Woodbury, 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. In late winter 2021, fieldwork began in areas surrounding the Tennessee communities of Cowan, Jasper, Vanleer, and Woodbury. These communities are located in three physiographic provinces; Cowan and Jasper are near the Cumberland Plateau while Vanleer and Woodbury are located on the Western and Eastern Highland Rim, respectively. These systems are in areas where the hydrology has been significantly altered by karst processes and thus the groundwater pathways are complex and unpredictable. 
The community of Woodbury, Tennessee is in Cannon County, in the valley of the East Fork of the Stones River. Beginning near Short Mountain, the East Fork of the Stones River flows through Woodbury to Murfreesboro. The valley lies within the larger Cumberland River watershed. Ordovician Bigby-Cannon Limestone, the Hermitage Formation and Carter Limestone are exposed in the river valleys and side hollows. Higher elevations are capped with the Mississippian Fort Payne Formation and Chattanooga Shale. The areas underlain by carbonate units are altered by karst processes resulting in most surface water sinking underground. Springs discharge karst groundwater in low areas including Doolittle and Cavender Branches, and Parchcorn Hollow. Dye tracing work in the Woodbury area was started in Water Year 2022 and is published in Miller and others (2023). In Water Year 2023 a total of six dye injections were conducted over two rounds. The total monitoring network for the Woodbury project consisted of 34 monitoring sites where charcoal packets were deployed.
This data release contains shapefiles that relate to dye injection locations, monitoring sites, and dye traces conducted in the Woodbury 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 "WD23_Metadata.xml" metadata file.
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.

Tags: cannon-county, caves, dye-tracing, east-fork-stones-river, eastern-highland-rim, freshwater-ecosystems, groundwater, groundwater-and-surface-water-interaction, groundwater-flow, hydrogeology, karst, karst-areas, karst-hydrology, rockhouse-creek, rush-creek, seals-hollow, short-mountain, springs, tennessee, tennessee-department-of-environment-and-conservation, usgs-6536d25bd34ee4b6e05bb819, woodbury, young-hollow
Organization: Department of the Interior