A Study of Subsurface Water Flow in a Southeastern Minnesota Karst Drainage Basin

Loading...

View/Download File

E_Mohring_MS_1983.pdf (2.9 MB)

Persistent link to this item

https://hdl.handle.net/11299/185273

Statistics

View Statistics

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Title

A Study of Subsurface Water Flow in a Southeastern Minnesota Karst Drainage Basin

Authors

Mohring, Eric H

Published Date

1983-08

Publisher

Type

Thesis or Dissertation

Abstract

The Root River drainage basin in Fillmore county, southeastern Minnesota has well developed karst topography and karst groundwater flow in carbonate sedimentary rocks of upper Ordovician age. In the upper carbonate aquifer subsurface water flows rapidly through solution-enlarged fractures and conduits, and is intimately connected to surface water. As such it is very subsceptible to pollution. An area was chosen in the drainage of the South Branch of the Root River, southeast of the town of Spring Valley, for detailed hydrologic study. The area has one of the highest densities of karst features in Minnesota. The first part of the study involved quantitative fluorometric tracing of subsurface water using the fluorescent dye Rhodamine WT and a field fluorometer. The tracing studies delineated subsurface flowpaths, revealed travel times and dispersion along the flowpaths, and permitted mass balance calculations of inflowing and outflowing water. The traces defined the recharge area of Moth and Grabau Springs at the head of Forestville Creek, and important trout stream. A gauging station was installed to measure the discharge of these springs, and so far has produced two years of continuous record. A network of rain gauges was installed to measure precipitation over the recharge area. Data from these installations describe the way the karst system responds to recharge events. Several sub-environments of flow exist within the aquifer. Initial estimates of transmissivity and aquifer diffusivity can be derived from the data.

Keywords

Description

University of Minnesota M.S. thesis. August 1983. Advisor: Calvin Alexander. 1 computer file (PDF); ix, 99 pages.

Related to

Replaces

License

Collections

Master's Theses (Plan A and Professional Engineering Design Projects)
Dye Trace Reports

Series/Report Number

Funding information

Isbn identifier

Doi identifier

Previously Published Citation

Suggested citation

Mohring, Eric H. (1983). A Study of Subsurface Water Flow in a Southeastern Minnesota Karst Drainage Basin. Retrieved from the University Digital Conservancy, https://hdl.handle.net/11299/185273.

Content distributed via the University Digital Conservancy may be subject to additional license and use restrictions applied by the depositor. By using these files, users agree to the Terms of Use. Materials in the UDC may contain content that is disturbing and/or harmful. For more information, please see our statement on harmful content in digital repositories.