Hamilton's Artesian Well EarthCache
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This well is located within the Mississippian (Marshal) aquifer,
one of the most important and productive aquifers in the state of
Michigan. The aquifer is also present in Iowa, where it underlies
about 60 percent of the state and consists mainly of limestone and
dolomite.
An artesian aquifer is a confined aquifer containing groundwater
that will flow upward through a well (called an artesian well)
without the need for pumping. Water may reach the ground surface if
the natural pressure is high enough, in which case the well is
called a flowing artesian well.
An aquifer is a layer of soft rock that absorbs water from an inlet
path. Porous stone is confined between impermeable rocks or clay.
This keeps the pressure high so that when the water finds an
outlet, it overcomes gravity and goes up instead of down. These
Mississippian rocks dip and thicken in a radial pattern toward the
center of the Michigan Basin and generally consist of sandstone,
shale, limestone, and coal. They range from a featheredge on the
outskirts to about 1,000 feet thick in the center.
The recharging of aquifers happens when the water table at its
recharge zone is at a higher elevation than the head of the well.
The water from this region moves from recharge areas in the
northern and southern areas eastward to Saginaw Bay and westward to
Lake Michigan, where the water is discharged. Wells located within
this aquifer are mainly used in the southern part of the state and
in the Saginaw Bay area. Elsewhere it contains water that is too
salty for use due to the dense brine in the central part of the
aquifer.
According to a 1990 United States Geological Survey, 45 percent of
the freshwater (or about 20 million gallons per day) was used in
1985 for industrial, mining, and thermoelectric-power purposes.
Public supply was the second principal use of freshwater from the
Mississippian aquifer in Michigan; 34.2 percent of the total, or
about 15.4 million gallons per day.
TO LOG THIS CACHE:
1) Visit this location and take a picture of you or your team and
post it with your log.
2) Use a testing strip and test the pH, iron, and/or hardness
levels. (Test strips can be found at pet and hardware
stores.) - OR - Estimate the Gallons Per Minute (GPM)
flow rate by filling a one-gallon jug while timing how many seconds
it takes to fill it; then divide 60 by the number of seconds it
took to get your answer.
3) Email us with the results of #2 - Please do not include the
answers in your log.
Additional Hints
(No hints available.)