Tri-State Ground-Water Modeling

Map showing study area for Tri State Ground-Water Modeling project.

To assess the effect that increased water use is having on the long-term availability of groundwater within the Ozark Plateaus aquifer system, a groundwater-flow model was developed using MODFLOW 2000 for a model area covering 7,340 square miles for parts of Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma. Vertically the model is divided into five units. From top to bottom these units of variable thickness are: the Western Interior Plains confining unit, the Springfield Plateau aquifer, the Ozark confining unit, the Ozark aquifer, and the St. Francois confining unit. Water-use data were compiled for the period 1960 to 2006. In 2006, total water use from the Ozark aquifer for Missouri was 87 percent (8,531,520 cubic feet per day) of the total pumped from the Ozaark aquifer, with Kansas at 7 percent (727,452 cubic feet per day), and Oklahoma at 6 percent (551,408 cubic feet per day); water use for Arkansas within the model area was minor. Groundwater flow within the model area occurs generally from the highlands of the Springfield Plateau in southwestern Missouri toward the west, with localized flow occurring towards rivers and pumping centers including the five largest pumping centers near Joplin, Missouri; Carthage, Missouri; Noel, Missouri; Pittsburg, Kansas; and Miami, Oklahoma.

Publications
	Scientific Investigations Report 2009-5148 Groundwater-Flow Model of the Ozark Plateaus Aquifer System, Northwestern Arkansas, Southeastern Kansas, Southwestern Missouri, and Northeastern Oklahoma, by John B. Czarnecki, Jonathan A. Gillip, Perry M. Jones, and Daniel S. Yeatts
	Scientific Investigations Report 2009-5093 Quality Characteristics of Ground Water in the Ozark Aquifer of Northwestern Arkansas, Southeastern Kansas, Southwestern Missouri, and Northeastern Oklahoma, 2006-07, by Pope, L. M.; Mehl, H. E.; and Coiner, R. L.
	Scientific Investigations Report 2007-5253 Potentiometric Surfaces in the Springfield Plateau and Ozark Aquifers of Northwestern Arkansas, Southeastern Kansas, Southwestern Missouri, and Northeastern Oklahoma, 2006, by Jonathan A. Gillip, John B. Czarnecki, and Douglas N. Mugel
	Scientific Investigations Report 2006-5097 Ground-water flow model of the Boone Formation at the Tar Creek Superfund Site, Oklahoma and Kansas, by Reed, T.B. and Czarnecki, J.B.
	U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1414-D Geohydrology of the Ozark Plateaus aquifer system in parts of Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Kansas, by Imes, J.L, and Emmett, L.F