Sutntnary Appraisals 

of the Nation's 

Ground-Water ResourcesAlaska 

G E 0 L 0 G I CAL SURVEY P R 0 FE S S I 0 N A L PAPER 8 1 3-P 

.B E R 

I N G S E A 

• 

, 

Summary Appraisals 

of the Nation's 

Ground-Water ResourcesAlaska 

By CHESTER ZENONE and GARY S. ANDERSON 

G E 0 L 0 G I C A L S U R V E Y P R 0 F E S S I 0 N A L P A P E R 8 1 3-P 

A summary of the distribution and availability 

of ground water, the problems related to its 

development and use, and its significance 

in arctic and subarctic climatic zones 

UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE, WASHINGTON: 1978 . 
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

CECIL D. ANDRUS, Secretary 

GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 

H. William Menard, Director 

Library of Congress catalog-card No. 78-600129 

For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office 

Washington, D.C. 20402 

Stock Number 024-001-03122-1 
SUMMARY APPRAISALS 

OF THE NATION'S 

GROUND-WATER RESOURCESALASKA 
CARIBBEAN 

HAWAII PR VI 

(\~ 

Water Resources 

Regions 

M 

Letters indicate chapter 

designations 

Chapters are published or in press in U.S.G.S. 

Professional Paper 813 

series 

M(> :. ·~.,~-·' c::;>..:~ 

-

Geographic lndex to the Series, U.S. Geological_Survey Professional Paper 813, Summary Appraisals of the Nations Ground-Water Resources. 

Boundaries shown are those established by the United States Water-Resources Council for Water-Resources Regions in the United States. 

Water-resources regions in the United States 
CONTENTS 

Page Page 

Albstract ----------------------------------------------- p 1 Alssessment of the ground-water resource-Continued 

Introduction ------------------------------------------ 1 Ground-water storage and availability -------------- P 12 

2 

2 

2 

4 

4 

6 

Climate ------------------------------------------

Permafrost ----------------------------------------

Ground-water recharge ---------------------------- 13 

Ground-water discharge ---------------------------- 15 

The hydrologic regimen ----------------------------

1\ssessment of the ground-water resource ---------------

Regional occurrence ------------------------------

1\lluvium of river valleys ----------------------

Glacial and glaciolacustrine deposits of interior 

Water quality ------------------------------------ 16 

Current development and use ---------------------- 18 

Problems in the development and use of ground water __ 19 

Decline of water levels ---------------------------- 19 

Depletion of streamflow ---------------------------- 19 

valleys --------------------------------------

Coastal lowland deposits ----------------------

Constructional shoreline deposits -----------

Coastal plains ------------------------

Deltas --------------------------------

Bars, spits, and beaches ----------------

Deposits of the coastal basins and valleys __ _ 

Bedrock --------------------------------------

Carbonate rocks --------------------------

Sandstone --------------------------------

\Tolcanic rocks ---------------------------- Metamorphic and igneous rocks 

6 

10 

10 

10 

10 

10 

11 

11 

11 

11 

12 

12 

Pollution of the ground-water reservoir ------------ 21 

Saline water intrusion ---------------------------- 21 

Construction and engineering problems related to the 

presence of ground water ------------------------ 22 

Considerations in resource development ------------ 23 

Significance of the ground-water resource -------------- 24 

Conjunctive use of ground water and surface water __ 24 

Need for additional information on ground-water resources 25 

Basic data ---------------------------------------- 25 

Flydrologic study and research -------------------- 25 

Summary and conclusions ------------------------------ 26 

References cited -------------------------------------- 26 

ILLUSTRATIONS 

FRONTISPIECE Map showing water-resources regions in the United States. Page 

FIGURE 1. Index map of geographic locations that appear in text ----------------------------------------------------------P 3 

2. Map showing climatic zones in Allaska ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 4 

3. Map showing permafrost zones of Allaska and distribution of present glaciers ------------------------------------ 5 

4. Graph showing variability of daily flows for glacial versus nonglacial streams--------------------------------·---- 6 

5. Schematic representation of the effect of bodies of water on configuration of permafrost in the continuous permafrost 

zone------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 7 

6. Diagramatic sketches showing: character and distribution of permafrost in the Fairbanks area; cross section of distribution of permafrost and ground water in the Big Delta area -------------------------------------------- 7 

7. Map of the physiographic provinces of Allaska ------------------------------------------------------------------ 8 

8. Geologic map showing major geohydrologic environments of 1\laska---------------------------------------------- 9 

9. Map showing generalized availability of ground water in Allaska ------------------------------------------------ 13 

10. Sketch of a part of Ship Creek basin near 1\nchorage, showing selected geohydrologic features-------------------- 14 

11. Map showing ground-water component of streamflow in 1\laska-------------------------------------------------- 16 

12. Maps showing changes in potentiometric level caused by pumping from artesian aquifers in the 1\nchorage municipal 

well field ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 20 

13. Sketches showing freshwater-saltwater distributions in coastal aquifers and effect of pumping on saltwater wedge 

movement into a coastal confined aquifer ------------------------------------------------------------------ 22 

TABLES 

Page 

TABLE 1. Summary of surface-water and ground-water discharge by hydrologic subregions and subareas of Allaska ---------- P 17 

2. Summary of DS (dissolved-solids) concentrations data in ground waters of Allaska ------------------------------ 17 

3. Summary of specific conductance values for base flow of streams in Allaska -------------------------------------- 18 

4. Water use in Allaska in 1975 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 18 

v 
VI CONTENTS 

U.S. CUSTOMARY-METRIC EQUIVALENTS 

For those readers who may prefer to use metric units, the conversion factors for the U.S. Customary units used in this report are listed 

below: 

Multiply U.S. Customary units 

inch (in.) 

foot (ft) 

mile (mi) 

square miles (mi 2) 

feet per day (ft/d) 

cubic feet per second (ft3/s) 

gallons per minute (gal/min) 

gallons per day (gal/d) 

millions gallons per day (Mgal/d) 

by 

25.4 

3.048 X 10-1 

1.609 

2.59 X 106 

3.53 X 106 

2.832 x 10-2 

6.31 X 10-5 

4.38 X 10-8 

4.381 X 10-2 

to obtain metric units 

millimeter (mm) 

meter (m) 

kilometer (km) 

square meters (m2) 

meters per second (m/s) 

cubic meters per second (m3/s) 

cubic meters per second (m3/s) 

cubic meters per second (m3/s) 

cubic meters per second (m3/s) 

The conversion from temperature in degrees Fahrenheit (°F) to temperature in degrees Celsius (DC) is expressed by: oc = (5/9) (DF-32). 
SUMMARY APPRAISALS OF THE NATION'S GROUND-WATER 

RESOURCES-ALASKA 

By CHESTER ZENONE and GARY S. ANDERSON 

ABSTRACT 

Alaska has enormous surface-water resources, but many of the 

streams are frozen for most of the year and most contain glacial silt 

that makes them unacceptable for human use. These factors lend 

special significance to ground water as a water-supply source, even 

though perennially frozen ground (permafrost) profoundly modifies 

ground-water flow systems in much of Alaska north of the maritime 

southern coast and southeastern panhandle areas. Frozen ground is 

a virtually impermeable layer that restricts recharge, discharge, 

and movement of ground water, acts as a confining layer and limits 

the volume of unconsolidated deposits and bedrock in which water 

may be stored. 

Ground water is an untested resource in most of Alaska, but in 

many areas potential development of ground water far exceeds current use. Alluvium of major river valleys, such as the Yukon, 

Tanana, Kuskokwim and Susitna Rivers, probably contains the 

most extensive aquifers in the State. Large amounts of ground 

water are also stored in glacial outwash aquifers that underlie 

coastal basins and valleys, such as those at Kenai and Anchorage 

in the Cook Inlet lowland. Individual wells yielding more than 

1,000 gallons per minute have been developed in the Tanana River 

valley, Cook Inlet lowland, and the coastal valleys at Seward and 

Juneau. Comparable yields should be possible in other areas that 

have similar geohydrologic environments. No major aquifers have 

been identified in glacial and glaciolacustrine deposits of interior 

valleys or in deltaic deposits. Major bedrock aquifers have been 

identified only in carbonate rocks of the Brooks Range and on the 

north side of the Alaska Range. Springs issuing from the carbonate 

rocks of the Brooks Range have discharges as great as 16,000 gallons per minute. 

Most ground-water recharge occurs beneath reaches of stream 

channels that are losing flow to the ground-water system. Most 

ground-water discharge also takes place along reaches of stream 

channels. This discharge augments streamflows during summer and 

maintains low flows during winter when there is no surface-water 

runoff. On the basis of a streamflow hydrograph separation technique and using the 60 percent flow-duration value as an indicator 

of ground-water discharge, it is estimated that 25 percent of the 

total volume of streamflow in Alaska (exclusive of coastal, maritime 

environments) is contributed by ground-water discharge. 

The thawing of frozen ground in the permafrost regions of Alaska 

causes construction and engineering problems. Disturbance of the 

ground surface disrupts the natural thermal equilibrium and tends 

to thaw part of the permafrost. Thawing can cause loss of strength, 

a decrease in volume, and an increase in erosion potential, particularly if the frozen ground is fine grained and poorly drained. 

Present deficiencies in the ground-water information base are obvious limiting factors to ground-water development in Alaska. 

There is a need to extend the ground-water data-collection network 

and to pursue special research into the quantitative aspects of 

ground-water hydrology in cold regions, particularly the continuous 

permafrost zone. 

INTRODUCTION 

An oft-repeated, probably overworked, but still true 

statement about Alaska is that it contains America's 

last remaining true wilderness areas-areas about 

which there are many unknowns. There are,however, 

enough ~~knowns" in Alaska to suggest the presence of 

vast reserves of mineral resources. The inevitable future development of Alaska's mineral wealth, and of 

its forestry, fishery, and agricultural potentials will 

create a great demand for water, itself a critical resource. 

The early, sparse developments and settlements in 

Alaska created few water-resource problems. Demands for water and water-resource information 

began with hydraulic mining for placer gold in interior and western Alaska in the early 1900's and increased thereafter with the need for water power in 

the south-central region and water supply for the pulp 

and paper industry in southeastern Alaska (Waananen 

and Giles, 1964). The steady growth of population 

and development since World War II has created more 

critical water-supply needs and problems, particularly 

at Anchorage and Kenai. Detailed hydrologic studies 

have been made in and around these major population 

centers and at several of the larger settlements along 

·the State's limited highway system, but there are still 

large areas where data are insufficient to allow more 

than a general evaluation of water-resource potentials. 

Surface water is abundant in Alaska, but the presence of glacial silt in many streams and drastic reduction or even cessation of stream-flow caused by freezing of surface water during winter may make it an 

unacceptable or unreliable supply source. These factors lend special significance to ground water. At the 

present time, however, because of the sparse hydrologic data base, evaluations of local ground-water resources must be founded largely on basic principles 

of ground-water occurrence and a general knowledge 

of regional climatic effects on the hydrologic environment. 

The purpose of this report is to present a regional 

assessment of Alaska's ground water, an important 

p 1 
p 2 SUMMARY APPRAISALS OF THE NATIONS GROUND-WATER RESOURCES 

resource that should be considered in any water development plans. The assessment includes discussions 

of factors that influence the occurrence, movement, 

and availability of ground water, and of the problems 

that may accompany its development and use. 

No new data were acquired specifically for this report, and the present authors have drawn extensively 

from summaries and compilations by earlier investigators of Alaska's water resources, most notably those 

by Cederstrom (1952), Hopkins and others (1955), 

Waananen and Giles (1964), Williams (1970a), 

Feulner, Childers, and Norman (1971) and Balding 

(1976). Figure 1 is an index map of the geographic locations mentioned in the text. 

CLIMATE 

Alaska has a great geographic extent, spanning lat 

54° to 71 oN. and long 130° to 172° W.; consequently it 

has a large range in climate. The State is divided into 

four climatic zones-arctic, continental, transition, 

and maritime-on the basis of temperature and precipitation (Watson, 1959, and fig. 2). Mean annual 

temperatures range from 10°F in the arctic zone to 

45°F in the maritime zone; extremes range from a 

high of 100°F to a low of -80°F, both of which occur in 

the continental zone. Recorded annual precipitation 

ranges from about 5 in. (inches) in the arctic zone to 

300 in. along the southeast coast within the maritime 

zone. Heavy precipitation and relatively low temperatures in the coastal mountains of the southeastern 

and south-central parts of the State favor the existence of glaciers and icefields. Nearly 30 ft (feet) of 

snow, the deepest winter snowpack ever reported for 

an established long-term measurement site, has been 

measured at the 4,430-foot level of a small glacier 

near the west side of Prince William Sound (L. R. 

Mayo and D. C. Trabant, U.S. Geol. Survey, written 

commun., 1977). Perennial ice now covers 28,100 

square miles (mi 2 ) of Alaska and is an integral part of 

the hydrologic regimen where it occurs. 

PERMAFROST 

Permafrost, or perennially frozen ground, is present 

throughout the State except for a narrow strip along 

the southern and southeastern coasts. Permafrost is 

the result of both the present climate and colder climates that occurred intermittently in the past 

(Williams, 1970a). Permafrost is discontinuous or occurs as isolated masses in the southern and interior 

parts of the State and is continuous further north on 

the northern Seward Peninsula, in the Brooks Range, 

the Arctic Foothills, and the Arctic Coastal Plain (fig. 

3). However, even in the continuous permafrost areas, 

unfrozen zones generally are present under deep lakes 

and in the alluvium adjacent to major rivers. 

THE HYDROLOGIC REGIMEN 

The principles of movement of water through the 

hydrologic cycle, via precipitation, surface runoff, infiltration, ground-water flow, and evapotranspiration, 

are as valid in Alaska as in more temperate regions, 

but the rate of occurrence of transient hydrologic 

events and their distribution in time may differ 

greatly. Therefore, although the progression of events 

is not unique to subarctic and arctic regions, a flurry 

of hydrologic activity is concentrated in a short summer period after many months of hydrologic dormancy 

(Brandon, 1964). 

Except in the maritime zones of south-central and 

southeastern Alaska, subfreezing air temperatures 

cause precipitation to fall as snow for 6--9 months of 

the year and even year-round in the high mountain 

regions. The water content of that snow is stored on 

the surface for several months until Alaska's spring 

melt or ~~breakup" period begins, rather than being 

immediately available as runoff to streams and as recharge to the ground-water body. This seasonal storage of snow gives to hydrographs of streamflow in 

interior and northern areas of Alaska a characteristic 

prolonged winter recession followed by a rapid rise 

when snowmelt begins in the spring. In those areas 

where only a thin snow cover accumulates, the ground 

may freeze to a depth of many feet during winter. This 

frozen layer acts as a relatively impermeable barrier 

that temporarily restricts ground-water recharge and 

promotes rapid runoff of snowmelt. As soon as melt 

runoff begins, rapid downward thawing occurs in the 

ground beneath meltwater channels, and groundwater recharge can then take place (Cederstrom, 

1963, p. 25). 

Water is stored for long periods of time in glaciers 

and icefields. The melting of snow and ice in glaciated 

areas, therefore, provides a water source not directly 

related in time to local precipitation. For example, the 

net long-term melting of glacier ice may contribute 5 

percent of the total water yield in the Tanana River 

basin in central Alaska (Anderson, 1970). The meltwater has a regulatory or moderating effect on 

streamflow variability and, in turn, on ground-water 

recharge and discharge along alluviated glacial valleys. Given similar basin characteristics such as size, 

configuration, topography, and geology, streamflow 

variability is generally greater for nonglacial streams 

than for glacier-fed streams (fig. 4). 

The presence of permafrost on Alaska's Arctic 

Coastal Plain results in a hydrologic paradox in that 

the area is semiarid, having less than 10 in. annual 

precipitation, but it contains a myriad of lakes. A 

study of the hydrology of a drainage basin near Barrow, Alaska, showed that summer precipitation was ap-
~~T---7---7~~::-;------7~--~--~:_---,-_ _:~-~---'~E.4" IS,:::Q 164~ 172° 

Additional geographic names indicat~d on map by number 

1. Amchitka Island 16. King Salmon 

2. Beaver Creek 17. Mendenhall River 

3. Big Delta 18. North Kenai 

4. Chena River 19. Northway 

5. Chisana River 20. Palmer 

6. Clear 21. Port Chilkoot 

7. Delta River 22. Resurrection Bay 

8. Dietrich River 23. St. George 

9. Dillingham 24. Salcha River 

10. Eielson AFB 25. Sagavanirktok River 

11. Fire Island 26. Selawick River 

12. Icy Cape 27. Shemya 

13. Jarvis Creek 28. Ship Creek 

14. Kenai 29. Soldotna 

15. Kenai River 30. Tetlin 

31. Unalakleet 

~-+ 

-.e --------------

-------

p 

164" 160° 

0 100 200 300 400 500 MILES I I I I I I I I 1 I I 0 100 200 300 400 500 KILOMETERS 

FIGURE I.-Geographic locations mentioned in text. 

132° 124° 

> t-t 

> en 

~ 

> 

~ t.zj 

0 

-0 

z 

~ 

Cl:l 
P4 SUMMARY APPRAISALS OF THE NATION'S GROUND-WATER RESOURCES 

I 

I I I I 

~-t----+ I 

~ 't'~ J..~·~"'""' Q 

Anctrea~r lstan~ 

\ -----\~-

\ 

0 100 

. ~I--~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

\ ' 0 100 200 400 

--'--~----'-,.,-:-. ----,-'-4 •. -----'-::---------,L:---~7---'----' 

FIGURE 2.-Climatic zones of Alaska. A represents Arctic; C, continental; T, transition, and M, maritime. 

proximately balanced by evapotranspiration, and that 

evaporation from lake surfaces was two to three times 

precipitation during the short (60-90 days) summer 

thaw season (Brown and others, 1968). However, 

runoff from melting ice and snow stored for the remainder of the year compensates for this summer deficit. Seasonal thawing of saturated frozen ground, the 

active layer, may be an important factor in maintaining summer lake levels (Marsh and Woo, 1977); presumably this release of water is also a source of surface runoff. The low permeability of frozen ground 

beneath the active layer restricts recharge and effectively isolates the near-surface ground-water system 

from the regional subpermafrost layer. 

In summary, the special characteristics of the hydrologic environment in Alaska, as well as in other 

arctic and subarctic areas, result from the influence of 

climatic conditions on the physical state (solid or 

liquid) of water and its rate of movement through the 

hydrologic system. 

ASSESSMENT OF THE GROUND-WATER 

RESOURCE 

REGIONAL OCCURRENCE 

The occurrence of ground water in Alaska is allied 

to the geologic and physiographic framework and is 

influenced by the distribution of permafrost in all but 

the south coastal regions. The effects of permafrost on 

ground-water systems decrease progressively from the 

continuous permafrost zone of northern Alaska to the 

southern limit of permafrost. In the continuous permafrost zone, the sediments are almost entirely frozen 

to depths as great as 2,000 ft (Howitt and Clegg, 

1970). Ground water is usually present below the base 

of the permafrost, or locally, above permafrost at 

places where convective heatflow from surface-water 

bodies lowers the upper surface of permafrost (the 

permafrost table) below the depth of seasonal freezing 

(fig.5). In the discontinuous permafrost zone, the fro-
ALASKA REGION P5 

164' 

ntinuous 

-

permafrost 

zone 

FIGURE 3.-Permafrost zones (Williams, 1970a) and location of present glaciers. 

zen ground is warmer than in the continuous permafrost zone, and larger, interconnected or areally extensive unfrozen areas are present. However, even within 

this zone of "warm" permafrost, its local distribution 

is determined largely by subsurface drainage and surface insulation (Hopkins and others, 1955, p. 117), 

which are in turn controlled by such factors as slope, 

geologic materials, and vegetation cover. For example, 

in the Fairbanks area (fig. 6A) deposits of silt are extensively frozen and effectively confine ground water 

in the principal aquifers. However, in the Big Delta 

area (fig. 6B), which has a climate similar to that of 

Fairbanks, the deposits generally consist of coarse 

sand and gravel, and permafrost is present as isolated 

bodies which have little effect on the occurrence of 

ground water. 

Alaska's geologic framework has been compared to 

that of western Canada and the western United States 

(fig. 7, insert). Major landforms include three great 

mountain ranges: the Brooks, Alaskan, and Coastal; a 

broad interior lowland drained by large rivers and 

containing scattered highlands and plateaus; and 

large coastal plains, valleys, and river deltas (fig. 7). 

Covering the rocks of ,the mountain ranges and those 

of smaller mountains and uplands is the drift of 

glaciers that occupied these highlands during the 

Pleistocene Epoch. Outwash deposits derived from and 

extending beyond the limits of existing and former 

glaciers and materials originally of alluvial rather 

than glacial origin occupy the interior valleys and 

mantle the older rocks in large areas of the interior 

lowland. 

Four generalized geohydrologic environments are 

recognized in Alaska (Williams, 1970a, p. 5): (1) alluvium of river valleys, including the flood plains, terraces, and alluvial fans of both major valleys and upland and mountain valleys, (2) glacial and 

glaciolacustrine deposits of the interior valleys, (3) 

coastal-lowland deposits, and (4) bedrock of the uplands and mountains (fig. 8). 
P6 SUMMARY APPRAISALS OF THE NATION'S-GROUND-WATER RESOURCES 

ALLUVIUM OF RIVER VALLEYS 

Of the major geohydrologic environments in Alaska, 

alluvium of river valleys, including the flood plains, 

terraces, and alluvial fans of both major valleys and 

smaller mountain and upland valleys, contains the 

greatest volume of ground water in storage. Alluvial 

deposits also have the greatest recharge potential because they are hydraulically connected to the extensive surface-water drainage system. The Yukon, 

Tanana, Kuskokwim, Kobuk, and Susitna River basins are the major ground- and surface-water systems. 

In the lower Tanana basin, for example, the 

maximum known thickness of alluvium is 2,000 ft 

(Anderson, 1970). In the lower coastal reaches of large 

river valleys such as the Susitna, the alluvial deposits, perhaps only a few tens of feet thick, are interbedded with thick lacustrine, glacial, and glaciomarine deposits. 

In the continuous permafrost region, all the deposits 

may be frozen except those adjacent to river channels 

and large lakes. Williams (1970b) refers to subsurface 

data from two wells near the Colville River at Umiat 

and cites Black (1955, p. 119) to suggest that unfrozen 

zones (perforating taliks) may extend completely 

through the permafrost along the major rivers north 

en 

Cl 

ZCI aiz 

::::>0 

cu 

:X:W 

t-en 

za: _w 

.a.. 

S:tow 

...JW 

LLLL 

zu 

c::cOii 

W::J 

::2u 

50 

20 

10 

5 

~ ~ 0.5 

<( 

0 

0.1 

Chona R iv• at'\'\ 

Fairbanks ~ \ 

\\ 

~ 

' Glacial stream variation 

Nonglacial stream variation 

' ~'\ ,, 

,, 

'\ ' ...... ' ...... ' ............ 

' ....... 

PERCENT OF TIME FLOW SHOWN WAS EXCEEDED 

FIGURE 4.- Variability of flow in glacial versus nonglacial streams 

(modified from Anderson, 1970). 1. Tanana River at Big Delta, 

2. Salcha River near Salchaket, 3. Chena River at Fairbanks, 

and 4. Chisana River at Northway Junction. 

of the Brooks Range. Williams (1970b, and written 

commun., 1977) also suggests that a more or less continuous unfrozen zone is present beneath the Colville 

River. Data from recent Geological Survey test borings do not refute the concept of perforating taliks, 

but they indicate that such unfrozen zones are isolated under deeper parts of the stream channel and do 

not form a continuous unfrozen conduit for ground 

water beneath the river (C.E. Sloan, oral commun., 

1977). Even if such streambed aquifers are present in 

the continuous permafrost zone, frozen ground severely reduces the storage capacity of the aquifers in 

the zone as a whole. 

In the discontinuous permafrost zone, the volume of 

frozen ground does not significantly reduce the storage capacity of alluvial aquifers along the major 

rivers-the Yukon, Tanana, and Kuskokwimbecause the thickness of permafrost is generally small 

relative to the total thickness of unconsolidated deposits. Alluvium along smaller tributary valleys may be 

mostly frozen, however, and there are areas within 

the major valleys, such as the Yukon Flats and the 

vicinity of Northway-Tetlin in the Upper Tanana 

River valley where frozen ground does greatly reduce 

ground-water storage capacity (Williams, 1970a, and 

written commun., 1977). 

The major ground-water bodies lie beneath the base 

of permafrost in the discontinuous permafrost zone. At 

Fairbanks, productive water-bearing deposits are 

present beneath permafrost that varies widely and 

irregularly in thickness and has a maximum reported 

thickness of 265 ft (Anderson, 1970). Recharge and 

discharge of these alluvial aquifers takes place chiefly 

along stream channels and through lake beds and 

other thawed zones that perforate the permafrost. 

GLACIAL AND GLACIOLACUSTRINE DEPOSITS 

OF INTERIOR VALLEYS 

Glacial deposits consist largely of till laid down during the Pleistocene epoch as the glaciers advanced 

from major mountain ranges into the interior plains 

and lowlands (fig. 7). During the retreat of glaciers, 

the till was covered by permeable water-worked deposits, some of which were buried by till of later glacier advances. Where the glaciers advanced into proglacial lakes, beds and lenses of clay, silt, sand, gravel, 

and stony clay or silt are interbedded with the till. The 

sediments are predominantly fine grained and are frozen in northern Alaska and at the higher altitudes of 

the south-central part of the State. The largest deposits of glacial and glaciolacustrine sediments are in 

the Copper River lowland. Glacial deposits of smaller 

extent occur in. valleys of the southern Brooks Range 

and the Alaska Range. Although these deposits are 
ALASKA REGION P7 

I 

~--1 

, . ,., ....... L~ .. , ········ :-··" .·. 

FIGURE 5.-Schematic representation of the effect of bodies of water on the configuration of permafrost in the continuous permafrost zone 

(Williams, 1970a, modified from Lachenbruch and others, 1962). 

HILLS 

NORTH 

SOUTH 

2000' 

Moraine 

1500' 

1000' 

ALLUVIAL APRON 

2000 6000 FEET L_~~---L--~--~ 

HORIZONTAL SCALE 

0 

EXPLANATION 

A 

Inferred boundary 

---? - --

Doubtful boundary 

Glacial-outwash fan 

Big Delta airbase 

HOR IZONTAL SCALE 

OL--'-----L-------llOMILES 

VERTICAL EXAGGERATION 25 TIMES 

B 

FLOOD PLAIN 

SOUTH 

NORTH 

FIGURE G.-Diagrammatic sketches showing: A, character and distribution of permafrost in the Fairbanks area; B, cross section of 

permafrost and ground water in the Big Delta area (from Hopkins and others, 1955). 
... I I I I f 114' 

MAJOR NORTH MER I CAN PHYSIOGRAPHIC 

DIVISIONS IN ALASKA 

\ST MATTHfW I 

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PAI81LOF ISLAN DS 

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1

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m u 

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GULF OF 

A C F 

ALASKA 

I C 0 c E 

\'!.>~o"-

UNITED STATES 

DEPARTMENT OF THE I MTERI OR 

GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 

A L A S K A 

EXPLANATION 

N-1 ftT:JjHlgh rugged Nountains 

(SumNits ~ore than 5,000 feet) 

low 11ountains, plateaus, and highlands 

of generally rolling topography 

(SuNN its I, 000-5,000 feet) 

~ rr::rmrrml Plains and lowlands 

(Generally less than 1,000 feet) 

Boundary between ----- major physiographic 

divisions 

50 0 SO 1 00 I 50 MILES 

I II I" I I I 

A N 

~- 0 

<PI 

' .,. /1 e e 0 .. r~~~q;;;-,.~· 

~<0/P" 

178' ~ .. 118' 

FIGURE 7.-Physiographic provinces of Alaska (Wahrhaftig, 1965). 

""d 

00 

rn 

~ is: 

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rn 

0 

1-.:j 

>-,3 

:I: 

tz::l 

z 

d 

0 

z 

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0 

fS 

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tz::l 

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ALASKA REGION 

ARCTIC 

. 

CHUKCHI 

SEA 

I 

I 

I 

I 

I 

. 

WRENCE 

D 

. 

BERING 

SEA 

'ST. MATTHEW 

ISLAND 

PRIBILOF ISLANDS 

~ 

Alluvium 

-

of major valle:ys 

Sand, gravel, and silt of flood plains, low terraces, 

and alluvial fans 

Coastal-lowland deposits 

Chiefly silt and sand, and Rubordinate amounts of 

gravel; inclu<le• Rand and gravel of ba·r., btachex 

and ·spits, and sand, silt, and gravel of deltaR. 

Within limit./! of PfeiRtocene glaciation., include till, 

glaciomarine, and glacioeHf uarine depl»fifN 

EXPLANATION 

D 

Bedrock of mountains and uplands 

Chiefly bedrock mantled locally by weatlu!red bedrock 

mbble reworked by frost action, alluvium, and 

eolian deposits, and, within limit of l'Uistocene 

glaciation, by glacial deposits · 

Limit of Pleistocene glaciation 

UncO!U!OlidJJ.ted deposit• within tllis limit may include 

till, sand and gravel, and silt and clay of glacial, 

glaciolacustrine, glaciomarine, or glacU~ettfu-arine 

origin. (Coulter and otMf'll, lHS) 

BEAUFORT 

SEA 

PACIFIC OCEAN 

50 0 50 100 150 M ILES 

Cook htlet and Copper River Lowlands 

P9 

AJlP"W'imate up[Mr limit of l4c118frine silt, clay, 

sand, gravel. and stony silt and clay ~f e:rtensive 

g/4cial lakes in (;qpfMr River Lt>wland and ~f 

glaciolacustrine, glacioeHf uari ne, andgltu:Wma.ri·ne 

deposits in tlu! Cook Inlet lowland 

Major glaciers and ice fields 

Contact 

FIGuRE B.-Geology and major geohydrologic environments of Alaska (Williams, 1970a; modified from Coulter and others, 1965; and 

Karlstrom and others, 1964). Note: Southeastem Alaska, the Alaska Peninsula and the Aleutian Islands fall virtually entirely within 

the category "Bedrock of mountains and uplands." 
p 10 SUMMARY APPRAISALS OF THE NATION'S GROUND-WATER RESOURCES 

widely distributed, they have not been extensively 

explored for ground water and probably do not contain 

major aquifers except in southern Alaska, where permafrost either is absent or occurs only as small isolated masses. 

COASTAL LOWLAND DEPOSITS 

The coastal lowland deposits of Alaska reflect various combinations of several depositional environments. They can be generalized to include: (1) constructional shoreline features formed on land or in 

shallow water, including coastal plains, deltas, bars, 

spits, and beaches, and (2) coastal basins and valleys 

whose basic configuration was produced chiefly by 

structural or erosional forces and which subsequently 

were filled by sediments from both marine and nonmarine (glacial and alluvial) sources. 

CONSTRUCTIONAL SHORELINE DEPOSITS 

Coastal plains.-The Arctic Coastal Plain is the 

largest coastal lowland deposit in Alaska; it is underlain by as much as 200 ft of unconsolidated silt, sand, 

and gravel (Black, 1964). Permafrost generally extends from the land surface through the entire thickness of the unconsolidated sediments and into the 

underlying bedrock. In the Prudhoe Bay area, the permafrost is approximately 2,000 ft thick (Howitt and 

Clegg, 1970). Permafrost restricts ground water to 

local, discontinuous thawed zones under deep lakes 

and river and to places where springs issuing from 

bedrock maintain a thawed conduit. The water from 

bedrock beneath permafrost is generally brackish to 

saline. To the southwest, the coastal-plain deposits at 

Nome have been extensively explored during placer 

gold-mining operations. Some ground water is present 

there, but its movement and storage are restricted by 

permafrost. A narrow, discontinuous coastal plain 

borders the Gulf of Alaska from the Copper River 

southeast to Icy Cape. Exploratory drilling for oil and 

gas in this area revealed that alluvial, glacial, marine, and beach sediments overlie great thicknesses 

of sedimentary rocks (Plafker, 1967; Miller, 1971), 

but the hydrologic characteristics of the deposits were 

not reported. Farther southeast at the city of Yakutat, 

which is on a glacial moraine, one water well was 

drilled through 335 ft of unconsolidated, predominantly fine-grained glacial sediments that included 

60 ft of coarse-grained sand and gravel. Petroleumexploration wells on this coastal plain are reported to 

have reached bedrock at depths of less than 500 ft. 

Because of the high precipitation and lack of permafrost in this area, recharge rates are assumed to be 

high. However, freshwater aquifers are probably quite 

thin because of the low relief and proximity to the 

Gulf of Alaska. 

Deltas.-Deltas of the Colville, Noatak, Kobuk, and 

Selawik Rivers and the compound delta of the Yukon 

and Kuskokwim Rivers form a large part of the coastal 

lowlands of northern and western Alaska. Smaller 

deltas are formed by several other rivers in southcentral and south-eastern Alaska; the largest of these 

is the Copper River delta. Subsurface data are available only from the Yukon-Kuskokwim and Copper 

River deltas. Sediments of the deltas consist of sand, 

silt, and thin beds of gravel. Yukon-Kuskokwim deltaic sediments are nearly 1,000 ft thick at the site of 

an exploratory oil well near Bethel (Williams, 1970a). 

The base of deltaic sediments near the mouth of the 

Copper River was not reached in a 200-ft-deep well 

east of Cordova. Permafrost is widespread in the upper part of the deposits of the Yukon-Kuskokwim 

delta. It extends from near the surface to a maximum 

known depth of 603 ft near Bethel. However, a comparison of river stage and ground-water levels at 

Bethel (Waller, 1957) suggests an hydraulic connection between the river and ground-water system, and 

thus a lack of permafrost beneath the river. If the 

sediments of major deltas are in hydraulic connection 

with their associated rivers, the potential for induced 

ground-water recharge from streamflow is enormous. 

Ground-water availability in the deltas is limited, 

then, by predominantly fine-grained sediments and to 

a greater extent by permafrost in northern and northwestern Alaska. Additionally, the thickness of the 

freshwater aquifer is determined by the position of 

the freshwater-saltwater interface, which is probably 

very shallow near the distal edge of the deltas. 

Bars, spits, and beaches.-These depositional forms 

border the entire coastline of Alaska. They may contain only a small amount of ground water, but its 

presence is significant at many Native villages and 

military sites which require an economical but not 

necessarily large source. The distribution and 

availability of fresh ground water in these deposits 

depends on several factors. Along the Arctic Ocean 

coastline, ground water is perched on permafrost and 

the thickness of the water body depends on the rate of 

recharge from rainfall and snowmelt, the depth to the 

permafrost; and the time since storm waves last inundated the area. In areas without permafrost, the presence of fresh ground water depends on the rate of recharge and discharge and consequently the depth to 

the freshwater-saltwater interface. Along the Gulf of 

Alaska coastline, abundant recharge from precipitation, freshwater lagoons, and streamflow create conditions favorable for the occurrence of shallow ground 

water in permeable coastal sediments. 
ALASKA REGION p 11 

DEPOSITS OF THE COASTAL BASINS AND VALLEYS 

Deposits of the coastal basins and valleys consist of 

till interbedded with sand, silt, clay, and gravel of fluvial and marine origin. The largest and best-known 

ground-water system of this type is that of the Cook 

Inlet low land, particularly in the Kenai and Anchorage areas. Petroleum-exploration records indicate that 

unconsolidated sediments reach a maximum thickness 

of more than 4,000 ft in the Cook Inlet lowland, but in 

most wells the thickness is less than 1,000 ft. The sediments are predominantly interbedded glacial till, 

fine-grained glaciolacustrine deposits and more 

permeable water-worked deposits of sand and gravel. 

Throughout the Cook Inlet lowland, small quantities 

of ground water occur under unconfined conditions 

near the surface or are confined in thin water-bearing 

lenses within the till or glaciolacustrine deposits. 

Greater volumes of recoverable ground water are 

found in coarse-grained alluvial deposits, ranging in 

thickness from 10 to 100ft, such as those forming the 

confined glacial-outwash aquifers at Anchorage. 

These deposits may be of limited areal extent, however, and their location is unpredictable without 

exhaustive subsurface exploration. Ground-water 

conditions in the Bristol Bay lowland are inferred to 

be similar to those in the Cook Inlet lowland, except 

for the effects of more extensive and thicker permafrost. Permafrost is present in the Bristol Bay lowland 

in approximately one-fourth of 600 wells and borings 

for which records are available; the maximum reported thickness of frozen ground is 17 5 ft (Williams, 

1970a). The potential for recharge of the ground-water 

system by induced infiltration of streamflow through 

unfrozen, permeable channel and floodplain sediments 

could be realized by ground-water development efforts 

near the active stream channel. Away from the central part of the river valleys of the Cook Inlet and 

Bristol Bay lowlands, recharge takes place principally 

by infiltration of rainfall and snowmelt, and recharge 

rates are highly variable because of the complex 

stratigraphy and wide range of permeability of glacial 

sediments. 

Ground-water supplies can be developed from alluvial fills at the heads of fiords along the Gulf of 

Alaska. In the Seward area at the head of Resurrection Bay, unconsolidated sediments have been penetrated by drill holes to a depth of 480ft and are estimated from geophysical surveys to be more than 1,000 

ft thick. The sediments consist of glacial till, 

glaciofluvial sand and gravel, marine deposits of fine 

sand and silt, and stream-deposited sand and gravel. 

Recharge rates to these deposits are assumed to be 

high because streams crossing the alluvial fans that 

border the basin lose a large part of their flow to the 

ground-water system. The volume of fresh water 

within the deposits is not known, but fresh water was 

present several hundred feet below sea level in wells 

drilled near the coastline. The freshwater aquifers are 

confined beneath marine silt and clay. At Valdez, 

where ground-water conditions are assumed to be 

similar to those at Seward, unconsolidated sediments 

have been penetrated to a depth of 250 ft and may be 

as much as 600 ft thick (Coulter and Migliaccio, 

1966). 

Alluvium-filled coastal valleys in mountainous 

southeastern Alaska are generally smaller than those 

of the Gulf of Alaska coast. However, Barnwell and 

Boning (1968) reported the presence of a fresh 

ground-water reservoir as thick as 700ft in the Mendenhall River valley near Juneau. 

BEDROCK 

In approximately 75 percent of Alaska, glacial and 

alluvial deposits are thin, poorly permeable, or absent. In such areas, appreciable amounts of ground 

water occur only in aquifers consisting of consolidated 

rocks. The occurrence of ground water in bedrock is 

described here under four general rock types: carbonate rocks, sandstone, volcanic rocks, and metamorphic and intrusive igneous rocks. 

CARBONATE ROCKS 

Although carbonate rocks are quite extensive in 

southeastern Alaska, they have not been explored and 

utilized there as a water source. The Brooks Range 

area, which lies entirely in the continuous permafrost 

zone, also contains extensive carbonate-rock deposits. 

Ground-water movement in these rocks apparently 

has developed solution cavities and conduits through 

which the water flows to the surface. Conclusions concerning the occurrence and movement of ground water 

in carbonate rocks of the Brooks Range are inferred 

from measurements and observations of spring flow in 

both the eastern Brooks Range (Childers and others, 

1973, 1977) and the Baird and DeLong Mountains 

area in the western Brooks Range (C. E. Sloan, U.S. 

Geol. Survey, written commun., 1976). The hydrology 

of springs in the latter area was described by Waller 

(1966) and by Piper (1966). Craig and McCart (1974) 

studied both the northern and southern flanks of the 

Brooks Range and reported the existence of approximately 25 springs which emerge from carbonate 

rocks. Some springs in the Brooks Range have discharges as great as 16,000 gal/min. 

SANDSTONE 

Sandstone and alternating strata of indurated sand, 

silt, and clay are widespread throughout the State. 
P12 SUMMARY APPRAISALS OF THE NATION'S GROUND-WATER RESOURCES 

Although these deposits have been extensively 

explored for oil, gas, and coal, few hydrologic data 

have been reported. Such deposits have been explored 

for ground water in the western Kenai Peninsula, 

where they are poor aquifers because of low permeability. 

VOLCANIC ROCKS 

Volcanic rocks are widespread in Alaska, but they 

are especially prevalent in some areas in the western 

part of the State, on the Aleutian Chain, Alaska 

Peninsula, the Seward Peninsula, and in the 

Wrangell Mountains. The occurrence of ground water 

in volcanic rocks is highly variable, and only a few 

wells are known to produce water from them. On 

Shemya Island near the west end of the Aleutian 

Chain, the volcanic rocks are dense and unfractured; 

consequently they are poor aquifers (Feulner and 

others, 1976). By comparison, the volcanic rocks on St. 

George Island have much greater permeability because of layering of flows, interbeds of gravel or 

scoria, and cooling fractures within the rocks (Anderson, 1976). Yet the occurrence of fresh ground water 

on St. George Island is limited, not because the rocks 

do not have the capacity to receive and store water, 

but rather because they are so permeable that the 

ground water drains rapidly to the sea. The presence 

of many springs suggests that basaltic lava flows in 

the mountains and uplands of the northern Seward 

Peninsula are promising sources of ground water 

(Hopkins and others, 1955, p. 122). 

MET AM ORPHIC AND IGNEOUS ROCKS 

These rocks make up the cores of the principal 

ranges of Alaska. Ground water occurs chiefly in 

faults and fractures within these rocks. Some areas of 

fractured siate on Kodiak Island yield a modest 

amount [50-100 gal/min (gallons per minute)] of 

water (S. H. Jones, Chester Zenone, and R. J. Madison, U.S. Geol. Survey, written commun., 1977). 

Elsewhere, wells in such rocks generally produce less 

than 10 gal/min. Probably the most intensive development of bedrock aquifers is in the uplands near 

Fairbanks (fractured schist), Anchorage (slate and 

metagreywacke ), and a few places on the Kenai 

Peninsula and southeastern Alaska. Ground water is 

generally present only in weathered zones at the bedrock surface and in fractures. The probability of 

penetrating zones of secondary porosity below a depth 

of 300-500 ft diminishes rapidly, and many deep wells 

are reported to be dry. 

GROUND-WATER STORAGE AND AVAILABILITY 

It is estimated that 1.5 x 1014 cubic feet of ground 

water, with a dissolved-solids concentration of less 

than 3,000 mg/L (milligrams per liter), is stored in 

aquifers in Alaska (A. J. Feulner, written commun., 

1975). Estimates of the amount of ground water in 

storage are academic, however, if they cannot be related to the quantity that can be transmitted by the 

aquifer and economically developed. Aquifer transmissivity, or water-transmission property, which varies greatly in Alaska and is strongly influenced by 

permafrost, exerts the major control on the 

availability of ground water that is present. For 

example, the porosity of predominantly fine-grained 

glacial and glaciolacustrine sediments is large, and a 

great volume of water is stored in the sediments. 

However, the amount of water that can be efficiently 

recovered is limited by low permeability of the finegrained sediments themselves and by the limited extent of coarser, more permeable horizons within those 

sediments. In permafrost zones, even the coarsegrained potential aquifers may be frozen. 

There have been attempts at ground-water development in most areas of the State. However, only 

at Anchorage and perhaps at Fairbanks, Kenai, and 

Juneau is the basic framework of the ground-water 

system reasonably well known. Elsewhere, data are 

too scarce to describe the areal extent, thickness, and 

hydraulic boundaries of the aquifers. In the areas for 

which data are scarce, ground-water availability is 

deduced from reports of the few wells that have been 

drilled and from what is known of the lithology, permafrost distribution, potential recharge, and base flow 

of streams, which reflects ground-water discharge (see 

later section). This paucity of data, combined with the 

known complexity and wide range of geologic and 

hydrologic conditions in Alaska, permits preparation 

of only a very generalized map of ground-water 

availability on a regional basis. Potential yields of 

properly constructed (screened and adequately developed) wells are indicated in figure 9. Exceptions to 

the indicated yields can and do occur; the map is intended to represent average conditions only. 

Individual yields greater than 1,000 gal/min have 

been obtained from wells in alluvial deposits in the 

Tanana valley (at Fairbanks, Eielson AFB, Big Delta, 

and Clear), Cook Inlet lowland (Anchorage and 

Kenai), and in the glacier-carved coastal valleys at 

Juneau and Seward. Development of comparable well 

yields should be possible in other areas that have 

similar geohydrologic environments and comparable 

permafrost conditions, that is, the major alluvial valleys, large alluvial fans, coastal valleys and basins, 

and perhaps in some volcanic rocks of the Seward and 

Alaska Peninsulas. Attempts to develop ground water 

in the carbonate rocks of the Brooks Range have been 

largely unsuccessful because of thick (600-800 ft) 
ALASKA REGION P13 

156' 

200 

1

1 I 300 4{)0 

~ 

Less than 10 

10-100 

141 11 

100-1000 

FIGURE 9.-Generalized availability of ground water (Feulner and others, 1971). 

permafrost (J. R. Williams, U.S. Geol. Survey, written 

commun., 1977), but flows ranging from 500 to as 

much as 16,000 gal/min have been measured at 

springs issuing from those rocks. Yields of 100-150 

gal/min have been reported from deltaic sediments of 

the Yukon-Kuskokwim Rivers. Larger yields should 

be recoverable from permeable sand and gravel zones 

within the several hundred feet of unfrozen material 

beneath the base of permafrost. Well yields of less 

than 10 to as much as 20 gal/min are common for 

most areas of igneous or metamorphic bedrock, glacial 

and glaciolacustrine deposits (Copper River lowland), 

and in the permafrost regions of nothern and northwestern Alaska. 

GROUND-WATER RECHARGE 

Ground water is considered to be a renewable resource because practically all usable supplies are ultimately derived from precipitation. Total volumes of 

water available for recharge on an annual basis depend in part on, and thus vary with, annual amounts 

of precipitation. Ground-water reservoirs are replenished either by direct infiltration of precipitation 

or by percolation from surface-water bodies. Recharge 

rates also vary with surficial geologic conditions. A 

perennial supply of ground water is generally assumed to be available if the amount discharged from 

the aquifers does not exceed the rate of replenishment. 

The highest ground-water recha:r~e rates in Alaska 

occur beneath alluvial stream cham. ~ls that are losing flow to the ground-water system. Infiltration 

through the permeable sediments in these channels 

and adjacent flood plains probably accounts for most of 

the total volume of recharge. Direct recharge from 

precipitation is not significant in the uplands of 

Alaska. Precipitation is not abundant except in the 

coastal areas and in the higher mountains of the 

interior (fig. 2). The winter precipitation in the mountains is temporarily stored as snow or ice and there is 
p 14 SUMMARY APPRAISALS OF THE NATION'S GROUND-WATER RESOURCES 

only minor surface-water loss to evapotranspiration or 

ground-water infiltration. Snowmelt and icemelt from 

the mountains, as well as most of the surface-water 

runoff from bedrock and permafrost areas, is eventually concentrated in the major alluvial valleys. 

The relationship between ground water and surface 

water in Ship Creek near Anchorage was discussed by 

Weeks (1970) (fig. 10). Stream-channel losses for Ship 

Creek have been calculated, on the basis of seepage 

investigations, to be approximately 4 fta/s (cubic feet 

per second) per mile of channel; this is equivalent to a 

vertical infiltration rate of 1.0 to 1.5 ft/d (feet per day) 

within the wetted perimeter of the channel. At Jarvis 

Creek near Big Delta, Anderson (1970) reported 

streamflow losses of 10 ft 3/s per mile of channel, for a 

vertical infiltration rate of 1.5-4 ft/d. These infiltration rates are comparable to those measured in artificial recharge experiments on the Ship Creek alluvial 

fan near Anchorage (Anderson, 1977) where a rate of 

1.4 ft/d was measured in one basin and a rate as great 

as 6 ft/d was estimated for a second basin. 

Ground-water recharge from the infiltration of precipitation and snowmelt in the Anchorage area is estimated, from analog- and digital-model results, to be 

5-9 in/yr (inches per year) or about 30-50 percent of 

the mean annual precipitation (R. S. George, U.S. 

Geol. Survey, oral commun., 1976). Such infiltration 

along the Chugach Mountains front is considered to 

be a significant source of recharge for the confined 

ground-water system at Anchorage. In the Beaver 

Creek valley near Kenai, where the drainage basin 

has low relief and the surficial deposits consist of generally fine-grained glacial outwash, the estimated 

mean annual ground-water recharge from precipitation is 4 in/yr or about 25 percent of the mean annual 

precipitation. This estimate for Beaver Creek basin 

149"45' 

ELMENDORF --··-· 

61 ° 

15' 

0 

Stream deposits Channel gains water 

Alluvial fan Channel loses water 

2 MILES 

EXPLANATION 

& 

Gaging station at 

Fort Richardson 

diversion dam 

Gaging station at 

Elmendorf AFB 

Measuring site 

at Post Road 

FIGURE 10.-Lower part of Ship Creek basin showing gaining and losing reaches of the stream channel (Weeks, 1970). 
ALASKA REGION p 15 

was derived from a streamflow hydrograph separation 

(Anderson and Jones, 1972). In digital-model simulations of the North Kenai area (Dames and Moore, 

1976), it was estimated that about 40 percent of annual precipitation, or 7-9 in/yr, ultimately becomes 

part of the ground-water body. In North Kenai, the 

surficial deposits are coarser and better drained than 

those of Beaver Creek valley and there is virtually no 

surface-water runoff. 

Over most of the land area of Alaska, either permafrost or poorly permeable bedrock is present at or 

near the surface, and there is very little infiltration 

from precipitation. 

GROUND-WATER DISCHARGE 

Ground water is discharged both naturally and artificially. It is discharged naturally from water-table 

aquifers as seeps or springs, as ground-water runoff 

to streams whose channels have cut below the water 

table, and by evaporation and transpiration. Natural 

discharge from artesian aquifers occurs by vertical 

leakage through confining beds or at springs where 

the aquifers crop out. Both types of aquifers also discharge freshwater along coastlines. The winter flow of 

many Alaskan streams is maintained by discharge of 

ground water. In interior and northern regions, this 

discharge is most conspicuously displayed by the annual formation of extensive icings 1 along stream 

channels and flood plains (Sloan and others, 1976). 

Artificial discharge of aquifers is accomplished principally by pumping from wells. Shallow, unconfined 

ground water is sometimes discharged along ditches 

excavated to drain water-logged areas. 

A great quantity of ground-water discharge in 

Alaska occurs naturally as inflow to streams. Because 

little information is available on aquifer lithology and 

ground-water hydraulics, probably the best quantitative estimate of regional ground-water budgets in 

Alaska can be made from analyses of streamflow records that are available for most areas of the State. 

Separation of the ground-water component (base flow) 

of a streamflow hydrograph is a technique commonly 

used to estimate ground-water discharge (Linsley and 

others, 1975, p. 230 and fig. 8-7). Under natural conditions, a long-term equilibrium exists between 

ground water entering and leaving an aquifer system. 

Ground-water discharge estimated from streamflow 

data should thus approach the long-term average 

'An icing is a buildup of surface ice formed by freezing of water t hat discharges to t he 

surface from seeps and springs, or from streams whose channel flow is constricted by freezing and forced to flow above the original "normal" winter ice cover. The summer flow of 

several large rivers in northeastern Alaska is augmented by the melting of very large 

icings. 

ground-water recharge in the area contributing to 

streamflow. 

Base flows of Alaskan streams, estimated from simple hydrograph-separation techniques, correspond to 

points on the flow-duration (cumulative flowfrequency) curve within a range of streamflows that 

are exceeded 50-7 5 percent of the time. For this report, the streamflow equalled or exceeded 60 percent 

of the time is taken as an indicator or index of natural 

ground-water discharge. Stated another way, 40 percent of the time streamflow is supported entirely by 

ground-water discharge. Actual ground-water discharge to many Alaskan streams may be greater than 

that indicated by the 60 percent flow parameter, however, because there is virtually no direct surfacewater runoff during about half the year in most of the 

State. 

The regional distribution of ground-water unit 

runoff and the total ground-water discharge for hydrologic subregions of the State, estimated on the basis 

of the 60-percent duration of flow at gaging stations, 

are shown in figure 11 and table 1, respectively. These 

estimates (exclusive of Bristol Bay drainage and the 

maritime areas) were made by comparing relationships between mean annual and 60-percent duration 

flows within hydrologically similar regions and then 

estimating the 60-percent flows for the corresponding 

mean annual basin runoffs reported by Balding 

(1976). The estimate of ground-water discharge for the 

Kotzebue Sound subregion seems anomalously high 

for an area underlain by permafrost. This value was 

based on analysis of streamflow data for the Kobuk 

River, which may not be representative of the entire 

subregion. However, the headwaters of the Kobuk 

River basin contain many springs that discharge 

ground water from limestone rocks of the Brooks 

Range. 

In the Bristol Bay subregion, the 60-percent flow 

duration estimating techniques gave a ground-water 

discharge rate of 4 7,000 ft 3/sec, or unit base flow of 

15.9 in. This estimate was not considered to be representative of ground-water discharge because all gaged 

basins in the subregion contain considerable l~e 

storage that augments winter streamflow. For this 

subregion, then, a ground-water discharge value 

equal to 25 percent of streamflow, which is the average value for the State if Bristol Bay and the 

maritime areas are excluded, was selected as a first 

approximation. 

Reliable estimates of ground-water discharge based 

on streamflow data cannot be made for southeastern 

Alaska and the Gulf of Alaska coast, where large 

amounts of precipitation fall (see fig. 2) and most 

streams receive snowmelt throughout the year. These 
P16 SUMMARY APPRAISALS OF THE NATION'S GROUND-WATER RESOURCES 

areas are characterized by steep, mountainous and 

(or) glaciated terrain underlain by igneous and 

metamorphic rocks that have low permeability. In 

most places only a thin mantle of glacial and alluvial 

deposits is present. Ground-water discharge from 

these areas probably would not increase the total estimated ground-water discharge for the remainder of 

Alaska by more than 20 percent. Excluding estimates 

for the Bristol Bay, southern coastal and southeastern 

Alaska areas for the reasons noted above, total 

ground-water discharge (equal to recharge) for the 

remainder of the State is estimated to be 159,200 ft 3/s, 

or 100,000 Mgal!day. 

WATER QUALITY 

A data base adequate to describe areal variations in 

the chemical quality of ground water is available for 

only a few places, such as Juneau, Kenai, Anchorage, 

and Fairbanks, and data is virtually nonexistent for 

large areas of the State. Known dissolved-solids concentrations range from less than 25 mg/L in shallow 

ground-water in stream channel alluvium, to as much 

as 64,000 mg/L in saline waters in shallow coastal 

wells, but most of the sampled ground water contains 

less than 400 mg!L dissolved solids (table 2) and is 

acceptable for most uses. In inland areas, calcium 

bicarbonate- or calcium magnesium bicarbonate-type 

water is most common. Water of sodium bicarbonate 

or sodium chloride type is present in coastal areas. 

The quality of ground water causes problems, however, such as those related to saline waters in coastal 

areas and in springs and deep artesian wells in the 

Copper River lowland, relatively high mineralization 

of subpermafrost water in some areas, and magnesium sulfate bicarbonate-type waters from bedrock 

in the Tanana River valley. Iron is present in objectionable concentrations in a large proportion of shallow wells in most areas of the State. Undesirable concentrations of other constituents also occur in ground 

water in Alaska. Chemical analyses (U.S. Geol. SurLess 

-

than 1 

FIGURE 11.-Mean annual ground-water component of streamflow. 
ALASKA REGION P17 

TABLE 1.-Summary of surface-water and ground-water discharge by hydrologic subregions and subareas of Alaska 

[Mean annual surface-water runoff estimated following method by Balding (1976). Estimated ground-water discharge determined using flow exceeded 60 percent of the time (from flow duration curves) as an index, except for values in parentheses, which are approximations discussed in text] 

Mean annual surface-water runoff 

Area Subregions and subareas (mi 2) From within Including unit upstream inflow 

1. Arctic: 

1:1 West Arctic -------------- 31,000 14,800 

1:2 Colville ------------------ 24,000 14,000 

1 :3 East Arctic -------------- 26,000 15,200 

2. Northwest: 

2:1 Kotzebue Sound ---------- 41,000 59,100 

2:2 Norton Sound ------------ 26,000 18,500 

3. Yukon: 

3:1 Lower Yukon ------------ 38,000 43,000 262,000 

3:2 Central Yukon ------------ 19,000 28,300 219,000 

3:3 Koyukuk ---------------- 33,000 23,100 

3:4 Upper Yukon ------------ 60,000 34,700 128,000 

3:5 Tanana ------------------ 45,000 39,200 39,600 3:6 Upper Yukon-Canada ____ 9,000 6,140 

4. Southwest: 

4:1 Kuskokwin Bay ---------- 58,000 71,200 

4:2 Bristol Bay -------------- 40,000 120,000 

4:3 Aleutian ------------------ 11,000 22,400 

5. Southcentral: 

5:1 Kodiak-Shelikof ---------- 11,000 54,200 

5:2 Cook Inlet ---------------- 38,000 91,300 

5:3 Gulf of Alaska ------------ 34,000 61,800 

6. Southeast -------------------- 42,000 3882500 458,000 

Totals ------------------ 1,105,000 

1Equivalent to 10 x 104 million gallons per day. 

TABLE 2.-Summary ofDS (dissolved-solids) concentrations data in 

ground waters of Alaska 

[Normal range is defined as ± one standard deviation of the mean; approximately 68 percent of all values would fall within this range] 

Area Number of DS values 

Juneau (McConaghy, 1969) ---------------- Haines-Port Chilkoot (McConaghy, 1970) ___ _ Copper River lowland (U.S. Geol. Survey, 

unWub. data) ells less than 100 ft deep ------------ Wells greater than 100 ft deep ---------- King Salmon (Feulner, 1963) -------------- Bethel (Waller, 1957, and U.S. Geol. 

Survey, unpub. data) -------------------- Homer (Waller, 1963) ---------------------- Kenai-Soldotna (Anderson and Jones, 1971) __ Anchorage (Donaldson, and others, 1975) ___ _ Fairbanks (U.S. Geol. Survey, unpub. data) __ 

Nome (Waller and Mathur, 1962) ----------

141 

14 

11 

13 

16 

36 

27 

140 

567 

502 8 

Average Normal range DS (mg!Ll ofDS (mg!L) 

199 26- 372 209 66- 352 

535 55-1015 1936 382-3490 158 94- 222 

157 124- 190 314 139- 489 209 50- 368 159 93- 225 227 112- 342 354 188- 520 

~ 

<r-\~G 'I>~ 

. . 

Estimated ground-water 

discharge 

Total fP/s 

200 

200 

200 

10,600 

1,900 

18,200 

11,000 

2,000 

7,000 

12,600 

1,700 

31,200 

(30,000) 

no estimate 

no estimate 

19,600 

12,800 no estimate 

1159,200 

.(\LEUTIAN 

II•• ,, o 

Inches of water per unit area 

0.1 

.1 

.1 

3.5 

1.0 

6.5 

7.9 

.8 

1.6 

3.8 

2.6 

7.3 

(10.0) 

7.0 

5.1 

vey, unpub. data) show undesirably high concentrations of mercury in the ground water in the 

Yukon-Kuskokwim delta area, and high concentrations of nitrate are reported in occur locally in the 

Palmer and Fairbanks areas. Other examples are: organic materials in ground water of alluvial stream 

channels and flood plains, and arsenic in ground 

water in the bedrock hills north of Fairbanks (Hawkins, 1976) and in glaciolacustrine clay at Anchorage 

and Kenai. 

The role of permafrost in directly imparting a particular type of mineralization to ground water is probably minor. Reduction of the rate of ground-water 

movement by permafrost provides a longer residence 

time for reactions between the water and the enclosing rocks than in regions without permafrost 

(Williams and van Everdingen, 1973). Chemical reaction rates and saturation concentrations of some constituents are also affected by low water temperatures 

in permafrost areas. Ground water beneath permafrost is usually of nearly constant quality at a particular site, although it may differ in composition from 

one area to another. Ground water above permafrost 

is subject to variation in quality due to seasonal re-
P18 SUMMARY APPRAISALS OF THE NATION'S GROUND-WATER RESOURCES 

duction in recharge and possibly also because of fractionation due to freezing of part of the aquifer. 

Feulner and Schupp (1963) found such a seasonal 

variation in ground water developed by infiltration 

gallery at Cape Lisburne in northwestern Alaska. 

Streams that receive ground-water inflow show a 

seasonal variation in concentration of dissolved minerals because of the changing proportions of ground 

water and surface water that contribute to streamflow 

(Brandon, 1964). Thus surface-water quality data, 

particularly during low-flow (or base-flow) periods, 

can be used as an indication of regional ground-water 

quality. Because ground water is generally more 

highly mineralized than surface water, the highest 

concentrations of dissolved solids occur during lowflow periods. Dissolved-solids concentration of a 

stream can be still further increased during low-flow 

periods in winter as freezing causes rejection of impurities from the ice phase into the remaining water 

(Osterkamp and others, 1975). This phenomenon can 

cause the winter flow of streams to have an even 

higher concentration of dissolved minerals than the 

inflowing ground water. 

Dissolved-solids concentration is considered to be a 

useful index of overall water quality, but available 

data do not provide representative coverage for winter 

streamflow in Alaska. However, specific conductance, 

which is dependent on dissolved-solids content, is a 

characteristic commonly measured in field waterquality determinations. Ranges in specific conductance values measured during base-flow periods, 

November through April, for streams in the various 

hydrologic subregions of Alaska are given in table 3. 

CURRENT DEVELOPMENT AND USE 

Water use in Alaska in 1975, exclusive of large 

nonconsumptive uses by fish hatcheries, pulp mills, 

TABLE 3.-Summary of specific conductance values for base flow of 

streams in Alaska 

[Base-flow period November 1 to April 30 when little or no surface runoff is occurring] 

Hydrologic subregion and subarea Range of specific conductance (JLmhoslcm2 ) of base flow 

Arctic ---------------------------------------- 225-350 

Northvvest ------------------------------------ 150-250 

Yukon: 

Lovver and Central Yukon -------------------- 250-300 

Koyukuk ------------------------------------ 350-400 

Upper Yukon and Tanana -------------------- 250-400 

Southvvest: 

Kuskokvvim Bay ---------------------------- 100-240 

Bristol Bay ---------------------------------- 150-100 

South-central: 

Cook Inlet ---------------------------------- 100-300 

Gulf of Alaska ------------------------------ 100-250 

Copper River Lovvland ------------------------ 300-500 

Southeast ------------------------------<Base fl.ovv not defined) 

llnfluenced by significant volume of lake storage. 

and by hydroelectric power-generating facilities, was 

estimated to be about 100 Mgal/d (million gallons 

per day) (A. J. Feulner, written commun., 1976, and 

table 4). Nearly half of that total was ground water. 

Ground water supplies an even higher proportion of 

total demand in some public-supply systems (50-60 

percent at Anchorage) and is the only source in others 

(Fairbanks and Juneau). Most private domestic supply in the Anchorage and Fairbanks areas is from 

ground water. 

TABLE 4.-Water use in Alaska in 1975 

[Does not include 80 Mgal/d nonconsumptive pulpmill use or 907 Mgal/d nonwithdrawal hydroelectric power use. Table based on revision of data compiled by A. J. Feulner, U.S. Geological Survey. Values in Mgal/d (millions of gallons per day] 

Use category Ground Surface Total water water 

Public supply ------------------ 35 21 156 

Rural use: Domestic -------------------- 6.2 3.0 9.2 

Livestock -------------------- .03 .08 .11 

Irrigation ---------------------- .02 .02 

Electric povverplant cooling ------ 2.20 19 21 

Industrial ---------------------- 5.0 1Q_ ..1.Q_ 

Total -------------------- 48 53 101 

1lncludes unspecified industrial uses in Fairbanks, Anchorage, Juneau, and other 

smaller communities. 

Surface water provides most of the supply to the 

small population of the Arctic Slope and Northwest 

regions of the State (see index map on table 1). Wells 

supply distribution systems, chiefly for domestic use, 

at some small villages and at the larger communities 

of Nome and Unalakleet. A military installation at 

Cape Lisburne formerly used about 5,000 gal/d (gallons per day); this water was provided mainly by 

infiltration galleries installed in the alluvium of 

stream valleys or in fractured bedrock. Galleries have 

also been used to develop small ground-water supplies 

from streambed and flood-plain alluvium at several 

sites along the trans-Alaska oil pipeline route. 

Ground water is the principal source of supply in 

the Yukon subregion. Virtually all the population, 

and thus most of the water use, is within the Tanana 

and Delta River basins; Fairbanks and nearby military installations use approximately 11-12 Mgalld. 

Springs, especially thermal springs, have been used 

locally for many years for small farming operations 

and as summer resorts. 

In Alaska's Southwest region, ground water provides part of the community water supply at Dillingham, and wells have been drilled at many small villages. Springs, wells, and galleries are used for water 

supply at military installations on Shemya and Amchitka Islands in the Aleutians. 

The largest concentration of population in Alaska, 

and consequently the greatest development and use of 

water, is in the South-central region. Ground water 
ALASKA REGION P19 

provides about 150,000 gal/d at Palmer and about 

one-half of the 40 Mgal/d of water used in the Anchorage area for domestic, industrial, and commercial 

purposes. At Anchorage, the largest municipal wells 

yield up to 2,000 gal/min. There has been considerable 

development of ground water in the Kenai-North 

Kenai industrial area. Public supply systems and private, domestic water demands at Kenai and nearby 

Soldotna are also exclusively served by ground water. 

Total ground-water withdrawal in the Kenai and Soldotna areas is about 4 Mgal/d. 

Ground water is the principal source of domestic, 

commercial, and industrial supply at Juneau, Sitka, 

Skagway, and at several other major communities in 

southeastern Alaska. The large water needs of the 

wood pulp processing industry in that region, however, are met almost exclusively by surface water. 

PROBLEMS IN THE DEVELOPMENT AND USE OF 

GROUND WATER 

Man impinges on the domain of ground water when 

he drills and pumps wells, uses aquifers as wastedisposal sites whether intentionally or accidentally, 

and in Arctic and subArctic areas, when he constructs 

buildings, roads, and pipelines on and across zones of 

ice-rich permafrost. The development of mineral and 

fuel deposits and of geothermal resources usually involves ground water. These activities, along with the 

development and use of ground water itself, may lead 

to the types of problems described below. 

DECLINE OF WATER LEVELS 

Pumping from a well or closely-spaced group of 

wells creates a cone of depression in the water level of 

an unconfined aquifer or in the potentiometric surface 

of a confined aquifer. The decline in water level or 

potentiometric surface may be small and temporary. 

However, if ground-water withdrawal exceeds recharge, the decline will become progressively greater 

and will result in increasingly greater pumping lifts, 

higher pumping costs, and ultimately, depletion of the 

resource. 

In Anchorage, a significant cone of depression has 

formed in the potentiometric surface of the artesian 

aquifer near the Municipal well field, where withdrawal in 1975 averaged 4.2 Mgal/d. The potentiometric surface has not been permanently lowered, but 

fluctuates in response to pumping rates (fig. 12). 

Water-level data collected during a short, nonpumping period in 1969 indicate that if all ground-water 

withdrawal from the confined aquifer were to cease, 

the potentiometric surface would recover to within a 

few feet of the 1955 pre-pumping levels within a few 

months. Production of additional ground water from 

confined sand and gravel aquifers in the Anchorage 

area is currently limited by drawdown of water levels 

near existing wells (Barnwell and others, 1972) rather 

than by available resources of the aquifers. 

Other areas in Alaska where artesian pressure reductions are caused by the pumping of high-yield 

municipal or industrial wells include North Kenai, 

Kanai, Soldotna, and Cordova. In the North Kenai 

area, a decline of lake levels is also thought to be 

caused at least partly by the lowering of the potentiometric surface in the confined aquifer, with consequent leakage of unconfined water downward to the 

confined system. Anderson and Jones (1972) reported 

maximum declines of 6 ft at three lakes near North 

Kenai industrial plants that pump large volumes (3 

Mgal/d) of ground water. 

Declines in ground-water levels have been observed 

in the upland area north of Fairbanks where lowyielding wells produce water from fractures and small 

perched zones in bedrock (G. L. Nelson, U.S. Geol. 

Survey, written commun., 1976). In this area the 

aquifers are unconfined and the water-level declines 

represent a reduction in storage. This loss of storage 

may be due partly to a decrease in natural recharge 

caused by below-average precipitation in Fairbanks 

over the past 4 years, but pumping from an increasing 

number of privately owned wells apparently is having 

some effect. Locally, well owners have reported 

water-level declines of 20-35 ft since 1973; a decline 

of 7 ft in a recent 17 -month period was recorded at a 

U.S. Geological Survey observation wells in the area. 

DEPLETION OF STREAMFLOW 

In areas where streams are hydraulically connected 

to the ground-water reservoir, pumping water from 

nearby wells may cause interception of potential 

streamflow or diversion of water from the stream. In 

Alaska this interconnection of surface and ground 

waters may have significant effects on streamflow, 

particularly in winter when no surface runoff is occurring. 

Some communities and individuals utilize water 

from shallow wells drilled in stream-valley alluvium, 

but there are few quantitative data relating to 

streamflow depletion caused by these ground-water 

withdrawals. Infiltration galleries near streams provide water supplies at some military installations in 

Alaska (Feulner, 1964; Feulner and Williams, 1967). 

Galleries or shallow (20 ft or less) wells near active 

stream channels were used for water supply at former 

construction camps along the Dietrich and 

Sagavanirktok River sections of the trans-Alaska oil 

pipeline route (Sherman, 1973; J. R. Williams and 

C. E. Sloan, oral commun., 1976). These ground-water 
p 20 

~ 

CONTOURINTERVAL10FEET 

June 1968 

q 

-¥ 

CONTOUR INTERVAL 10 FEET 

AND 20 FEET 

April 1976 

SUMMARY APPRAISALS OF THE NATION'S GROUND-WATER RESOURCES 

RICHAROSON 

RICHAROSON 

·~ 

CONTOUR INTERVAL 5 FEET 

October 1969 

1 2 

I I 

I I I 2 3 4 

I 

4MILES 

I 

6 KILOMETERS 

EXPLANATION 

---to- CONTOURS- Shows the ar~al drawdown, or change 

in feet, i!" confined water levels on the indicated 

dates from the static water levels in 1955. Datum 

is 1955 potentiometric surface 

® High-capacity well being pumped 

• Observation well 

+-+-+++ 

Transitional area where principal 

confining beds thin out 

ESTIMATE 0 G R 0 UN 0-WA TE R WITHDRAWALS 

Date 

1955 

June, 1968 

October, 1969 

April, 1976 

Well-field area 

none 

4.7 Mgal/d 

none 

5.2 Mgal/d 

Total areal pumping rate 

1 Mgal/d 

11 Mgal/d 

4.5 Mgal/d 

18-20 Mgal/d 

FIGURE 12.-Changes in water levels caused by pumping from artesian aquifers at the Anchorage Municipal well field (modified from 

Barnwell and others, 1972). 
ALASKA REGION p 21 

developments rely amost exclusively on recharge from 

the nearby surface-water source; consequently, some 

streamflow depletion inevitably occurs. This depletion 

can be significant in winter when no surface runoff is 

occurring and all water is pumped from storage in 

deep pools or from alluvium under the pools. 

The relationship of surface water and ground water 

along the channel of Ship Creek near Anchorage was 

discussed earlier (p. 14). Water required for the proposed expansion of fish-rearing facilities along lower 

Ship Creek would rely chiefly on ground water recovered from shallow wells and infiltration galleries in 

streamside alluvium (Freethey, 1976). Hypothetical 

streamflow depletion curves, derived by L. D. Patrick 

and others (U.S. Geol. Survey, unpub. data 1976-77), 

show that the proposed development would ultimately 

reduce streamflow by an amount nearly equal to the 

ground-water withdrawal. The streamflow could be totally depleted during winter low-flow periods. 

POLLUTION OF THE GROUND-WATER RESERVOIR 

Deterioration of water quality caused by man's own 

activities is commonly termed pollution or contamination. The cone of depression and resulting change in 

gradient of the water table or potentiometric surface 

caused by pumping from wells can induce the movement of pollutants already in the aquifer toward the 

pumping center. If this occurs, wells may have to be 

abandoned and new water sources sought. The slow 

movement of ground water and the slow process of 

natural dilution make the effects of water pollution 

long-lasting, even though pumping or the discharge of 

pollutants to the ground water stops. 

Pollution may be caused by actions or land-use 

practices not directly involving ground-water withdrawal. The concentration of people and activities 

that accompanies urbanization promotes the generation of large amounts of waste materials. In some 

cases, the wastes are disposed of or stored at sites 

where there is a potential for ground-water pollution. 

Ground water has been polluted locally in the Anchorage area by solid-waste disposal directly into 

lakes which are hydraulically connected to the 

ground-water body or by surface disposal at places 

where the water table is at very shallow depth 

(Zenone and others, 1975). Solid-waste disposal in frozen ground in the Fairbanks area is in effect a storage 

of material from which a contaminating leachate 

could be produced if the frozen mass of waste and adjacent permafrost were to be naturally or artificially 

thawed (Straughn, 1972). 

Local pollution of ground water has been caused by 

septic tank effluent in unsewered areas of Anchorage 

(Dearborn and Barnwell, 1975) and at Fairbanks 

(G. L. Nelson, oral commun., 1976). The present problem area at Anchorage is the mountain slope environment east of the city where bedrock is mantled by 

only a thin, poorly permeable layer of unconsolidated 

glacial materials. The quality of water of some private 

water supplies has also been impaired by drainage of 

surface water into wells that were either improperly 

constructed or had damaged casing at the ground surface. Other potential sources of ground-water pollution 

in heavily urbanized areas are leakage of sanitary 

sewers and infiltration of runoff from streets (deicing 

chemicals) and lawns (fertilizers). The disposal of 

primary-treated sewage effluent, either through injection wells or by surface spreading and infiltration, is 

being considered as an alternative to the present 

ocean outfall at Anchorage's sewage-treatment plant. 

Such practices create yet another potential for 

ground-water pollution, even though they have been 

tested elsewhere and shown to be at least partly successful methods of purifying and recycling wastewater 

(Bouwer, Lance and Riggs, 1974; Bouwer, Rice and 

Escarcega, 1974; Satterwhite and others, 1976\ 

The practice of using lagoons for wastewater disposal and treatment at remote construction camps and 

villages throughout Alaska is a potential source of 

pollution for ground-water supplies. Some of these lagoons are too close to shallow water-supply wells and 

galleries. Successful operation of the wells and galleries may depend on the permeability and porosity of 

the same small body of unfrozen material as that 

being recharged by the lagoons. Accidental oil or fuel 

spills that inevitably occur during major construction 

projects, and disposal of petrochemical wastes, oil-field 

brines, and drilling muds are other potential sources 

of pollution of ground water. 

SALINE WATER INTRUSION 

In coastal ~eas, aquifers that contain fresh water 

may be hydraulically connected to the ocean or other 

saline water body. Under natural conditions the hydraulic gradient or direction of ground-water flow is 

generally toward the coast (fig. 13a). If ground-water 

withdrawal lowers the water table or potentiometric 

surface so that the natural gradient is reversed, saline 

water will begin to invade the freshwater aquifer (fig. 

13b). The potential for saltwater intrusion at Anchorage has been discussed by Barnwell and others (1972, 

p. 45), but the probability of its occurrence due to 
P22 SUMMARY APPRAISALS OF THE Nl-\TION'S GROUND-WATER RESOURCES 

UNCONFINED CONFINED 

A 

B 

FIGURE 13.-Aquifers that contain fresh water may be hydraulically connected to a saline water body and may be intruded 

by saltwater. A. Idealized sketch of freshwater and saltwater 

distributions in coastal aquifers illustrates Ghyben-Herzberg 

relation. B. Effect of pumping on saltwater wedge movement 

into a coastal confined aquifer. 

ground-water withdrawals at present (1978) pumping 

sites and rates is considered remote. Existing wells 

are already being pumped at the maximum rate allowed by well construction and drawdown limitations.' 

The center of the cone of depression at the Municipal 

well field is several miles inland and artesian water 

levels near the coast were 20-30 ft above sea level in 

1976 (fig. 12). The two major public water suppliers in 

the Anchorage area are aware that the potential for 

saltwater intrusion must be considered in selecting 

new well locations. 

In island settings and on offshore bars and spits, 

fresh ground water generally occurs as an unconfined, 

lens-shaped body floating on sea water. The GhybenHerzberg principle (see Todd, 1959, p. 278) states that 

there is a 40-ft-thick zone of freshwater below sea 

level per foot of water-table altitude above sea level. 

This situation exists at St. George Island, in the 

Pribilof Islands in the Bering Sea (Anderson, 1976) 

and at Fire Island near Anchorage (A. J. Feulner, 

U.S. Geol. Survey, written commun., 1964). Other 

areas where ground water probably occurs only as 

thin lenses are at locations such as Unalakleet, Kotzebue, and the lowermost fringes of the Yukon and 

Kuskokwim River deltas in the coastal areas of western Alaska. Under natural or equilibrium conditions, 

a transition zone of brackish water separates the 

freshwater from the saltwater below. 

The withdrawal of ground water from the fresh lens 

and the resulting lowering of the water table may disturb the natural balance and induce movement of 

saltwater into the freshwater-bearing formations. For 

example, saltwater intrusion has apparently occurred 

because of pumping from bedrock wells near the coast 

on Kodiak Island (F. and S. Ogden, drilling contractors at Kodiak, written commun., 1976). It follows 

from the Ghyben-Herzberg principle that each foot of 

lowering of the water table in the freshwater lens will 

induce a rise of 40 ft in tne top of the underlying saltwater body. Successful development of ground water 

under such conditions depends largely upon control of 

pumping to avoid creating excessive drawdown. 

All major population centers except Fairbanks are 

in coastal areas. Imminent development of Alaska's 

offshore petroleum and other resources will insure 

that future growth, including an increasing demand 

for water, will be concentrated in coastal areas, in 

part because of the need for transportation bases from 

which those resources will be shipped outside the 

State. Any development of ground-water supplies in 

those areas will require consideration of the potential 

for saltwater intrusion. 

In the Copper River basin area, saline water is 

pumped from wells and issues from several springs 

and mud cones. The connate origin of the saline water 

(Grantz and others, 1962) has been confirmed by 

exploratory drill holes for oil (Williams, 1970a). 

Barnes (1970) believes the water to be a product of 

low-grade metamorphism of marine sediments. Relatively impermeable glaciolacustrine sediments confine 

the saline aquifers and separate them from overlying 

potable-water aquifers (Williams, 1970a). Dissolvedsolids concentrations of the waters range from 760 to 

35,000 mg/L. Dissolved-solids concentration generally 

increases with the depth of the well. The potential 

exists for degradation of the shallow, fresh (or at least 

less saline) water should excessive pumping cause 

up-coning of the deeper, highly saline water or leakage through the confining beds. 

CONSTRUCTION AND ENGINEERING PROBLEMS 

RELATED TO THE PRESENCE OF GROUND WATER 

Construction or installation of roadways, foundations, and pipelines is generally more difficult, more 

costly, and more time consuming if saturated soil 

must be dealt with. The soil may have to be dewatered 

temporarily during construction, though permanent 

drainage may be required for some structures. Rapid 

urban development during dry years in areas that 
ALASKA REGION P23 

normally have a high water table (such as parts of 

Anchorage) could result in flooding of basements and 

failure of foundations when water levels return to 

normal. Similar problems could result from recovery 

of a water table that was temporarily lowered because 

of ground-water withdrawal or high infiltration rates 

to sewer and storm-drainage lines. 

The strength of unconsolidated materials such as 

sand and silt is reduced when they are saturated. 

Damage to and even collapse of foundations at Fairbanks during the disastrous 1967 flood was caused by 

a decrease in bearing capacity of the soil as the water 

table rose (Childers and others, 1972). A rising 

ground-water table that accompanies a rise in river 

stage can damage foundations on flood-plain deposits 

eyen though the river is below flood stage. 

Landslides may be triggered by imposition of loads 

of buildings on slopes or bluff areas, or by seismic 

shaking of liquifiable deposits in earthquake-prone 

areas such as south-central Alaska. Liquifaction of 

saturated sand and silt lenses in the Bootlegger Cove 

clay was considered to be a major factor in causing 

landslides at Anchorage during the 1964 earthquake 

(Shannon and Wilson, 1964). Severe damage by submarine landsliding and ground displacement at Valdez was also attributed to spontaneous liquifaction of 

saturated sand (Coulter and Migliaccio, 1966). 

Normal construction and maintenance problems in 

saturated ground are magnified if the ground is frozen, as it is in the permafrost zones of Alaska. 2 Permafrost is generally in a natural state of thermal 

equilibrium with the present climate, even though it 

may be a relic of former, colder periods. Disruption of 

this equilibrium caused by disturbance of the ground 

surface or vegetation cover by vehicular movement, 

construction and maintenance activities, and by heat 

produced within structures or by operation of facilities 

tends either to raise the mean annual ground-surface 

temperature or to increase the amplitude of seasonal 

variations in ground temperature. Either result will 

degrade or thaw part of the permafrost. A discussion 

of the specific engineering problems caused by the 

melting of permafrost is beyond the scope of this paper. Those problems are discussed in detail by Ferrians, Kachadoorian and Greene (1969), Lachenbruch 

(1970), and by Linell (1973). The development and application of unique engineering practice in permafrost 

is described by Ferrians and others (1969); Linell and 

Johnston (1973); and by Sanger (1969). 

2This discussion is included under the assumption that ice-rich permafrost can be considered to be "frozen ground water" when in fact some subsurface ice may have formed 

as hoarfrost or buried icings that were never actually ground water. Meinzer (1923, p. 22) 

specifically excluded subsurface ice as a type of ground water. 

CONSIDERATIONS IN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT 

The environmental effects of ground-water development are not always known or anticipated, even 

in areas where ground-water use is most intensive. In 

the Anchorage area, artesian flow to the surface at 

many private wells was reduced or eliminated coincident with initiation of large-scale Municipal pumping 

in the late 1950's. Effects such as these are obvious 

and measurable; the more subtle or long-term effects 

are not completely understood. These might be, for 

example, the potential effect of land-drainage activities or ground-water pumpage on lake levels, wetlands, and the base flow of streams that are hydraulically connected to the producing aquifer. Development 

of ground water invariably produces some changes in 

other elements of the hydrologic system. However, the 

amount of change that will be tolerated must be defined if conflicts of use are to be held to acceptable 

limits. Paraphrasing Anderson and Jones (1972, p. 74, 

75), who drew principally from a discussion by 

Lohman (1972, p. 62): To determine whether moderate 

quantities of water can be withdrawn from a given 

ground-water reservoir is generally not difficult. But 

to determine the maximum amount of water that can 

be withdrawn without producing an undesirable result requires detailed know ledge of the geologic 

framework of the hydrologic system and planning decisions as to the extent that undesirable results can be 

tolerated. This is difficult to do because normally the 

potential of a hydrologic basin cannot be determined 

in advance of development. However, the hydrologic 

information that is available concerning the geohydrologic system and the cause-effect relationships of 

ground-water withdrawals can be used to construct 

models that will predict aquifer response. Even after a 

model of the aquifer has been constructed and shown 

to be reliable for predicting hydrologic responses to 

pumping, the optimum yield cannot be estimated 

until the water planners or users define precisely the 

undesirable results that are to be avoided. 

Some questions that are relevant to water-resources 

development (specifically ground-water withdrawal) 

in Alaska include: 

1. What is a tolerable water-level drawdown, and 

over what areal extent can it occur? 

2. What is the relative value of swamp lands? 

Should they be preserved as natural habitat 

areas, or should the lowering of water levels 

be allowed in order to make the land more 

suitable for construction or agriculture? 

3. Can changes in lake levels be tolerated; if so, 

to what extent? 

4. Can the reduction of natural ground-water discharge be tolerated, and what will be the ef-
p 24 SUMMARY APPRAISALS OF THE NATION'S GROUND-WATER RESOURCES 

feet on streamflow maintained by the reduced discharge? Will such a reduction affect 

instream flow requirements of salmon migration, degrade spawning habitat, or cause 

movement of the freshwater-saltwater interface in coastal areas? 

5. Should temporary overdraft (pumpage in excess of recharge) of the hydrologic basin be 

permitted, provided the effects are not catastrophic, \if use of ground water contributes to 

development of an economic base that would 

later be able to support a more expensive, 

integrated surface-water/ground-water system? 

As a basis for management decision, it may be assumed that optimum yield of ground water will be 

achieved when the average recharge is balanced by 

the average discharge and when the discharge for 

nonbeneficial purposes has been reduced to a 

minimum. In most years, however, such a balance will 

not be achieved. During dry years, ground water is 

drawn from storage, water levels decline, and recharge from lakes and streams may increase. During 

wet years, lakes are filled, streams flow above normal 

discharge, and the ground-water reservoir is replenished. Maximum use of ground-water reservoirs 

cannot be achieved by holding the storage constant; it 

is achieved by drawing on storage during dry years, 

but only to the extent that the storage can be re- · 

plenished during wet years. 

Superimposed on the natural hydrologic factors 

which must guide the decisions of the water-resource 

manager are the legal aspects of water appropriation. 

and use. All the waters of Alaska, both surface and 

subsurface, are considered to be the property of the 

public and thus subject to appropriation. The doctrine 

of prior appropriation was applied to early territorial 

decisions in order to settle water-use conflicts between 

competing users of the available water supply. The 

principles of the appropriation system were carried 

forward in the State Constitution and the water rights 

code which was adopted in 1966 (Dewsnup and others, 

1973). The code is now (1977) being reviewed and will 

probably be revised and updated to meet the changing 

needs of a rapidly developing area. Although the State 

presently claims public ownership of all the waters of 

Alaska, there remain conflicts of ownership and rights 

to water use that will have to be considered as part of 

the final implementation of the Alaska Native Settlement Act of 1971. Disputes have already arisen 

over established water uses on lands now being 

claimed by the various Native corporations (Robert 

Bursiel, Alaska Division of Lands, oral commun., 

1976). The adjudication of water rights and management of the resource will also have to be accomplished 

within a checkerboard pattern of projected land uses 

and political subdivisions that does not correspond 

with either surface-water or ground-water drainage 

divides. 

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE GROUND-WATER 

RESOURCE 

Advantages of ground water over surface water are 

common to both arctic and temperate. regions. Ground 

water is widely if not evenly distributed, has less annual variation in temperature and chemical quality, 

and is less subject to pollution than is surface water. 

In addition, the subsurface environment provides a 

vast storage reservoir which is not as subject as surface water to changes in the volume of storage caused 

by short-term extremes in climate. It is this storage 

factor that enhances the importance of ground water 

in Alaska, where seasonal freezing reduces and in 

some cases eliminates the availability of surface 

water. 

Alaska's ground-water resource has been virtually 

untouched over vast areas. Permafrost severely restricts the availability of ground water in northern 

Alaska, but for the remainder of the State potential 

development far exceeds current use. Probably the 

greatest potential for development of ground water is 

in the Tanana River valley and to a lesser extent in 

the Yukon and Kuskokwim valleys and their major 

tributaries. 

CONJUNCTIVE USE OF GROUND WATER AND SURFACE 

WATER 

Conjunctive use of ground water and surface water 

should be considered in water-supply development in 

Alaska. In some areas use of these dual sources has 

been a necessity rather than a consciously applied 

principle of management. Surface-water flows in the 

Arctic are drastically reduced in early winter and may 

even cease during mid- to late winter. If a stream does 

maintain year-round flow, domestic, commercial, or 

industrial water needs that outgrow the supply will 

require a search for supplemental sources. Ground 

water may be able to provide the storage necessary to 

carry the community over the low-flow period of its 

surface-water source. 

An excellent example of conjunctive use of ground 

and surface sources is the Municipal water supply at 

Anchorage. Direct withdrawal from Ship Creek, from 

nearby springs, and from an infiltration gallery in the 

gravels beneath the channel of lower Ship Creek provided Anchorage's first water supply. About 1946 a 

reservoir was built on the upper reaches of Ship 
ALASKA REGION p 25 

Creek, and for a time the city was supplied entirely by 

surface water. By 1956 the capacity of the reservoir 

was taxed by the demand from growing civilian and 

military populations, and development of a well field 

near the city center was begun to increase the water 

supply. Since that time all additional development 

has been from ground water, which now provides 

about one-half of the total Municipal water utility's 

demand of 16 Mgal/d. An added benefit from the use of 

dual sources at Anchorage has been a significant reduction in the incidence of freezing water mains, a 

common winter occurrence when surface water alone 

supplied the city (Nyman, 1958). 

Locations favorable for large-yield (1-2 Mgal/d) 

wells are nearly exhausted in the Anchorage area, 

and various plans have been proposed recently for 

more complete utilization of excess summer flows of 

Ship Creek. Among these plans are the use of offstream storage basins, diversion and treatment of 

water near the mouth of the creek (U.S. Army Corps 

of Engineers, 1976), and artificial recharge of the Ship 

Creek alluvial fan deposits (Barnwell and others, 

1972, p. 46; Anderson, 1977). 

NEED FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON 

GROUND-WATER RESOURCES 

The deficiency of the ground-water data base has 

been referred to throughout this report. That deficiency is an obvious limiting factor for ground-water 

development in Alaska. The potential of the resource 

and the advantages of its utilization can best be 

realized if investigations are made in anticipation of 

future water demands. Important ground-water information needs in Alaska may be placed in two broad 

categories. 

BASIC DATA 

Several government agencies, private organizations, and individuals collect and compile groundwater data in Alaska. Such studies usually are made 

within a limited area in order to analyze or resolve a 

specific problem of water availability or water quality 

for a community or industrial venture; consequently, 

there remain large gaps in the ground-water data 

network for Alaska. Collection of hydrologic data in 

remote areas is time consuming and expensive and 

there may be neither present nor anticipated demand 

for the data. Collection of some data has been possible 

through Federal and State government funding made 

available to analyze environmental impacts of proposed development. Additional subsurface hydrologic 

information is available from activities such as 

pipeline trenching, and exploratory, foundation, and 

seismic shot-hole drilling. These records are not generally recognized as being valuable to the hydrologist 

and are not collected systematically, nor are they generally available to the scientific community. 

There is a critical need, on a Statewide basis to (a) 

identify the sources and types of ground-water data 

being collected, (b) design a system and schedule to 

collect and process the data and make them accessible 

to interested parties, and (c) evaluate the adequacy of 

the data base on a continuing basis in order to recommend the collection of new information where 

deficiencies exist. Efforts to meet this ground-water 

data need were initiated in 1977 as part of a cooperative water-resources study between the Alaska Department of Natural Resources and the U.S. Geological Survey. 

HYDROLOGIC STUDY AND RESEARCH 

Alaska's generally unexplored and undeveloped 

ground-water resource has been the subject of several 

descriptive reviews, including this one. More important than simple description and data collection, however' is the need to understand the physical role of 

ground water in the hydrologic cycle of arctic and 

subarctic areas. Quantitative investigations of the 

hydrology of cold regions, particularly in the continuous permafrost zones, will help to explain the important ((hydrological linkage" between surface and 

ground waters (Guymon, 1973). Suggested study and 

research areas include the following: 

1. Field studies of evapotranspiration and soil 

moisture relations. Few such studies have 

been conducted in Alaska, and most empirical formulas, developed for temperate climates, do not apply in high-latitude locations. 

2. Studies of the hydrology of springs and icings, 

and the identification of areas for aquifer recharge and discharge through unfrozen 

zones in permafrost. These studies could 

provide important information and methods 

for predicting locations of water-supply 

sources, the potential occurrence of icings, 

and the effect of permafrost on base flow of 

streams (Williams, 1970a). Resistivity and 

seismic-refraction methods could be used to 

supplement existing data in determining the 

configuration of permafrost, particularly adjacent to surface-water bodies (Hoekstra and 

McNeill, 1973). 

3. Studies of the hydraulics of flow through porous media at subfreezing temperatures. Results of aquifer tests should be considered in 

terms of boundaries imposed by permafrost 
p 26 SUMMARY APPRAISALS OF THE NATION'S GROUND-WATER RESOURCES 

as well as those related to lithology and rock 

structure. The validity of the common assumptions that permafrost contains water 

only in the solid state and that it is impermeable and thus prevents ground-water 

movement has been questioned (Williams 

and van Everdingen, 1973). Quantitative 

studies could resolve many uncertainties 

and permit better prediction of aquifer response in permafrost regions. 

4. Continuation of geothermal studies of the type 

pioneered by Lachenbruch, Brewer, Greene, 

and Marshall (1962) in order to refine understanding of the thermal regimen and its 

effect on the formation, stability, and. degradation of permafrost. Results of such studies 

could be applied in creating aquifers by 

thawing frozen ground as was attempted in 

the alluvium of Selin Creek at Cape Lisburne (Feulner and Williams, 1967). 

5. Investigations of the chemistry of ground ice 

and unfrozen brines, and the seasonal variation and selective concentration of chemical 

constituents in ground water associated with 

permafrost. Information gained could be 

helpful in the solution or avoidance of 

water-quality or pollution problems. Reports 

of fresh potable water encountered during 

drilling for petroleum at offshore sites in 

Cook Inlet emphasize the need to evaluate 

the effects of brine injection for secondary 

recovery on potential water-supply aquifers. 

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS 

Alaska's ground water is a large resource, but one 

that is virtually unexplored and undeveloped. Estimated average annual ground-water discharge, which 

is assumed to approximate recharge on a long-term 

basis, is 100,000 Mgal/d. In 1975, ground-water use in 

Alaska amounted to only 50 Mgal/d. 

Probably only a small fraction of the total groundwater discharge can ever be captured for man's use, 

but this fraction represents a renewable resource 

which can play a significant role in the future development of the State. Alaska's population, currently 

less than one-half million, will inevitably increase as 

the demand for and development of the State's vast 

mineral and petroleum reserves increase. Much of 

that development, particularly for petroleum and 

natural gas, will take place in the Arctic Foothills and 

Arctic Coastal Plain. The occurrence of ground water 

in those areas is severely limited by continuous permafrost. However, the major population centers and 

greatest demand for water will remain in the southern half of Alaska where the influence of frozen 

ground on the occurrence and availability of ground 

water is comparatively minor and where potential 

ground-water development is many times greater 

than current use. 

In the southern half of Alaska, conditions favorable 

for ground-water development occur over large areas. 

Wells in the major river valleys, alluvial fans, and 

some coastal valleys and basins commonly yield as 

much as 1,000 gal/min, and similar yields are possible 

from wells in volcanic rocks at some locations. At 

many places in these areas, annual ground-water recharge is sufficient to sustain high rates of continuous 

withdrawal, and, at these places, the ground-water resource is adequate for present and future needs. At 

other places, available ground water may be insufficient to meet needs but, in conjunction with surface water, may permit optimal development of the 

total water resource. 

The development of additional supplies of ground 

water will circumvent many of the problems currently 

associated with the use of surface water, such as extreme seasonal variability of supply, the need for impoundment reservoirs, and the presence of objectionable amounts of glacial silt in many streams. The use 

of ground water, however, also entails some problems. 

Local water-level declines, depletion of streamflow, 

saltwater intrusion into aquifers, and natural or 

man-caused pollution of ground-water reservoirs are 

all significant problems at some places in Alaska and 

are potential problems at other places. 

The ground-water resource of Alaska thus presents 

both challenge and opportunity. Through the acquisition of new information from field studies and the application of new and existing data in analytical models and interpretive reports, the information needed 

for effective management can be made available, and 

ground water can take on a .vital role in the overall 

water-resource planning and management for Alaska. 

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