A hydrogeological study of Monitor and Williams Townships in Bay County, Michigan, was conducted during 1983-84. Migration of mineralized ground water from abandoned subsurface coal mines in Monitor and Williams Townships had been thought to effect the quality of domestic ground-water supplies in the area. To investigate the possibility, wells were installed to obtain geologic data and water samples; related data concurrently collected by other agencies also were analyzed. The principal geologic units are glacial deposits and the Saginaw Formation. Glacial deposits, 75 to 175 feet thick, are primarily clay underlain in places by sand and gravel. This sand and gravel is the primary source of potable ground water in the study area. Underlying the glacial deposits is the Saginaw Formation--a unit that is mostly shale and silty shale containing beds of siltstone, sandstone, and coal. Specific conductance of water from wells indicate that dissolved-solids concentration increases with well depth. About 50 percent of specific conductance values of water from wells more than 100 feet deep were equal to or greater than 5,000 microsiemens, whereas only 13 percent of the values of water from wells less than 100 feet deep were equal to or greater than 5,000 microsiemens. Chemical analyses of water from abandoned mines and the Saginaw Formation in areas without coal indicated that the Saginaw Formation is as likely to influence the water-quality characteristics of the glacial deposits as is water from abandoned mines. (USGS)
RECORD ID: 8602798
F&G CODE: 05b; 02f; 04c
Publication
Twenter, F.R., and Cummings, T.R., 1985, Quality of ground water in Monitor and
Williams Townships, Bay County, Michigan: U.S. Geological Survey Water-Resources
Investigations Report 85-4110, 39 p.
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