Faculty Advisor:<\/strong> Brian Currie, Department of Geology & Environmental Earth Science<\/p>\n Additional:<\/strong> Haley Thoresen, Seth Swearingen, Emmanuel Adedugbe, Jonathan Levy, Thomas A. Nash, and Daniel Blake<\/p>\n\n\n
A collaborative bedrock\/surficial deposit mapping project between Miami University and the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR), Division of Geological Survey has resulted in the generation of a revised bedrock topography map for the Oxford and College Corner 7.5-minute quadrangles, Butler and Preble counties, southwest Ohio. The study area consists of glaciated uplands dissected by filled valleys of the Indian Creek, Four-Mile Creek, and Seven-Mile Creek drainages. The primary objective of the study was to better delineate the thickness of Quaternary deposits in the study area. These deposits, which range in thickness from 0 to >200 ft, serve as the primary municipal and private drinking water resource for northern Butler County and southern Preble counties.<\/p>\n
Building on mapping conducted by ODNR in the 1990s, the present study utilized water-well and borehole log data available on-line through the ODNR Division of Water Resources and the Ohio Department of Transportation. Additional Quaternary thickness and depth-to-bedrock data were derived from municipal water-supply and monitoring well logs drilled by the City of Oxford and Miami University. The study also incorporated field mapping of exposures of the Quaternary-Paleozoic contact as well as horizontal-to-vertical spectral ratio (HVSR) passive seismic analysis. HVSR data were calibrated at recording stations adjacent to wells with bedrock penetrations.<\/p>\n
Study results generated over 1550 individual elevation points of the Quaternary-Paleozoic contact, more than 3x the number used in earlier mapping efforts. The resulting higher resolution contour map of the bedrock topography indicates valley-fill deposits in some parts of the study area are narrower but deeper than previously mapped, and thus likely contain steeper basal contacts with underlying Paleozoic rocks. As valley-fill deposits serve as the primary municipal aquifers in the study area, these findings may have important implications for the future development and utilization of local groundwater resources.<\/p>\n
Authors:<\/strong> Blake Stubbins, Emma Palko, Rosamiel Ries, Ellie Knutson<\/p>\n Faculty Advisor:<\/strong> Brian Currie, Department of Geology & Environmental Earth Science<\/p>\n Additional:<\/strong> Haley Thoresen, Seth Swearingen, Emmanuel Adedugbe, Jonathan Levy, Thomas A. Nash, and Daniel Blake<\/p>\n\n\n
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