U.S. Department of the Interior a U.S. Geological Survey

U.S. Geological Survey

Programs in Kentucky

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), 

which has offices in every State and 

Commonwealth, collects, compiles, and 

disseminates data on natural hazards and 

water, energy, biological, and mineral 

resources in the State of Kentucky. The 

long-term earth science information base 

of the USGS is a valued resource for the 

public and private sectors, academia, 

State and local agencies, and other Federal agencies. This Fact Sheet describes 

some of the USGS activities in Kentucky.

National Water-Quality 

Assessment Program

The USGS's National Water-Quality 

Assessment (NAWQA) Program was 

established to describe the status and 

trends in the quality of a large, representative part of the Nation's surface- and 

ground-water resources and to identify 

the natural and human factors that affect 

their quality. The NAWQA Program provides vital physical, chemical, and biological water-quality data to State and 

local officials charged with water-use 

planning and water-quality management.

From 1987 through 1990, the USGS 

collected water-quality data in the Kentucky River Basin as a part of the pilot 

NAWQA Program. The 7,000-squaremile Kentucky River Basin is the most 

densely populated major river basin in 

the State. The Kentucky River and its 

tributaries are used extensively for 

municipal and industrial water supply, 

recreation, and wastewater discharge and 

assimilation. The River provides more 

than 95 percent of the drinking-water 

supply to the 600,000 people in the 

Basin. Some components of water quality 

examined were the distribution of metals 

and other trace elements in the sediment 

and water; nutrients, sediments, and pesticides also were studied in the streams of 

the Basin.

Urban Hydrology and SurfaceWater Quality of Jefferson 

County

Urbanization in Jefferson County is 

continuing at a steady rate. As land within 

a watershed is developed, there is, in general, a decrease in the amount of area for 

infiltration of rainfall. This results in high 

peak streamflows that occur more often 

than they might have previously (fig. 1). 

There also is generally an increase in the 

types and amounts of pollutants being 

transported to the streams.

The Louisville and Jefferson County 

Metropolitan Sewer District (MSD) is the 

lead agency responsible for managing 

surface-water resources in Jefferson 

County. These responsibilities include 

stormwater management and flood control; wastewater collection, treatment, 

and disposal; industrial waste pretreatment; and other related activities. The 

MSD's mission is to preserve, protect, 

and improve water quality in Jefferson 

County streams.

The objectives of the joint program 

between the USGS and the MSD are to 

characterize the hydrology and waterquality conditions of streams in Jefferson 

County and to develop tools to use as aids 

in formulating strategies for the wise 

management of the water resources of 

these streams. A watershed-management 

approach is being adopted as the method 

Index of Subjects

National Water-Quality Assessment Program

Urban Hydrology and Surface-Water Quality 

of Jefferson County

Streamflow Data for Design and Permitting

Oil and Gas Resources

Assessment of Undiscovered Mineral 

Deposits

Problem Solving in the Ohio River Alluvial 

Aquifers

Topographic and Geologic Mapping

Earth Science Information

Effects of Mining-Related Disturbance on 

Ground Water

Comprehensive Study of Geohydrology of 

Western Kentucky Industrial Complex

Coal-Resource Data Collection

Aquatic Ecology

Figure 1. Water level 2 feet below peak during high-flow inspection at Boone Creek, Kentucky

Earth Science in the Public Service
to evaluate the effects of land use on 

stream hydrology and water quality within 

selected basins.

The most appropriate tool for use in the 

watershed approach is a continuous-based 

hydrologic/water-quality model. Such a 

model has been developed for the Beargrass Creek watershed, and one is being 

developed for the Chenoweth Run watershed. Eventually, other watersheds also 

would be modeled. These models allow the 

MSD to evaluate the effects that land-use 

changes, such as residential or industrial 

development, within each watershed, will 

have on the receiving streams.

The joint USGS/MSD program has 

focused primarily on the collection of baseline information to make gross assessments 

of water-quality conditions and the spatial 

variability of rainfall. Some baseline precipitation and water-quality data on 

streams throughout the County will continue to be collected. A project is underway 

to evaluate the current water-quality monitoring network and to decide whether a 

sampling location can be eliminated, visited less frequently, or remain in its current 

status. Part of this assessment is to evaluate 

the need for more storm sampling at the 

water-quality monitoring locations to characterize a variety of storm types and to 

define seasonal changes in water quality 

during storm-runoff periods.

Streamflow Data for Design and 

Permitting

Many State and local agencies in Kentucky need streamflow data and related 

information. For example, bridge and highway engineers need streamflow information to design bridges and culverts; watertreatment planners and managers need 

streamflow information to determine a 

stream's capacity to carry effluent; and 

water-supply planners and managers need 

this type of information to monitor current 

conditions and to estimate available supply 

for formulating plans for population 

increase and economic development.

Information collected at selected 

streamflow-gaging stations is used to monitor current conditions, such as droughts, 

and the information collected at these stations may be site specific (fig. 2). Some 

stations have been established primarily 

for regional analysis of streamflow data. 

The data and information collected at 

these stations also are site specific but are 

considered to be transferable and can, 

therefore, be used to develop regional 

equations to estimate selected streamflow 

characteristics at stream sites where little 

or no information is available. Typically, 

equations are developed to estimate 

stream-flow characteristics such as the 

100-year peak discharge, which is used in 

the design of bridges and culverts and to 

delineate floodplain boundaries. Regional 

equations may also be developed to estimate selected low-flow characteristics 

such as the 7-day, 10-year low-flow discharge, which is used for water-quantity 

and water-quality permitting.

The Kentucky District recently analyzed the effectiveness of the streamflowgaging station network in Kentucky and 

nearby stations in adjoining States. The 

results included a ranking of each station’s 

importance to how much the information 

at each station reduced the error associated 

with estimates of streamflow at ungaged 

sites.

The network analysis technique also 

considered the inclusion of hypothetical 

(new) stations into the network. This 

allows the user to evaluate various locations where new gages could be installed 

and what types of basin characteristics 

would result in the greatest reduction of 

error associated with redefining the estimates of flow at ungaged sites. 

Oil and Gas Resources

Much of Kentucky lies in the Appalachian Basin, which is a mature oil- and 

gas-bearing basin. The USGS, in cooperation with the Kentucky Geological Survey 

(KGS), is examining subsurface geologic 

structure and stratigraphy to determine the 

potential for oil and gas production. As 

part of this effort, the USGS and the KGS 

have jointly acquired seismic-reflection 

data for the geologic feature known as the 

Rome Trough. The USGS has prepared 

detailed stratigraphic sections through 

ancient strata of the Trough. These data 

are used for locating subsurface structures 

and features, such as reservoirs and stratigraphic traps that may contain petroleum 

resources. The seismic-reflection data also 

are helpful in locating buried faults that 

may produce earthquakes in the future.

Assessment of Undiscovered 

Mineral Deposits

The USGS is completing a prototype 

quantitative national assessment of mineral resources for five commonly used 

metals—gold, silver, copper, lead, and 

zinc. To carry out this assessment, a cooperative project with the KGS has been initiated to collect the necessary data. This 

assessment will enable the USGS to 

respond quickly to requests for information about these mineral resources 

throughout the country from Congress, 

Federal and State agencies, industry, and 

the public. The assessment provides general mineral information to land-use planners who are concerned with resourcemanagement issues, lists significant 

known deposits, identifies areas with mineral potential, and provides estimates of 

the quantity of each metal likely to be 

present. In Kentucky, tracts are delineated 

that have potential for containing different 

kinds of zinc and lead deposits. The 

assessment will be useful as a basis for 

more detailed, regional studies.

Problem Solving in the Ohio 

River Alluvial Aquifers

Ground water in the Ohio River alluvial aquifer is an important natural 

resource for numerous communities 

located within the Ohio River Valley. 

Increased use of this resource has been 

cause for increased attention to and awareness of proper ground-water-resource 

management policies and procedures. 

Currently, the USGS is conducting a number of investigations that address groundwater resources in the Carrollton area, 

ground-water movement near the city of 

Owensboro, and ground-water quality in 

the Louisville area.

Figure 2. USGS hydrologic technician collects 

water-quality data at Fort Campbell, Kentucky.
Each of the USGS investigations is conducted in cooperation with a local governmental body or utility. The USGS and the 

Carroll County Water-Supply Planning 

Board are working together to provide a 

better understanding of the hydrogeologic 

conditions and to develop a ground-water 

model that can be used by managers to 

effectively and efficiently manage the area's 

ground-water resources to support the 

unprecedented industrial growth.

The USGS, in cooperation with the 

Owensboro Municipal Utilities, has completed a preliminary investigation of the 

hydrogeology of the alluvial aquifer at 

Owensboro and has developed a groundwater model that can be used by planners 

to simulate present conditions and the 

effects of projected demands on the aquifer 

and to reconfigure wellhead-protection 

areas as needed.

The USGS, in cooperation with the city 

of Louisville and an advisory group, the 

Louisville Aquifer Study Group, is working to design, install, sample, and maintain 

a network of ground-water-quality monitoring wells. The data collected from this 

investigation will provide an accurate 

assessment of the area's ground-water 

quality.

The alluvial aquifers along the Ohio 

River are and will continue to be important 

water resources. The USGS is working 

with local cooperators to increase the 

knowledge and to develop the tools needed 

to plan for future influences on these 

resources. Present investigations have been 

designed to collect and manage the needed 

data and incorporate them into regionally 

consistent tools that help water managers 

and environmental coordinators meet their 

water-use and environmental planning 

goals.

Topographic and Geologic 

Mapping

Among the most popular and versatile 

products of the USGS are its topographic 

maps at the scale of 1:24,000 (1 inch on the 

map represents 2,000 feet on the ground). 

These maps depict basic natural and cultural features of the landscape, such as 

lakes and streams, highways and railroads, 

boundaries, and geographic names; contour lines are used to depict the elevation 

and shape of terrain. Kentucky is covered 

by 779 maps at this scale. These maps are 

useful for civil engineering, land-use planning, natural-resource monitoring, and 

other technical applications and have long 

been favorites with the general public for 

outdoor uses, including hiking, camping, 

hunting, exploring, and fishing expeditions.

The USGS is working with the KGS to 

develop an efficient method for preparing 

digital data from the USGS geologic map 

series of Kentucky. As a prototype, 

selected 7.5-minute geologic maps are 

being scanned to produce digital raster 

data that can be stored on CD–ROM's and 

used in a geographic information system 

(GIS) as a base for overlaying other digital 

data. The KGS is evaluating the initial 

results to assess the feasibility of digitizing the geologic maps statewide. All the 

7.5-minute geologic maps for Kentucky 

could be scanned and stored on about 17 

CD–ROM's.

The USGS is working with the Kentucky Geographic Information Advisory 

Council to produce a series of maps and 

plots demonstrating the use of currently 

available GIS technology with existing digital data, such as digital elevation models 

(DEM's), digital raster graphics (DRG's), 

and digital orthophotoquads (DOQ's). A 

DEM is an array of regularly spaced elevation values registered to a map base. A 

DRG is a scanned image of a USGS topographic map, and a DOQ is a digital image 

that combines the image characteristics of 

an aerial photograph with the geometric 

qualities of a map. These computerized 

products can be used interactively to revise 

obsolete maps.

The USGS is aiding the Kentucky office 

of GIS in evaluating existing digital information for use with the proposed State digital base map. The base map is being 

designed to provide a foundation with 

known positional accuracy that may be 

used to tie specific geographic data to by 

State and local agencies. Digital highway 

information has been evaluated for use 

with DOQ’s and DRG's.

Earth Science Information

The Earth Science Information Centers 

(ESIC’s) provide information to the public 

about USGS programs, products, and 

technological developments. The ESIC in 

Lexington was established under a cooperative agreement between the USGS and 

the KGS. As part of the national ESIC 

network, this Center provides information 

on such earth science topics as cartography, geography, digital data, remote sensing, geology, geophysics, geochemistry, 

hydrology, geohydrology, aerial photography, and land use. It is supported by the 

USGS with reference materials, technical 

assistance, training and outreach activities, 

and access to USGS data bases.

The STATEMAP Component of the 

National Cooperative Geologic Mapping 

Program is funded through a matching 

grant with the KGS. The purpose of the 

project is to convert Kentucky 7.5-minute 

geologic quadrangle maps to digital format. The 161 maps that comprise the Kentucky River Basin have been selected to be 

the first maps converted. The digital geologic maps, as well as other GIS data, are 

useful to assess surface and ground water, 

mineral resources, and environmental 

geology in the Basin.

Effects of Mining-Related 

Disturbance on Ground Water

The effects of acidic mine drainage in 

the Appalachian Region coal fields in eastern Kentucky and adjacent States are well 

known and extensively studied; however, 

the effects of mining-related disturbances 

on ground water are not well known. Most 

households in rural Appalachia in Kentucky obtain water from privately owned 

wells and springs. Much anecdotal evidence is available to indicate that blasting, 

mining-related subsidence, and acidic 

drainage can affect ground water, but these 

effects are generally not well documented, 

and cause-and-effect relations between 

mining-related disturbance and degradation of ground-water quality and quantity 

are poorly understood.

In a recent study done by the USGS, in 

cooperation with the Office of Surface 

Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, 

dye-tracer tests were used to investigate 

the movement of ground water in coalbearing rocks near an abandoned underground coal mine near Fishtrap Lake in 

Pike County. Nontoxic fluorescent dyes 

were injected into a well at the top of a 

ridge several times between 1985 and 

1992. The subsurface movement of the 

dyes was monitored by using water samples collected from monitoring wells 

drilled at different depths into the ridge 

top and adjacent valley walls.
For More

Information

The results of the study confirmed that 

dye-laden ground water moved most rapidly through interconnected fractures in 

bedrock and coal beds. The direction and 

rate of movement of the dyes was highly 

variable and mostly dependent on fluctuations in ground-water elevations that had 

been caused by changes in hydrologic conditions. In one tracer test, dye moved from 

the ridge top to the deepest wells at an estimated velocity of 36 feet per day. However, 

rapid movement of dyes to downgradient 

wells did not seem to result in quick or efficient flushing of the dye from the groundwater system. Instead, residual dyes, which 

are present in less transmissive fracture 

zones, were periodically flushed following 

recharge events and intermittently detected 

in downgradient wells weeks and even 

months after injection.

The results of these dye-tracer tests are 

important because they provide direct evidence of the rapid movement of ground 

water through fractures in ridge- and 

valley-wall settings typical of the Appalachian Region coal fields and the effects of 

mining-related subsidence on ground-water 

flow paths. The movement of dyes during 

the tracer tests provides a conceptual model 

for the migration of mining-related contaminants in fractured and layered coal-bearing 

rocks that can be tested and refined by 

future ground-water-quality studies.

Comprehensive Study of 

Geohydrology of Western 

Kentucky Industrial Complex

The USGS, in cooperation with the 

Department for Environmental Protection 

(DEP) of the Kentucky Natural Resources 

and Environmental Protection Cabinet, is 

working to understand and characterize the 

environmental conditions and water 

resources of an area that includes an industrial complex near Calvert City, so that the 

risk to public health and the environment 

can be assessed. The resultant data and 

study findings will assist the DEP in deciding how to remediate or abate problems 

related to past waste-disposal practices in 

the area and in facilitating cooperation of 

the public, waste industry, and government 

to manage and plan for future protection 

and reduction of risk to the environment.

To address problems of potential 

ground-water contamination from the 

industrial complex, it was necessary to 

understand the geology and hydrology of 

the aquifer in the area to predict how long 

it would take contaminants to move from 

one place to another in the ground water 

and what direction they would take. To 

understand the geohydrology, test wells 

were drilled, ground-water levels were 

monitored, and streamflows in nearby 

streams were measured.

A ground-water flow model was constructed to simulate the flow of water in the 

aquifer in response to withdrawals from 

hypothetical wells at selected sites in the 

study area. The results of the model simulations were used to show what happened 

to the water levels in the area, the flow 

direction of the ground water for each 

withdrawal plan and the contributing area 

or source of water to the hypothetical 

wells.

Coal-Resource Data Collection

Several other major efforts are currently 

active in Kentucky. The USGS’s National 

Coal Resources Data System, in cooperation with the KGS, is collecting coalresource data. Coal resources in the eastern and western Kentucky coal fields are 

being assessed under the USGS/KGS coal 

availability/recoverability investigations. A 

2-year USGS/KGS study of potentially 

toxic trace elements in the fuel cycle of a 

coal-burning powerplant has concluded its 

first phase of monthly sample collection 

and is entering its assessment phase.

The USGS National Coal Assessment 

has undertaken a project to collect digital 

outcrop data for two major coal beds in 

Kentucky.

Aquatic Ecology

The Biological Resources Division (formerly the National Biological Service) of 

the USGS conducts research and provides 

scientific data needed by land managers to 

manage effectively aquatic-related 

resources in Kentucky. The USGS is 

assessing the life history characteristics 

and habitat requirements of several species 

of endangered mussels of the Green River 

Basin to facilitate the successful recovery 

of these species. As part of the Appalachian Clean Streams Initiative, which is a 

program to help mitigate the effects of 

acidic mine drainage on the environment, 

the USGS is providing biological information and technical expertise in Kentucky’s 

Rock Creek watershed.

USGS State representative

9818 Bluegrass Parkway

Louisville, KY 40299

(502) 493-1900

Fax: (502) 493-1909

Email: dc_ky@usgs.gov

Additional earth science

information can be found by

accessing the USGS Home Page

on the World Wide Web at

http://www.usgs.gov/

For more information on

all USGS reports and products

(including maps, images,

and computerized data), call

1-800-USA-MAPS

The USGS provides maps,

reports, and information to help

others meet their needs to manage,

 develop, and protect America’s water,

energy, mineral, biological, and land

resources. We help find the natural

resources needed to build tomorrow,

and supply the scientific understanding needed to help minimize or mitigate the effects of natural hazards

and environmental damage caused

by natural and human activities. The

results of our efforts touch the daily

 life of almost every American.

U.S. Geological Survey

Fact Sheet FS-016-96