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| USGS Coastal Carolina Project 2003 - Elizabethtown |
The exploration drill site where we will be delineating the hydrology and the subsurface geology is about 6 miles southeast of Elizabethtown, North Carolina, in Bladen County. The site is in the Cape Fear River Basin. The anticipated underlying aquifers are the surficial aquifer, the Peedee aquifer, the Black Creek aquifer and the upper and lower Cape Fear aquifers. Ground water is a source of drinking water in the area. It is also used for industrial and residential purposes.
This effort is an extension of an ongoing land-based drilling project by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). The scientific goal is to (1) better define the hydrology of the Atlantic Coastal Plain; (2) contribute to the definition of the framework of the subsurface concentration on the Tertiary and Cretaceous age units (see graphic below) to gain a better understanding of the stratigraphy of the Coastal Plain; (3) develop a large-scale definition of portions of the hydrology of the Carolinas within the Atlantic Coastal Plain; (4) document the salinity levels with the aquifers; and (5) expand the understanding of the sedimentary record based on core analysis and borehole geophysical data.
The Geologic Discipline of the USGS will be concentrating on the geology of the corehole; geologists, paleontologists, stratigraphers, and additional support personnel will be analyzing the core on site as it is recovered. The Core will be photographed.
USGS Water-Resources Discipline (WRD) hydrologists will be collecting pore water for chemical analysis. The anticipated aquifers that will be encountered are the surficial aquifer, the Peedee aquifer, the Black Creek aquifer, and the upper and lower Cape Fear aquifers. Among the questions of interest to be investigated at this site are: (1) whether or not the Cape Fear aquifer is separated into the upper and lower units in this location, or if the confining unit, which is generally present to the south and east, is present, or if the confining unit has pinched out; and (2) what the salinity is in the lower aquifers.
Modified from John R. Stacy, USGS
(Click on image for larger view)