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Mississippi Embayment Regional Aquifer Study
Model visualization
A ground-water flow model normally consists of dozens of computer files with lines of strange text and thousands of numbers. While these files are crucial to the operation of the model, they are typically not human friendly in terms of being able to see how water levels may decline with pumping through time. To this end, the use of software to transform the seemingly chaotic collection of numbers into a visually meaningful image is very helpful. As a result, this page will attempt to present images or animations of various stages of the MERAS model development. Check back often for updates!
A look underground
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Water, oil, and gas wells (shown as green lines) are drilled to hundreds or thousands of feet below land surface in an area known as the Mississippi embayment. Information gathered from these wells was used to create a 3D computer model of underground hydrogeologic formations. Many of these formations (shown as shades of grey, blue, brown, or tan surfaces) consist of layers of sand and clay. These formations are important because they contain ground water that can be pumped out of the ground and used for anything from drinking water for public supplies to irrigation water for crops to washing, cooling, or transporting products in industrial settings. With the ever increasing demand for water and concerns about availability and sustainability, visual tools such as this are important and helpful.
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Where does all the water come from?
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As the animation begins, the land surface of the Mississippi embayment fades away to reveal underground geologic formations (shown as shades of blue, brown, and gray surfaces). A slice deep into the earth cuts off the eastern half of the embayment so we can peer into the formations (aquifers) beneath the surface. The lower portion of different colored water wells (orange, light blue, and dark blue lines) come into view as the formations rotate. Each color of the wells represents a different layer of sand (aquifer) from which water is pumped. The wells are drilled from tens of feet deep to over 1,000 feet below land surface. There are thousands of wells represented here, but there are many thousands more that are not shown. All together, these wells pump, on average, enough water out of the ground to cover an average size county in about six inches of water -- everyday. This animation is another piece of the 3D computer model puzzle used to help manage the valuable water resource.
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See additional USGS videos and photos at the USGS Video and Image Gallery
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U.S. Department of the Interior |
U.S. Geological Survey