Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Date

2022

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science

Department

Earth Sciences

Committee Chair

Daniel Larsen

Committee Member

Deborah D Leslie

Committee Member

Scott S Schoefernacker

Abstract

The main source for municipal and agriculture water in Shelby County, Tennessee, is groundwater and has been used for municipal water supplies since 1886 because of its superior quality. Groundwater is mostly pumped from the Memphis aquifer, an Eocene-age, unconsolidated, semi-confined sand-rich hydrogeologic unit. Many recent studies have documented modern water recharge entering in the Memphis aquifer in or near major well fields. The proposed study investigates the presence of modern water and recharge sources to the Memphis aquifer at the Memphis, Light, Gas, and Water (MLGW) Mallory well field. The presence of modern water is assessed using solute chemistry, isotopic relations, and hydrologic tracers while predicting pathways could be assessed using geologic cross sections. The conceptual groundwater model that best describes the Mallory well field consists of mainly storage from the Memphis aquifer with minor contributions of distributed leakage through the confining unit. This study demonstrates little modern water recharge to the Memphis aquifer in the Mallory well field based on the geochemistry and the stratigraphic cross sections.

Comments

Data is provided by the student

Library Comment

Dissertation or thesis originally submitted to ProQuest.

Notes

Open Access

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