Geology and Ground-water Resources of Neosho County, Kansas
By William L. Jungmann
Originally published in 1966 as Kansas Geological Survey Bulletin 183. This is, in general, the original text as published. The information has not been updated.
You may also wish to visit our web site on the Neosho County geologic map.
Abstract
Neosho County has an area of 576 square miles and is within the Osage Plains section of the Central Lowlands province of eastern Kansas. Sedimentary rocks of Cambrian, Ordovician, Devonian(?), Mississippian, Pennsylvanian, Tertiary, and Quaternary ages overlie the Precambrian basement complex, and they have a thickness of 2,100 feet. Rocks exposed in the county are of Pennsylvanian, Tertiary, and Quaternary ages that attain a thickness of 700 feet. Structure is controlled by the Prairie Plains Monocline in which the exposed Pennsylvanian rocks dip northwest at about 20 feet per mile.
Wells in consolidated rocks of Pennsylvanian age yield less than 1 gallon per minute of water from some limestone and shale aquifers to more than 30 gallons per minute from sandstone aquifers. The water from the consolidated aquifers is highly mineralized, but the sandstones tend to yield a softer, less mineralized water. Wells within unconsolidated Pleistocene alluvial deposits yield up to 30 gallons per minute.
The chief use of the ground water is for domestic and stock purposes, whereas all municipal systems use treated surface water. The estimated total use of ground water in 1961 was 109 million gallons (334 acre-feet).
Kansas Geological Survey, Geology
Placed on web April 17, 2009; originally published December 1966.
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