Techniques for Quality‐of‐Water Interpretations from Calibrated Geophysical Logs, Atlantic Coastal Areaa

Abstract

ABSTRACTIn the fall and winter of 1967–68, a 2,587‐foot test well was drilled at Moore's Bridges Filter Plant, Norfolk, Virginia. The well penetrated rocks of post‐Miocene, late and middle Miocene, late Eocene, Cenomanian, Cenomanian and Albian, Albian and Aptian, and Aptian and Neocomian age.Empirical data must be established in the Tidewater area for the successful calculation of ground‐water quality from calibrated geophysical logs. Chemical analyses of water samples from seven separate zones at depths between 850 feet to 2,500 feet below sea level indicate that the water type changes from a predominantly sodium bicarbonate water above 1,700 feet to a sodium chloride water in the deeper zones. The sodium bicarbonate type water in shallow aquifers must be corrected for divalent cation effects when using the self potential method or for the bicarbonate effect when using the resistivity method of interpretation.Using calibrated geophysical logs, an approximation of the dissolved‐solids and chloride content may be calculated using the formula Rw= Ro/Ff and the appropriate figures in the text. A field formation factor (Ff) of 4.2 is proposed for the Cretaceous aquifers in the Atlantic Coastal area. A K value of 84 should be used to check the validity of the magnitude of the self potential curve for the fresh‐ and brackish‐water aquifers in the Cretaceous. If the amount of dissolved solids is known for the Cretaceous waters, the chloride content may be approximated by the formula Cl = 0.5 (dissolved solids–300), provided the dissolved solids are less than 3,500 mg/l (milligrams per liter), and by the formula Cl = 0.6 (dissolved solids–400), if the dissolved solids are greater than 3,500 mg/l. In the Tidewater area, if the saturated resistivity (Ro) reading on the electric log is less than 25 ohmmeters the total solids and chloride content of the water are probably in excess of Public Health standards for potable water. An empirical method of calculating the quality of water from electric logs is presented.