PUB00070

• Year: 1998
• Title: Ground Water and Surface Water A Single Resource U.S. Geological Survey Circular 1139
• CWCB Section: Interstate & Federal
• Author: T.C. Winter, J.W. Harvey, O.L. Franke, W.M. Alley
• Description: Overview of current understandimg of interaction of ground water and surface water in terms of quality and quantity
• Publications - Doc Type: Historical

Figure K-l. Transpiration-induced depressions in the water
table commonly are filled in by recharge during the following
spring, but then form again to some extent by late summer
nearly every year.
Nevins Lake, a closed lake in the Upper Peninsula of
Michigan, illustrates yet another type of interaction of lakes
with ground water in glacial terrain. Water-chemistry studies
of Nevins Lake indicated that solutes such as calcium provide
an indicator of ground-water inflow to the lake. Immediately
following spring snowmelt, the mass of dissolved calcium in
the lake increased rapidly because of increased ground-water
inflow. Calcium then decreased steadily throughout the
summer and early fall as the lake received less ground-water
inflow (Figure K-2). This pattern varied annually depending
on the amount of ground-water recharge from snowmelt and
spring rains. The chemistry of water in the pores of the lake
sediments was used to determine the spatial variability in
the di rection of seepage on the side of the lake that had the
most ground-water inflow. Seepage was always out of the
lake at the sampling site farthest from shore and was always
upward into the lake at the site nearest to shore. Flow rever-
sals were documented at sites located at intermediate
distances from shore.

'"
~ 11,000
"
o
"-
~ 9,900
ui
'"
"
"
"
"
o 7,700
~
"
u
"
w
~
"
'"
'"
is

>-
w
194,205 ~
u
158,895 ~
u
Z
123,585 -,
~>
0"
88.275 i C
~ffi
",,,
52.965 ~
"
~
17,655 0
o ;s
-17,655 ~
<.:>

Dissolved
calcium mass
/

6.600
5,500
'" > >- z '" ~ >- z ~ > >- z '" >
"- ~ g " "- g " "- ~ u '\ "- ~
" " , " " " " " " "
, , , , ,
1989 1990 1991 1992

Figure K-2. A large input of ground water during spring
supplies the annual input of calcium to Nevins Lake in the
Upper Peninsula of Michigan. (Modified from Krabbenhoft,
D.P., and Webster, KE, 1995, Transient hydrogeological
controls on the chemistry of a seepage lake: Water
Resources Research, v. 31, no. 9, p. 2295-2305.)

Dune terrain also commonly contains lakes and
wetlands. Much of the central part of western Nebraska,
for example, is covered by sand dunes that have lakes and
wetlands in most of the lowlands between the dunes. Studies
of the interaction of lakes and wetlands with ground water at
the Crescent Lake National Wildlife Refuge indicate that most
of these lakes have seepage inflow from ground water and
seepage outllow to ground water. The chemistry of inflowing
ground water commonly has an effect on lake water chem-
istry. However, the chemistry of lake water can also affect
ground water in areas of seepage from lakes. In the Crescent
Lake area, for example, plumes of lake water were detected In
ground water downgradient from the lakes, as indicated by the
plume of dissolved organic carbon down gradient from
Roundup Lake and Island Lake (Figure K-3).

Nevins Lake, Michigan. (Photograph by
David Krabbenhoft.)

102025'

41Q4S'

~oundUP Lake
21
.
O.

.4 Well and concentration
of dissolved organic
1 carbon, in milligrams
. per liter

o
.

o 1 MILE
I I

o
.

4
.

Figure K-3. Seepage from lakes in the sandhills of Nebraska
causes plumes of dissolved organic carbon to be present
in ground water on the downgradient sides of the lakes.
(Modified from LaBaugh, J. W., 1986, Umnological character-
istics of selected lakes in the Nebraska sandhills, U.S.A.,
and their relation to chemical characteristics of adjacent
ground water: Journal of Hydrology, v. 86, p. 279-298.)
(Reprinted with permission of Elsevier Science-NL,
Amsterdam, The Netherlands.)

Island Lake, Nebraska. (Photograph by Thomas Winter.)

49