Reports

A user's guide for the artesian aquifers of the Maryland Coastal Plain

1972, Harry J. Hansen

Open File Report 72-02-1

Part One: Introductory Definitions and Examples

Part Two: Aquifer Characteristics

Introduction

Ground water in the Maryland Coastal Plain is an underutilized resource that has often been overzealously husbanded. In large measure this circumstance can be attributed to misconceptions regarding the occurrence of ground water. By definition ground water is a subsurface resource. Although its habitat is hidden, the characteristics of ground water are by no means unknown. A great deal of data has been gathered in Maryland, albeit indirectly and often by inference. This is unavoidable insofar as ground water data must be obtained from test borings or wells which are merely point sources of information. To measure the resource as a whole interpolation between wells must be made. If the user is to do this intelligently, he must be aware of the geologic and hydrologic relationships characterizing the area of his concern.

This guide is written to provide geohydrologic data in a form useful to planners and consulting engineers who are not by training or experience ground-water geologists. If it makes this group more comfortable with the resource, I will consider the guide to have served its purpose. The guide is not written for my professional colleagues; nor is it written for water well contractors. Both, however, may find it useful for preliminary decision-making prior to onsite evaluation. Furthermore, the guide is not written for the public-at-large; it is neither a primer, nor a popular account of natural history.

Downloads and Data

Open-File Report 72-02-1, part one (pdf, 39 MB)
Open-File Report 72-02-1, part two (pdf, 61 MB)