The Floridan Aquifer in Northeast Floridaa

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Abstract
The Floridan aquifer in northeast Florida is comprised of limestone and dolomite beds of Tertiary age. These formations in ascending order are: the Cedar Keys Formation of Paleocene age; the Oldsmar Limestone, Lake City Limestone, Avon Park Limestone, and the Ocala Group, all of Eocene age; locally the Suwannee Limestone of Oligocene age; and limestone and sand beds at the base of the Hawthorn Formation of Miocene age. The top of the Ocala Group ranges in elevation from 100 feet above sea level to 550 feet below sea level throughout the area.Except in the western part of the area where the Ocala Group is at the surface, impermeable beds in the Miocene to Recent deposits overlie the aquifer and confine the water under artesian pressure. Hard, impermeable beds within the aquifer separate the water‐bearing zones. The coefficient of transmissibility ranges from about 50,000 gpd/ft (gallons per day /foot) to more than 1,000,000 gpd/ft and the coefficient of storage ranges from 1.5 × 10−4 to 1.7 × 10−2 in areas where the water in the aquifer is under artesian conditions.The estimated annual recharge averages one‐half mgd (million gallons per day) in the western part of northeast Florida and 45 mgd in the south central part. Limited recharge also occurs throughout the central and eastern part of northeast Florida by downward leakage of water through the overlying confining beds. The coefficient of leakance of these confining beds ranges from about 1.7 × l0−2 to 1 ×10−3 gpd/ft3.Natural discharge occurs by perennial and intermittent springs and upward leakage through the confining beds in the areas of artesian flow. Artificial discharge by wells occurs principally in the farming, urban, and industrial areas in the eastern part of northeast Florida.Between 1940 and 1962 artesian pressures declined from 5 to 25 feet throughout the eastern part of northeast Florida.Seasonal declines of artesian pressure of 5 to 10 feet in the farming areas resulted in temporary increases of chloride content of water of 200 to 500 ppm (parts per million). The chloride content of water in the aquifer in the vicinity of Jacksonville and Fernandina has increased from 22 to 1400 ppm in wells more than 1,400 feet deep. Thus far, impermeable zones below the fresh water have prevented serious salt‐water contamination in shallower wells at Jacksonville and Fernandiua.

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