786 million gallons/day 70 % for public supply Miocene Eocene low-permeability sandy silt Marls: carbonate-rich muds containing clays and calcite Oolitic limestone: spheroidal carbonate grains with a mineral cortex
Thickness 240 ft
Recharge and Flow Recharge Flow
Pesticides, fertilizers, landfills, septic systems, injection wells Injection well Salt water
Salinization pumping
Inland Canals Flood Control pollutants
Three Major Florida Aquifers Floridan Aquifer: Intermediate Aquifer: Biscayne Aquifer Withdrawal = 3 billion gal/day Withdrawal = 298 million gal/day Withdrawal = 786 million gallons/day Total = 4.084 billion gallons/day
Biscayne Aquifer Unconfined Confined Confined Floridan Aquifer Intermediate aquifer