Cape Fear Formation, South Carolina Coastal Plain (10)

Comments on Geologic Parameters

10 Fluid Residence Time:

Several authors have characterized ground-water flow in the Cape Fear interval (Aucott and Speiran, 1985; Miller and others, 1986; Aucott, 1988; Miller, 1990). A number of authors determined that the deep aquifers directly below the coast is a marine/terrestrial ground-water interface zone in which waters tend to be stagnant. Miller and others (1986; their fig. 5) showed that the NA+ concentrations increase with distance along the aquifer flow path, and several authors showed that the Cape Fear aquifer in southeastern South Carolina contains relatively high concentrations of NA+ (Miller and others, 1986; Miller, 1990). On the basis of these data, we conclude that residence times in the Cape Fear aquifer of southeastern South Carolina are long, and may be as much as 5,000 yr.

10 Reference:

Aucott, W. R., 1988, The pre-development ground-water flow system and hydrologic characteristics of the Coastal Plain aquifers of south Carolina: U.S. Geological Survey, Water-Resources Investigations Report 86–4347, 66 p.

Aucott, W. R., and Speiran, G. K., 1985, Ground-water flow in the coastal plain aquifers of South Carolina: Ground Water, v. 23, p. 736–745.

Miller, J. A., Barker, R. A., and Renkin, R. A., 1986, Hydrology of the Southeastern Coastal Plain Aquifer System, in Vecchioli, J., and Johnson, A. I., eds., Regional aquifer systems of the United States: aquifers of the Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plain: American Water Resources Association Monograph Series No. 9, p. 53–77.

Miller, J. A., 1990, Ground water atlas of the United States—segment 6, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina: U.S. Geological Survey Hydrologic Investigations Atlas No. HA-730-G, 28 p.