Cowan, Tennessee Karst Groundwater Dye Tracing, Water Year 2023

Karst hydrologic systems are important resources in the state of Tennessee both as drinking water resources and as centers for possible biological diversity. These systems are susceptible to contamination due to the inherent connectivity between surface water and groundwater systems in karst systems. A partnership between the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and Tennessee Department of Conservation (TDEC) was formed to investigate karst spring systems across the state utilizing fluorescent groundwater tracing, particularly in areas where these resources may be used as drinking water sources. In fall 2021, USGS and TDEC staff identified possible vulnerabilities or complexities that may exist within karst spring systems based upon maturity of karst development, underlying geology, and uncertainties related to estimated recharge areas. Based upon initial research, several study areas were selected.  Dye tracing efforts began in March 2022 in the communities of Woodbury, Cowan, Jasper, and Vanleer.  In Water Year 2023 (10/1/2022-9/30/2023) fieldwork concluded on these initial communities and new dye tracing efforts were started in Caryville, Morristown, and Lafayette.  Collectively these communities span multiple physiographic regions including the western and eastern Cumberland Plateau escarpments, the Western and Eastern Highland Rim, and the Valley and Ridge Province.  All these communities rely on karst groundwater as a drinking water source and in areas where the hydrology has been significantly altered by karst processes and thus the groundwater pathways are complex and unpredictable. 
The community of Cowan is in Franklin County, TN at the western base of the Cumberland Plateau. The town is located along Boiling Fork Creek, a tributary to the Elk River. The nearby Cumberland Plateau is capped by Pennsylvanian siliciclastic strata with the lower flanks of the plateau underlain by layers of Mississippian strata including the Pennington Formation, Bangor Limestone, the Hartselle Formation, and Monteagle and St. Louis Limestone units. The areas underlain by carbonate strata have been altered by karst processes, resulting in most surface water sinking underground. Groundwater is discharged from springs in small valleys and “coves” including Hawkins and Keith Coves. Three rounds of dye injections occurred in the 2023 Water Year, with dye being injected in a total of nine 
locations.  The monitoring network consisted of 36 monitoring sites where charcoal packets were deployed.
Data within each child item of this data release are named with a two-letter abbreviation unique for the community where the tracing occurred and the water year the work was conducted (e.g. WD23). Abbreviations for the communities are as followed: CR = Caryville, CW = Cowan, JS = Jasper, LF = Lafayette, MR = Morristown, VN = Vanleer, WD = Woodbury.
This data release contains shapefiles that relate to dye injection locations, monitoring sites, and dye traces conducted in the Cowan area during the 2023 Water Year (10/1/2022-9/30/2023).  All files were created in ArcGIS Pro and each shapefile contains associated attributes for the features contained within. Layer files are included with the datasets to match symbology found in figures in the accompanying report. All shapefiles and layers were created and modified in ArcGIS software.  For a full description of the methods to create these files, see Process Steps in "CW23_Metadata.xml" metadata file.

Tags: boiling-fork-creek, caves, cowan, cumberland-plateau, dye-tracing, franklin-county, freshwater-ecosystems, groundwater, groundwater-and-surface-water-interaction, groundwater-flow, hawkins-cove, hydrogeology, karst, karst-areas, karst-hydrology, keith-cove, springs, tennessee, tennessee-department-of-environment-and-conservation, usgs-6536ca4dd34ee4b6e05bb7de
Organization: Department of the Interior