Geology and Ground-Water Resources of Miami County, Kansas

Abstract

Miami County, Kansas, has an area of 592 square miles. It lies within the Osage Plains section of the Central Lowlands physiographic province. Rocks above the Precambrian basement are 2,000 to 2,500 feet thick and are of sedimentary origin. They include rocks of Cambrian, Ordovician, Silurian, Devonian, Mississippian, Pennsylvanian, and Neogene ages. Exposed Pennsylvanian and Neogene rocks are nearly 400 feet thick. The Pennsylvanian rocks have a regional dip to the northwest of about 20 feet per mile.

Recent alluvial deposits have a maximum thickness of about 55 feet in the Marais des Cygnes River valley and yield moderate supplies of ground water. Upper Pleistocene terrace deposits have a maximum thickness of 50 feet and yield moderate amounts of water. The most productive bedrock aquifers are Pennsylvanian limestones and sandstones that are near enough to the surface to have been weathered, thereby increasing their permeability. Water with less than 1,000 ppm dissolved solids occurs to a depth of about 200 feet in these bedrock aquifers.

Water from Neogene deposits is of good quality, except that it is moderately hard and may contain excessive amounts of iron. Bedrock aquifers yield water of good quality, but in most localities the water is moderately hard.

Data collected as a part of this investigation include records of 123 wells and springs, logs of 116 wells and test holes, and chemical analyses of 25 water samples.