Summary

Description

This data set consists of digitized water-level elevation contours for the Rush Springs aquifer in western Oklahoma. This area encompasses all or part of Blaine, Caddo, Canadian, Comanche, Custer, Dewey, Grady, Stephens, and Washita Counties. The water-level elevation data set was created to be used as input into a computer model to simulate the ground-water flow in the Rush Springs aquifer. In the ground-water flow model, Mark F. Becker (U.S. Geological Survey, written commun., 1997) defined the Rush Springs aquifer to include the Rush Springs Formation, alluvial and terrace deposits along major streams, and parts of the Marlow Formations, particularly in the eastern part of the aquifer boundary area. The Permian-age Rush Springs Formation consists of highly cross-bedded sandstone with some interbedded dolomite and gypsum. The Rush Springs Formation is overlain by Quaternary-age alluvial and terrace deposits that consist of unconsolidated clay, silt, sand, and gravel. The Rush Springs Formation is underlain by the Permian-age Marlow Formation that consists of interbedded sandstones, siltstones, mudstones, gypsum-anhydrite, and dolomite beds. The parts of the Marlow Formation that have high permeability and porosity are where the Marlow Formation is included as part of the Rush Springs aquifer (Mark F. Becker, written commun., 1997). The Rush Springs aquifer underlies about 2,400 square miles of western Oklahoma and is an important source of water for irrigation, livestock, industrial, municipal, and domestic use. Irrigation wells are reported to have well yields greater than 1,000 gallons per minute (Mark F. Becker, written commun., 1997). The water-level elevation data set was prepared at a scale of 1:250,000 by Mark F. Becker (written commun., 1997) from water levels measured in wells prior to the year 1950 that represented "pre-development" water-level conditions. Pre-development is a term used to indicate a time before many irrigation wells were constructed in the Rush Springs aquifer. The digital data set contains water-level elevations that range from 1,200 to 1,850 feet above sea level or the National Geodetic Vertical Datum of 1929 (NGVD29) (Mark F. Becker, written commun., 1997).