T115 Epikarst to Conduits: Quantitative Methods Applied To Monitoring and Modeling of Karst Aquifers (Posters)

GEOCHEMISTRY IN A SPRING-DENSE KARST WATERSHED AND ITS RELATIONSHIP TO STRUCTURAL PATTERNS, BERKELEY COUNTY, WV

Paper number: T115-9
Program: Technical Sessions
Time: 1:30 PM – 5:30 PM

Authors

Abstract

Tuscarora Creek watershed is located in the Appalachian Great Valley in Berkeley County, West Virginia. Thirteen springs and seven stream locations were sampled to evaluate spatial and temporal variability in major ion geochemistry. The upper portion of the stream parallels strike along a mapped fault zone and is bordered by clastic rocks that comprise North Mountain. The lower portion of the stream flows approximately perpendicular to strike. The controlling chemical signature in the spring water was carbonate dissolution; distinctions could not be made between carbonate units and little evidence was seen for the recharge from adjacent clastic rocks. The springs in the upper watershed had greater temporal variability that may be due to enhanced transmissivity associated with a creek-parallel thrust fault.

While similar in topography and geographic setting, Tuscarora Creek watershed is different from other Valley and Ridge watersheds described (Shuster and White 1971, Drake and Harmon 1974). Dolomite is abundant and widespread in those study areas, while Tuscarora Creek watershed is underlain primarily by limestone with some dolomite beds and flows across a large carbonate valley. Mountain runoff is a major contributor to flow of springs and streams (Jacobson and Langmuir 1974) while runoff from North Mountain does not appear to be significant to Tuscarora Creek. Differences in precipitation rates, snow pack and soil thickness may also account for some of these disparities.