Water-Supply and Irrigation Paper No. 155 Series 0, Underground Waters, 52

PEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

CHARLES D. WALCOTT, DIRECTOR

FLUCTUATIONS OF THE WATER LEVEL IN

WELLS, WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE

TO LONG ISLAND, NEW YORK

BY

A.. O.

WASHINGTON

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 

1906

CONTENTS.

Page. 

Introduction and summary.....................-....------.-.-.---.-.-...- 7

PART I. Long Island observations ._..._.._.............-....-------------. 9

Introductory outline of hydrologic conditions.......................... 9

Observations of the United States Geological Survey.................... 10

Observations with direct-reading gages............................. 10

At Huntington, N. Y......................................... 10

AtOysterBay, N. Y.......................... .-- -.--.. -- 13

Observations with self-recording gages............................. 17

Instruments used............................................. 17

At Queens County Water Company pumping station near Hewlett, N. Y.................................................. 18

At Long Beach, ^. ^f.................^....................... 19

Near Millburn, N. Y.......................................... 22

AtLynbrook, N. Y............................................ 23

At Douglaston, N. Y.......................................... 25

Observations of the New York City commission on additional water supp1 y. 27 

PART II. General discussion of the fluctuations of water in wells............. 28

Classification of causes ................................................ 28

Fluctuations produced by natural causes............................... 29

Rainfall and evaporation.......................................... 29

Regular annual fluctuations ................................... 29

General character and cause.................... .......... 29

Effect of depth of soil above the zone of complete saturat'on

on time of occurrence of yearly maximum and minimum.. 34 

Irregular secular fluctuations.............-.--...--.........--. 37

Amount of annual and secular fluctuation..................... 38

Fluctuations due to single showers............................. 42

By transmitted pressure without any increase in the ground

water.................................................. 42

By the actual addition of water to the ground water through 

percolation ............................................ 44

Percentage of rainfall contributed to the ground water.......... 44

Methods of estimation .................................... 44

By lysimeters........................................ 44

By stream discharge.................................. 49

By changes in level of ground-water table.............. 50

References relating to well fluctuations due to rainfall........... 51

Fluctuations due to barometric changes............................ 52

Character and cause .......................................... 52

References relating to well fluctuations due to barometric changes. 53 

Fluctuations due to temperature changes........................... 54

Observations at Madison, Wis.; fluctuations varying directly with 

the temperature............................................ 54

3
4 CONTENTS.

Page.

PART II. General discussion of the fluctuations of water in wells Cont'd. 

Fluctuations produced by natural causes Continued.

Fluctuations due to temperature changes Continued.

Observations at Lynbrook, N. Y.; fluctuations inversely related to 

the temperature............................................ 57

Observations at Sherlock, Kans................................ 59

Diurnal fluctuations of Cache la Poudre River, Colorado ........ 59

References relating to fluctuations produced by temperature

changes i.................................................. 59

Fluctuations produced by rivers................................... 59

By change in rate of ground-water discharge ................... 60

By irregular infiltration from rivers with normally impervious 

beds....................................................... 61

By plastic deformation. -......-............-.--...-...-.-...-. 62

References relating to fluctuations produced by rivers........... 62

Fluctuations produced by changes in lake levels.................... 63

Fluctuations produced by changes in the ocean level tidal wells.... 63

By changes in rate of outflow of ground water.................. 64

By plastic deformation---...-...-. ............................ 65

References relating to tidal fluctuations in wells ........------.. 67

Possibility of tides in the ground water produced by direct solar and

lunar attraction ................................................ 69

Fluctuations due to geologic causes ................................ 69

Fluctuations produced by human agencies.............................. 70

Effect of settlement, deforestation, and cultivation.........---..-... 70

Effect of irrigation................................................ 72

Effect of dams.................................................... 72

Effect of underground water-supply developments.................. 72

Subsurface dams........-.-.---.---....-.....-................ 72

Infiltration galleries ................................ ......... 72

Pumping ..................................................... 73

Artesian-well developments................................... 74

Effect of large cities on the ground-water level.;.................... 74

Loaded freight trains ......--.-.......-..........-......----...--. 75

Fluctuations due to indeterminate causes............................... 75

Small fluctuations................................................ 75

Fluctuations at Millburn, N. Y.................................... 76

Fluctuations at Urisino Station, New South Wales.................. 76

Index ................................................................... 77

ILLUSTRATIONS.

PLATE I. Sketch map of western Long Island, New York, showir? localities

discussed ..................................................... 9

II. Map of a portion of southern Long Island, New York, showing location of Hewlett, Long Beach, Millburn, and Lynbrook wells..... 16

III. Partial record of fluctuations of water level in a 181-foot well near

Hewlett, N. Y................................................ 18

IV. Partial record of fluctuations in a 386-foot well at Long Beach, N. Y. 20
ILLUSTRATIONS. 0

Page.

PLATE V. Partial record of fluctuations of water level in a 289-foot well n^ar

Millburn,N. Y............................................... 22

VI. Partial record of fluctuations of water level in wells at Lynbrcok,

N.Y......................................................... 24

VII. Sketch map showing location and topographic surroundings of wells

of the Citizens' Water Supply Company near Douglaston, N. Y... 26 

VIII. Partial record of fluctuations of water level in wells near Douglaston,

N. Y......................................................... 28

IX. Fluctuations of water level in wells near Wiener Neustadt, Austria. 32 

FIG. 1. Diagrammatic cross section of Long Island, showing principal to-x>- 

graphic and geologic factors influencing the underground water conditions .......................................................... 9

2. Sketch map showing location of well of Huntington Light and Pover

Company at Huntington Harbor, N. Y........................... 11

3. Detail of well and tide curves at Huntington Harbor, N. Y., showing lag between well and tide.................................... 12

4. Sketch map showing location of wells observed at Oyster Bay, JST. Y.. 13

5. Sketch map showing topographic surroundings of wells shown in fig.

4 and location of sections shown in figs. 6 and 7 .................. 14

6. Section at Oyster Bay, N. Y., along line B-B, fig. 5, showing geologic

relations of wells observed ...................................... 14

7. Section at Oyster Bay, N. Y., along line A-A, fig. 5, showing geologic ,

relation of the artesian wells at Oyster Bay and on Center Island .. 15

8. Well and tide curves at Oyster Bay, N. Y........................... 17

9. Yearly rainfall and water-level curves in shallow wells in middle

Europe .......-....--....-.-...:...-.............-........---.. 29

10. Yearly rainfall and water-level curves in shallow wells in the United

States.......................................................... 30

11. Mean annual ground-water curve at Bryn Mawr, Pa., and rainfall rnd

temperature curves at Philadelphia, Pa ..----.........-....-.-... 31

12. Results of English percolation experiments ..........--.----.---.-.- 32

13. Fluctuations of water level in wells on Long Island, N. Y., from observations of New York City commission on additional water supply.. 36

14. Residual-mass curves of rainfall for Long Island, N. Y., Newark, N. J.,

and Philadelphia, Pa............................................ 37

15. Annual and secular changes of the ground-water level and fluctuations

due to single showers in a shallow well at Millburn, N. Y .....--_. 39

16. Fluctuations of water level in a well at Madison, Wis., showing nontransmission of diurnal fluctuations produced by changes in capillary attraction. ................................................. 57

17. Diagram showing production of fluctuations of ground-water level by

temperature changes affecting rate of flow ------------------------ 58

FLUCTUATIONS OF THE WATER LEVEL IN WELLS, 

WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO LONG ISLAND. 

NEW YORK.

By A. C. VBATCH.

INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARY.

In connection with the investigation of the geology of Long Island by the United 

States Geological Survey in the summer of 1903, a few observations were made on 

the fluctuation of the water level in wells, both with direct-reading and self-recording 

gages. In the consideration of these data, as well as those collected at the same 

time by the New York City commission on additional water supply, it h?s seemed 

desirable to enter into a general discussion of the fluctuation of water in wells.

Some of the results of this study may be briefly summarized as follows:

1. The most important and characteristic of the natural ground-water fluctuations 

is the regular annual period. This is a relatively uniform curve, with a single maximum and minimum, on which the fluctuations of shorter periods, as a rule, form 

but minor irregularities. This curve does not generally resemble the rainfall curve. 

Were the rainfall uniform throughout the year, the ground water would still show a 

regular yearly period and the maximum would occur early in the year in the North 

Temperate Zone. The effect of irregularities in the rainfall is to move the time of 

occurrence of this maximum either forward or back.

2. The water from single showers is generally delivered gradually to the groundwater table, and even where noticeable fluctuations are produced, these do not commonly make important irregularities in the regular annual ground-water curve.

3. Single showers may, by transmitted pressure through the soil air, produce instantaneous and noticeable rises in the water in wells and notably increase tl 3 stream 

discharge without contributing either to the ground water or directly to the surface 

flow.

4. The amount contributed to the ground water can not be satisfactorily estimated 

by the rise and fall of the water in wells, because the same amount of rainfall under 

the same geologic and climatic conditions, in beds of the same porosity, will produce fluctuations of very different values. Near the ground-water outlet the total 

yearly range may be but a few inches, while near the ground-water divide it may be 

50 or 100 feet. When an attempt is made to calculate the amount of water received 

from single rains, the results are not reliable, because in the cases which are usually 

taken, such as sharp, quick rises, it is impossible to tell how much of the rise is due 

to transmitted pressure and how much to direct infiltration.

5. Because of the increase in stream flow due (1) to transmitted pressure from 

rains, (2) to changes in barometric pressure, and (3) to increase in area of groundwater discharge, with the elevation of the ground-water table, it is not possible to

7
8 FLUCTUATIONS OF THE WATER LEVEL IN WELLS.

correctly separate the quantity of water in the stream discharge contributed by spring 

flow from that contributed by direct surface run-off. There are many reasons for 

believing that in humid regions "flood flows" contain large percentages of ground 

water.

6. Tidal fluctuations in wells are very often produced by a plastic deformation due 

to the loading of the tides, and the occurrence of such fluctuatiors in wells does not 

in itself indicate a connection between the water-bearing strata and the sea.

7. Temperature changes may produce marked fluctuations (1) by changes in capillary 

attraction such fluctuations are perceptible only at the surface o* the zone of complete saturation, are not transmitted to deeper levels, and vary directly with the 

temperature; (2) by changes in viscosity or rate of flow fluctuations due to this 

cause vary inversely with the temperature, and show in deep w?lls by transmitted 

pressure.
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 

74°-00'

74-00'

73°-45' 73-30

SKETCH MAP OF WESTERN LONG ISLAND, SHOWING LOCATION OF DETAILED MAPS (PLS. 

WELLS REFERRED TO IN FIG. 13.
PART I.

LONG ISLAND OBSERVATIONS. 

INTRODUCTORY OUTLINE OF THE HYDROLOGIC CONDITIONS.

The conditions on Long Island, New York, are particularly favorable for the study 

of the fluctuations of water in wells. The geologic and topographic cond: tions are 

such that it may be affirmed that 

the underground water is derived 

wholly from the rain which falls 

on the surface of the island, and 

the problems involved are, therefore, not unduly complicated, as 

they are in many regions, by the 

possibility of the influx of water 

from other areas. In addition 

to this comparatively complete 

ground-water isolation, . the island is of such a size 120 miles 

long and 20 miles wide that 

ground-water phenomena can 

attain a relatively complete development, and the geologic 

structure of the water-bearing 

beds, while not complicated, is 

sufficiently varied to produce 

several differing conditions.

Topographically the western 

part of Long Island the portion 

involved directly in this paper 

may be said to consist of a single 

range of rolling hills, usually 150 

to 250 feet high, though in one 

place attaining an elevation of 

over 400 feet. This hill range 

descends somewhat abruptly to 

the north shore, where it is cut 

by several reentrant bays occupying old valleys. On the south 

side is a very flat gravel plain, 

sloping gently to the ocean, along 

which a series of barrier beaches 

inclosing long marshes has been 

developed. To the east the hill 

range divides and produces two 

hilly peninsulas, each with a 

single ridge on the northern side.

Geologically the island may be regarded as a series of relatively poroas gravel and 

sand beds, containing irregular and discontinuous clay masses, the whole limited

iub Oceanic springs

Cretaceous flowing weH

North Shore flowing wall 

dependent on local clay bed 

Springs

North Shore flowrng 

wells in valley

Spring

Well depeident on

perched voter table

Wells dependent on 

main wa'or table

Relative vater levels

Springs which supply Brooklyn 

Waterworks ponds

Cretaceous art >slan well 

-Jameoo artesian welj 

Shore springs

Cretaceous artfsiaaweJ]
10 FLUCTUATIONS OF THE WATER LEVEL IN

below by the peneplained surface of a mass of highly disturbed aim metamorphosed 

Paleozoic and pre-Paleozoic rocks, which have little water value except as a more or 

less complete barrier to downward percolation (fig. 1). While these uneonsolidated beds 

represent, in the geologic time scale, several of the divisions of the Upper Cretaceous 

and as many as five Pleistocene or glacial stages, and as a whole are stratified deposits 

dipping at very low angles south and southeastward, they are, under the island, 

essentially continuous from a water standpoint, and the rain falling on the surface is 

relatively free to pass to any part of the mass. The Pleistocene beis which form the 

surface are, however, as a rule, coarse and more porous than the underlying Cretaceous and tend to increase the absorbing power of the island. As a result, the percentage of rainfall which passes into the streams without first going through the 

ground is extremely small.« This percolating water has entirely sa turated the porous 

strata above the bed rock, except a limited portion at the surface, and has driven 

out the salt water which filled these beds when they were first deposited and which 

reoccupied them, at least in part, during the several submergerces to which this 

region has been subjected. The surface of this zone of complete saturation, or the 

main ground-water table, is coincident with the sea level at the si ores and becomes 

more and more elevated in passing inland, though the rate of increase of elevation is 

less than that of the surface, of which it is but a subdued reflection (fig. 1). &

This slope of the ground-water table permits the development cf artesian wells at 

many points on the coast, at elevations which are commonly less than 10 feet above 

high tide. The head is, in all cases, due to the greater height of the ground water 

in the adjacent hill mass. In order that such a differential head m°.y be developed, it 

is merely necessary that the water-bearing bed in question be coarser than the overlying beds. A clay or other impervious cover is not essential and, indeed, is often 

absent.

OBSERVATIONS OF THE UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY.

Observations on the fluctuations of the water level in wells were made by the Geological Survey near Huntington, Oyster Bay, Valley Stream, Millburn, Long Beach, 

and Donglaston, all villages on Long Island west of longitude 73° W., and between 

latitudes 40° 35' and 40° 55' N. (PI. I.)

OBSERVATIONS WITH DIRECT-BEADING GAGES.

OBSERVATIONS AT HUNTINGTON, N. Y.

The Huntington observations, from which the other Survey observations developed, 

were undertaken to test the common report that the discharge of most of the artesian 

wells along the northern shore of Long Island fluctuated with the tide; in some cases 

the flow ranging from 0 at low tide to over 100 gallons per minute at high tide. 

Nearly all of these wells were being pumped, or were utilized to run rams, but permission was obtained to gage a newly completed well belonging to the Huntington 

Light and Power Company, at Huntington Harbor, until it should be connected with 

the pumps a period of three or four days.

A direct-reading float gage of simple type was quickly constructed by Baker & Fox, 

Brooklyn, N. Y. This consisted of a 2-inch cylinder of brass carrying a J-inch aluminum rod 6 feet long and graduated to hundredths of a foot, with the zero point just

a Spear (Rept. New York City Commission on Additional Water Supply, 1904, p. 829) has estimated 

that 43 per cent of the total stream flow (or 14 per cent of the rainfall) can be considered as flood flow 

or as not having passed through the ground. He bases this judgment on the relative heights pf the 

stream and ground-water levels near the south shore, where, as explained on page 61, a correct judgment can not be formed. The average flood flow is believed to be much less than 6 per cent of the 

precipitation.

b For details of the slope of the ground-water table see Prof. Paper U. S. Geol. Survey No. 44, 1906, 

Pis. XI, XII.
OBSEBVATION8 WITH DIBEOT-BEADING GAGES. 11

above the cylinder. For convenience in carrying, as well as to avoid the use of so 

long a rod except where absolutely necessary, the rod was divided into tl ree parts 

and jointed. The cylinder was so constructed that it would just carry the to^al length 

of 6 feet, and when used with only 2 or 4 feet of rod, weights, balancing th^ effect of 

the part removed, were added to the bottom of the cylinder.

Some trouble was experienced by the float tending to approach the side of the well 

and develop a thin capillary film between it and the pipe, which decreased the sensitiveness of the gage. It is suggested that when direct-reading floats are used in 

wells of small diameter they be kept away from the walls of the well by means of

FIG. 2. Sketch map showing location of well of Huntington Light and Power Company at Huntington Harbor, N. Y.

slightly arched wires, as in the float devised by Professor King for the self-recording 

gages used in the Madison experiments and later on Long Island.

The well of the Huntington Light and Power Company is situated on a. dock at 

Huntington Harbor, near Halesite post-office (PL I, fig. 2.) The natural level of the 

surface at the point where the well is sunk is between high- and low-tide mark, but 

the ground has been built up by filling about 5 feet higher. The well is 75 feet deep 

and 4 inches in diameter, and the water rises in the pipe from 1 to 3 feet above the 

surface of the made ground. The well was piped above the limit of flow, eo that all 

the fluctuations could be measured directly, rather than inferred from variations in 

the rate of discharge.
12 FLUCTUATIONS OF THE WATER LEVEL IN WELLS.

The geologic section reported by the driller, Mr. H. J. Dubois, is as follows:

Section of well of Huntington Light and Power Company at Huntington Harbor,

Halesite, N. Y.

Feet.

1. Filled ground ......................................................... 0-6

2. Swamp deposit......................................................... 6-10

3. Dark sand and gravel.................................................. 10-70

4. -Blue clay ............................................................. 70-71

5. Light-yellow gravel containing artesian fresh water ...................... 71-75

The artesian flow is due to the height of the ground water in the steep hill just 

east of the well, the head being transmitted through the coarse bc;ds encountered in 

the bottom of the well. Water escapes in many springs along the beach, but the 

movement through the lower gravels is freer and a differential head is produced,

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FIG. 3. Details of well and tide curves at Huntington Harbor, N. Y., showing- lag between well and 

tide. From observations with direct-reading floats by A. C. Veatch and Isaiah Bowman.

which, when a free escape to the surface is afforded, as by a well tube, causes a flowing well. The blue-clay layer reported probably represents the feather-edge of a 

sheet which thickens under the harbor, but does not extend 1 ^yond it. This is 

inferred from the general geologic relations of the region.

A board gage divided to tenths of a foot was placed on the north side of the platform pier at the point marked ''Gage No. 1" in fig. 2. There was relatively still 

water at this point, and the oldest inhabitant stated positively, when the board was 

placed, at about 6 p. m. on May 8, that the foot of the gage would not be exposed at 

low water. Observations were at once begun on the well and tido"gage, and continued until 3 o'clock on the morning of May 9, when at low tide the bottom of the 

gage was exposed. The gage was then moved to point No. 2, sorth of the platform 

pier, and the observations continued from 7.38 a. m. May 9 to 7.30 p. m. May 10, 

and thus four high and three low waters were compared.
OBSERVATIONS WITH DIRECT-READING GAGES 13

The bench mark established was as follows: Cross on top of south end of doorsill, 

west side of building of Huntington Light and Power Company. The elevation 

above the zero of gage No. 2 is 12.232 feet. ~'^'"

The observations here gave curves of the same general character as those, jstetted 

at Oyster Bay (fig. 8, p. 16).

The two curves are essentially parallel, and while the semidiurnal range of the tide 

is about 8 feet, that of the well is about 2 feet. The low water in the well if &6-f©et 

above the highest water in the bay.

In fig. 3 the high- and low-tide readings for both the well and the tide hr.ve been 

plotted on a large scale, with the same time values, but with different vertical values, 

in order to bring out the amount of time the fluctuations in thejyell lag behind those 

of the tide. These curves indicate that for the period of observation the lovr tide in 

the well has an average establishment, or lag behind the ocean waters, of two 

minutes and .the high tide eight minutes.

On May 11 Mr. Isaiah Bowman made observations with the direct-reading floats 

on a shallow 6-inch flowing well belonging to the Consolidated Ice Company, at 

Huntington. It is located about a mile from the harbor, at an elevation of 40 feet. 

The observations were continued for six hours and no fluctuations of any character 

noted.

OBSERVATIONS AT OYSTER BAY, N. Y.

During the month following the observations at Huntington Harbor it wra found 

that among the many flowing wells at Oyster Bay four could be observed for a limited time.

FIG. 4. Sketch map showing location of wells observed at Oyster Bay, N. Y.

These wells are all very near the shore; indeed, the Casino well, which is beneath 

the floor of a building extending over the water, is always covered at high tide (fig. 4). 

The others, the Burgess, Lee (or Hill), and Underhill wells (fig. 4), are at distances 

of from 50 to 500 feet from ordinary high-tide mark, though the ground at all is covered when extraordinary wind-aided tides occur. The depths of these veils, as 

determined by soundings at the time of the observations, were: Casino, 93 feet; 

Underhill, 114 feet; Lee, 188 feet; Burgess, 155.5 feet. The Casino and Lee are 3-inch 

wells, and the Burgess and Underhill 2-inch wells. All these wells pass through a 

surface layer of sand and gravel, then a layer of blue clay 50 to 75 feet thick, and 

finally penetrate a rather coarse water-bearing sand. In some cases the upp^r sands 

and gravels will furnish flowing water, but all the wells observed obtain their supply
14 FLUCTUATIONS OF THE WATER LEVEL IN WELLS.

from below the blue-clay layer (fig. 6). This blue clay thins rapHly southward and 

entirely disappears half a mile south of the wells (fig. 7). It extends under Oyster 

Bay Harbor and is exposed in the clay pits on the south end of Center Island.«

LONG ISLAND SOUND

2 miles

FIG. 5. Sketch map showing topographic surroundings of veils 

shown in fig. 4 and location of sections shown in figs. 6 and 7.

All these wells were flowing, and in each case, before observations were commenced, 

lengths of pipe were added until the wells no longer flowed, even at high tide. Float 

gages similar to those used at Huntingtou were then inserted and the wells covered

w

Feet

FIG. 6. Section at Oyster Bay, N. Y., along line B-B, fig. 5, si owing geologic relations of wells observed.

with flat-topped caps, each containing a smooth beveled hole through which the 

gage rod extended. &

a The folding of the beds here shown is due to ice shove. See Prof. Paper U. S. Geol. Survey No. 44, 

1906, pp. 39-43.

&The general conditions of observation are well shown in Prof. Paper U. S. Geol. Survey No. 44,1906, 

PI. XIII, A. This view indicates, in a very graphic manner, the relation of th<s wells to the water of 

the bay and the considerable head developed by these fresh-water artesian wells on the seashore.
OBSERVATIONS WITH DIRECT-READING GAGES. 15

In order to obtain more refined results than were possible with the board gage at 

Huntington, a 3-inch pipe, perforated at a point several feet above the bottom, was 

driven in the harbor at the end of a row of piles and at a distance of about 200 feet

from the shore (fig. 4). This still box or tide well was fitted with a direct-reading 

float gage like those used in the artesian wells. This arrangement is not to be recommended during stormy weather, but fortunately during the whole time of observation at this place no trouble was experienced from that cause.
16 FLUCTUATIONS OF THE WATEE LEVEL IN WELLS.

Observations wei'e commenced on the Casuio, Underbill, and Burgess wells on the 

evening of May 30, by a party in charge of Mr. Isaiah Bowman, and continued, with 

interruptions on the nights of May 30 and 31 and June 1, to 10 p. r». on June 4.

On June 10 and 11 observations were made on the Lee (or Hill) well, covering two 

high and two low tides, and for the purpose of comparison the Casino and tide wells 

were also observed. Observations were generally made every minute for thirty 

minutes preeeding and following the times of high and low water, and from these 

values the curves shown in fig. 8 were drawn. Times of high and low water were 

found by plotting the observations near high- and low-tide marks on a much larger 

scale, in the manner shown in fig. 3. The values so obtained are indicated on fig. 8, 

and are given in the following table:

Difference in time between high- and low-water stages in four artesian veils at Oyster Bay, 

N. Y. , and the tide in Oyster Say Harbor.

[Time expressed in hours and minutes of 24-hour clock.] 

HIGH TIDES.

1903.

Casino well. ............. 

Tide.....................

Difference (lag) ...

Burgess well ............ 

Tide.....................

Difference (lag) . . .

Tide.....................

Underbill well .......... 

Tide.....................

May 

30.

......

......

May 31.

......

......

......

14.52 

14.43

.09

15.13 

14.43

.30

16.02 

14.43

1.19

June 

1.

......

16.05 

15.44

.21

17.02 

15.44

1.18

June 2.

......

......

......

17.05 

16.54

.11

17.15

re. 54

.21

18.00 

16.54

June 3.

5.19 

5.12

.07

5.38 

5.12

.26

6.20 

5.12

1.08

18.11 

18.02

.09

18.25 

18.02

.23

19.10 

18.02

1.08

Jun<3 

4.

6.38 

6.29

.09

6.56 

6.29

.27

7.41 

6.29

1.12

June 

10.

......

......

------

«0.20 

23.48

.32

......

June 

11.

12.22 

12. 20

.02

------

13.12 

12.20

.52

Average 

lag.

Minutes.

0.8

24.7

.42

71.8

LOW TIDES.

Tide.....................

Difference ( lag) . . .

Tide .....................

Underbill well.......... 

Tide.....................

20.28

.18

.....

21.25 

20.10

1.15

9.21

9 fid

.17

10.17 

9.04

1.13

......

......

10.41

10.00

.41

11.22 

10.00

11 °6

10.53

.33

12.06 

10.53

1.13

23.46

03 36

10

23.36

.34

«0.55 

23.36

1 19

12.08

11.55

13

......

------

12.28

11.55

.33

13.11 

11.55

0.47

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a Morning of following day.
U. S. GEOLOQICAL SURVEY WATER-SUPPLY "APER NO, 155 PL. II

N V.dommisstdh on Additional

 /TQueens Cou 

Water Co; 

ii tatpn

Ui^^;M^iSs^^

^4 T L ^4 .V T I C

MAP OF PORTION OF SOUTHERN LONG ISLAND, SHOWING LOCATION OF HEWLETT, LONG BEACH,

MILLBURN, AND LYNBROOK WELLS.
LONG ISLAND OBSERVATIONS. 17

OBSERVATIONS WITH SELF-RECORDING GAGES.

INSTRUMENTS USED.

The continuation ofthebservations by means self-recording gageswas dueto

theimly interest ofMr. F.HNewell andProf. Charles S.Slichter. Mr. Newell

FEET ADOVELOW TIDE

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FIG. 8. Well and tide curves at Oyster Bay, N. Y., showing tidal fluctuations due to pl

floats by party in charge of Isaiah Bowman, unde
18 FLUCTUATIONS OF THE WATER LEVEL IN WELLS.

mented by a gage constructed at Purdue University from the designs of Mr. Elwood 

Mead.

Shortly after Mr. Newell's visit, and before the Friez gages had been received, 

Prof. Charles S. Slichter arrived to take charge of the measurement of the rate of 

underflow. He kindly obtained the loan of five of the gages u^ed by King in his 

experiments at Madison, Wis.; 3 of these, four were week gages and one a one-day 

gage. The King gages were constructed by H. Green, Brooklyn, from barograph 

stands; they consist of an ordinary barograph cylinder, driven by a double-spring 

marine clock, the recording device being a simple lever on a cone bearing with a pen 

on one end;'and a place for attaching the float on the other. At the point where the 

clock motidn is transmitted to the drum there was a slight amount of play which 

King found would introduce into the records an error of one to two hours. A friction brake 'was, however, subsequently added to overcome this defect. The gages 

as received on Long Island were adjusted to magnify the fluctuations two or more 

times; and as this scale was entirely too great for the wells observed, the arm was 

extended until the ratio was 1:2 and a reduction of one-half thereby obtained. 

These gages were found to be more sensitive and reliable than any others used. By 

means of the simple lever with its cone bearing, the friction in this instrument is 

reduced to a minimum; the pens respond to the slightest movement of the water, 

and for the faithful reproduction of small fluctuations this simpl? type of gage is to 

be highly recommended.

In the Mead gage the recording drum is vertical and the pen is carried by a carriage 

working between two upright guides. The wire supporting the carriage winds about 

a wheel connected with the wheel around which a wire from the float passes, and is 

lifted and lowered as the float descends and rises. The float and the wheel to which 

the pen is attached are so related in diameter that the curve traced is 10/42 of the true 

scale. There is with this gage, as with most gages where the recording cylinder is 

driven by the clockj some lost motion at the point of connection. This is particularly bad in this instrument. On the Long Beach records great care was used in setting the gage and the trouble was avoided, but some of the curves from well No. 8, at 

Douglaston, are clearly in error two to three hours.

In the Friez gage & the recording drum is horizontal and is moved by the float, 

while the pen is moved by the clockwork. It was found that with the size of float 

that must be used in wells of small diameter the inertia of the dmm in this instrument was such that it would not move until considerable head was developed and 

that small fluctuations were often not recorded. There was r.lso a considerable 

amount of lost motion in the cogs used in the reducing device; and while an eccentric was provided for engaging the cogs closer, this could not be done without so 

increasing the friction that the instrument was useless. As a whole, this gage is not 

sufficiently sensitive for this kind of work, and the time element is entirely too small.

A water-stage register manufactured by a western house was also used, but the 

results obtained were not satisfactory because of the poor mechanical construction of 

the gage.

OBSERVATIONS ON WELL OF QUEENS COUNTY WATER COMPANY, 1 MILE WEST OF

HEWLETT, N. Y.

Through the kindness of the chief engineer of the Queens County Water Company, 

Mr. Charles R. Bettes, an artesian well 181 feet deep and 3,300 feet south of the 

company's pumping station (PI. II) was covered with a shelter for the protection of 

the gages and placed at the disposal of the Survey. This well, as is common with 

the wells of about the same depth sunk near the pumping station, passes through a 

layer of surface sand and gravel, then through beds of clay and other fine material

a Bull. U. S. Weather Bureau No. 5, 1892.

& Manufactured by Julian P. Friez, Baltimore, Md.
U. 3. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

1903 M JUN *2 3 ° (

THERMOGRAPH RECORD ^ *° 

AT FLORAL PARK, « so

UJ

NEW YORK. c 70

(6 miles north of well.) a 

60

45

AUTOGRAPHIC RECORD «§ 46 

OF FLUCTUATIONS "IN £g 47 

A 181 FT. WELL '^ 

AT FENHURST Jul 48 

(HEWLETT) >< 49 

NEW YORK. «| ..

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(Inverted curve) <>

£g 51 

52 

53

BAROGRAPH RECORD °£ 300 

AT BRENTWOOD, N. Y. f §

( 26 miles north of well.) is29'75

240

RECORD OF PUMPING AT

CO

QUEENS CO. WATER GO'S g 20° 

PUMPING PLANT < 16o

AT § 120 

, FENHURST, 5

NEW YORK. i 8° 

(3000 feet from well.) 40

0

0.00 

RAINFALL RECORD CO

AT FLORAL PARK, AND * 

£ 0.50 

BRENTWOOD, N. Y.

(Respectively 5 miles north and - 

26 miles northeast of wells.) £ 1-00 

, : rom Friez self-recording gages. Q

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WATER-SUPPLY PAPER NO. 155 PL. Ill

JULY 9 

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PARTIAL RECORD OF FLUCTUATIONS OF WATER LEVEL IN A 181-FOOT WELL AT HEWLETT, N. Y. 

From a King gage in charge of Francis L. Whitney and F. D. Rathbun, field assistants. Well curve is inverted.
OPSERVATIOTirS WITH SELE'-RECORDING GAGES. 19

into a rather coarse gravel, which yields an abundant supply of flowing water.« 

The whole section is of Pleistocene age. There are in the immediate vicinity of the 

pumping station thirty-two 5-inch wells, 33 feet deep, and nineteen 6-inch veils, 150 

to 190 feet deep. These are arranged along two lines, one extending northwest and 

the other southwest from the pumping station. The extreme end of the south line 

is about 1,000 feet from the pumping station, and the well observed is therefore over 

2,000 feet from the nearest pumped well and but slightly to one side of the probable 

direction of flow. (PL II.) It was the opinion of Mr. Bettes that this wel' was not 

affected by pumping, and through a misinterpretation of the first records it was 

believed that this surmise was correct. Considerable discussion was therefore caused 

when it was found that thte well fluctuations simulated the thermograph crvve in a 

remarkable manner, that these fluctuations were inversely related to the temperature (a rise in temperature causing a fall in water), and that the changes manifested 

themselves with a lag of but one or two hours behind apparently similar temperature 

fluctuations. (PI. III.)

The hourly pumpage was kindly furnished by Chief Engineer Bettes, and- this 

record, when plotted with the well curves, conclusively demonstrated that the 

rhythmical fluctuations were due more to pumpage than to temperature (PL III). 

Fluctuations of a somewhat similar character are produced by temperature, changes 

(see p. 54), and this element is doubtless present in this curve. On PL III the effect 

of pumpage is clearly shown in the double cusps of the well curves on the night of 

July 5-6. The temperature curve shows no such variations. Similarly, the records 

on June 21, 25, and 26 show important differences between the well and ten- perature 

curves, which are largely due to pumping. These results are important because of 

the rapid rate of transmission. The effect of this pumping is felt at a distance of 2,000 

feet or more, with a time lag of but one or two hours. This contrasts sharply with 

the very slow transmission noted in the pressure changes due to tidal loading and to 

the inflow and outflow along rivers (see pp. 60, 65). It conclusively proves that the 

supply here is large; that the beds are quite porous, and that the normal wi.ter flow 

is rapid.

In the records from the day gage, which was maintained here for the first ten 

days, the larger time scale brought out very clearly a series of regular minor fluctuations which were not clearly defined with the smaller scale of the week records. 

The most pronounced of this series recurs day after day and has a period of very 

nearly twenty minutes and a range of 0.06 to 0.08 inch.

Besides these vibrations, with a period of twenty minutes, there are several fluctuations of smaller amplitude and period. One series has a period of about five or six 

minutes, but it is so involved that little can be definitely stated regarding it. An 

instrument with a large time scale, 1 or 2 inches to the hour, and a vertical scale of 

once or twice the normal would record, at this place, a very complicated series of 

small recurrent vibrations.

OBSERVATIONS AT LONG BEACH, N. Y.

The deep flowing well of the Long Beach Association at Long Beach, N. Y. (PL 

II), offered a most excellent opportunity for the observations of tidal fluctuations. 

It is situated on a narrow, sandy barrier beach, separated from the main Hand by 

a sea marsh 2 to 3 miles wide, cut by narrow tidal channels, and is entirely removed 

from the influence of any pumping station.

This well is 3 inches in diameter and 386 feet deep. The water is obtained in 

sands of Cretaceous age and rises 2 to 4 feet above the surface of the ground or 10 to 

12 feet above sea level. The general geologic relations may be inferred from the 

diagrammatic cross section given in fig. 1 (p. 9).

« For detailed record of strata in near-by wells see Prof. Paper U. S. Geol. Survey No. 44,1W6, p. 225. 

fig. 66.
20 FLUCTUATIONS OF THE WATEE LEVEL IN WELLS

The section reported by the driller, Mr. W. C. Jaegle, is as follows:

Section of well of Long Beach Association, at Long Beach, N. Y.

Feet.

1. Whitesand..............._......-..._............................... 0- 36

2. Dark sand and creek mud...._.....................-.............-.. 36- 40

3. White gravel, containing salt water.................................. 40- 51

4. Whitesand ........................................................ 51- 55

5. Dark sand.......................................................... 55- 65

6. Whitesand......................................................... 65- 70

7. White gravel....................................................... 70- 73

8. Yellow sand........................................................ 73- 76

9. Blueclay........................................................... 76- 82

10. Yellow gravel...................................................... 82-90

11. Creekmud......................................................... 90- 99

12. Dark fine sand, containing lignite.................................... 99-101

13. White sand ........................................................ 101-111

14. Dark sand.......................................................... 111-119

15. White sand, with lignite............................................ 119-121

16. Blueclay .......................................................... 121-135

17. Fine white sand ................................................. 1.. 135-143

18. Gravel, with salt water.............................................. 143-145

19. Dark sand.......................................................... 145-156

20. Gravel, with salt water.............................................. 156-158

21. Clay............................................................... 158-174

22. White sand, containing at 190 feet a log of lignitized wood ............ 174-192

23. White gravel and salt water......................................... 192-196

24. Clay............................................................... 196-200

25. Fine sand .......................................................... 200-220

26. Solid blue clay..................................................... 220-270

27. White sand and wood, containing fresh water, sweet and chalybeate... 270-276

28. Clay............................................................... 276-282

29. White sand and wood............................................... 282-297

30. Blueclay .......................................................... 297-305

31. White sand, wood, and water........................................ 305-308

32. Blue clay ........................................................... 308-317

33. White sand, containing wood and artesian water. -._-....-..-......_.. 317-325

34. Blueclay .......................................................... 325-340

35. White sand and mineral water; has considerable CO2 , sparkling and

effervescent...................................................... 340-356

36. Blueclay .......................................................... 356-360

37. White sand and pure water.......................................... 360-378

38. Blueclay .......................................................... 378-380

39. White sand ........................................................ 380-381

40. White clay......................................................... 381-383

41. Fine sand, with artesian water....................................... 383-386

Mr. F. D. Rathbun was placed in charge of these observations and by a careful 

readjustment of the Mead gage obtained very excellent curves (PI. IV). Indeed, 

for this character of work the results from the Mead gage, as set up by Mr. Rathbun, are better than from the Friez gage.

It was impossible to make tide observations at this point, and the values plotted 

on the curve are taken from those predicted by the Coast and Geodetic Survey« 

for East Rockaway Inlet, which is 2.8 miles west of the well. The difference in time

« U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey Tide Tables for 1903, p. 346.
U. 8. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY WATER-SUPPLY PAPFR NO. 155 PL. IV

JULY 7 JULY 8 JULY 9 JULY 10 JULY 11 JULY 12 I JULY 13 

4 8 12 1620 M 4 8 12 16 20 M 4 8 12 16 20 M 4 8 12 1620 M 4 8 12 1620 M 4 8 12 16 20 M 4 8 12 16 20

JULY 14 

4 8 12 1620

PARTIAL RECORD OF FLUCTUATIONS OF WATER LEVEL IN A 386-FOOT WELL AT LONG BEACH, N. Y.

From a Mead gage in charge of F. D. Rathbun, field assistant.
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY WATER-SUPPLY PAPER NO. 155 PL. V

1903.

 4.

TIDE CURVE AT NEW INLET ^ 3 

AS PREDICTED BY o d 2 

U.S. COAST AND GEODETIC SURVEY "* j i 

[5 miles southeast of well.] I- < o

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BAROGRAPH CURVE AT o 30- 25

1C

BRENTWOOD. N. Y. S 

 _ 30.00 

[22 miles northeast of well.] O

co 

From Friez self recording gage i 29.75

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0 6.5 

AUTOGRAPHIC RECORD OF ^ §

FLUCTUATIONS OF WATER LEVEL || 

IN A 289 FT. WELL "* ^

NEAR MILLBURN, N. Y. $ ^ i 5 7- 5

[Inverted curve] z if 

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From Friez self recording gage 3 8 0

THERMOGRAPH RECORD .ft 80

AT FLORAL PARK. N. Y. < o 7°

^ Q 60 [8 miles northwest of well.]

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Explanation: All rains at Brentwo.od ^ 2-°°

are indicated with dotted lines and

the word "Brentwood." All others 

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PARTIAL RECORD OF FLUCTUATIONS OF WATER LEVEL IN A 289-FOOT WELL NEAR MILLBURN, N. Y. 

From a King gage in charge of Francis L. Whitney and F. D. Rathbun, field assistants. Well curve is inverted.
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY WATER-SUPPLY PAPER NO. 155 PL. VI

1903 1 JULY 18 1MUl3 M 4 8 12 4 8 N

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BAROGRAPH CURVE 

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PARTIAL RECORD OF FLUCTUATIONS OF WATER LEVEL IN WELLS OF QUEENS COUNTY WATER COMPANY AT LYNBROOK, N. Y.

From King gages in charge of Francis L. Whitney, field assistant. All well curves are inverted.
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

WATER-SUPPLY PAPER NO. 155 PL. VIII

SEPT. 2 | SEPT. 3 I SEPT. 4 

M 6 12 6 M 6 12 6 M 6 12 6

I I I I I I I

1903 I JULY 27 I JULY 28 | JULY 25)1 | AUG. 16 1 AUG. 17 | AUG. 18 | | AUG. 25 | AUG. 26 I AUG. 27 | AUG. 28 

M 6 12 6 M 6 12 6 M 6 12 6 MM 6 12 6 M 12 6 M 6 12 6 MM 6 2 M 6 12 6 M 6 12 " 6 , ,6

PARTIAL RECORD OF FLUCTUATIONS OF WATER LEVEL IN WELLS NEAR DOUGLASTON, N. Y., AND OF TIDE IN ADJOINING CREEK.

From gages in charge of Francis L. Whitney, field assistant. Curves are inverted. Curves for well No. 8 are from Mead gage; all others are from Friez gages. At point marked * on well curve No 8 lost motion is evident

in original records; this has been approximately corrected in this diagram. Short vertical lines indicate ends of original record sheets.
OBSERVATIONS WITH SELF-RECORDING GAGES. 21

between the tide at this point and on the beach in front of the well is probably not 

more than two or three minutes, since at New Inlet, 5.3 miles east of the veil, high 

and low tides occur only from four to six minutes earlier than at East Rockavay Inlet.

The data regarding the tidal fluctuations in the channel behind Long Beach are 

very meager. Mr. Paul K. Ames, of the Long Beach Association, through whose 

kindness it was possible to make observations on this well, states that the amplitude 

of the tide in Broad and Long Beach channels is about 4 feet, or the average of the 

fluctuations in the open ocean at this point, and that in the tides behind Long Beach 

there is a lag of about one hour.

Observations a few miles to the west in Jamaica Bay, which is separated from the 

main ocean by a sand bar similar to that at Long Beach, show that at various points 

behind the bar the high and low water are from thirty-two to eighty minutes behind 

the same stages in the ocean, and that the lag at high water is less by from six to 

thirty minutes than at low water.« It may be confidently affirmed that asrmilar lag 

occurs in the channels behind Long Beach.

The well curve obtained is a very smooth curve, which is apparently the simple 

resultant of the tides in the ocean and those inside of the bar. The extreme regularity of the low-tide values is believed to be due to the modifying influence of the 

tides in the inner channels, which, because of the shallow character of the outlets 

into the ocean, would have a much smaller low-tide variation than the ocean. The 

lag of the high and low waters in the well, compared with the ocean tide, is given in 

the following table:

Table shoiving difference in time between high and low water in a 386-foot well at Long 

Beach, N. Y., and the tide as predicted by the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey 

for East Rockaway Inlet (PL IV).

Date.

1903.

July I...... ..... ..... .................

July 2................................ ...

JulyS....................................

July?.................,..................

July 9...... ..............................

July 10...................................

July 11... ................................

July 12. .................................

High water.

Well.

Time

1.20

2.20 

16.20 

3 20 

16.10 

4.06 

17.05 

7.05 

19.25 

7.36 

20 10 

8.35 

20.50 

9.16 

21.36 

9.55 

22.05 

10.40 

23.06

Tide

Time

0.13 

12.53

1.10 

13 52 

2.13 

14.49 

3.13 

16.46 

6.68 

18.14 

6.44 

IS 56 

7.25 

19.34 

8.03 

20.11 

8.38 

20.46 

9.09 

21.19

Difference.

Hours 

and mmutes

1.07

1 10 

1.28 

1.07 

1.21 

0.62 

1.29 

1 07 

1.11 

0.51 

1.16 

1.10 

1.16 

1.12 

1.24 

1.17 

1.19 

1.31 

1.46

Low water.

Well.

Time 

18 30 

7.00 

19.60 

8 00 

20 50 

9 20 

22 00 

10.30

0 40 

12 20 

1.10 

12 50 

2.00 

13.55 

2.50 

14.35 

3.20 

16.16 

3.40 

16.35

Tide

Time 

18.09 

6.36 

19,10 

7 32 

20 14 

8.26 

21.16 

9.26

23.59 

11.69 

0.44 

12.44 

1.24 

13.24 

2.02 

14.04 

2.36 

14.38 

3.11 

15. OS

Difference.

Hours 

and minutes.

0,21 

0.24 

0.40 

0.28 

0.36 

0.55 

0.44 

1.04

0.41 

0.21 

0.26 

0.06 

0.36 

0.31 

0.48 

0.31 

0.44 

0.25 

0.29 

0.26

a U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey Tide Table for 1903, p. 346.
FLUCTUATIONS OF THE WATER LEVEL IN WELLS.

Table shoivmg difference in time between high and low water in a 886-foot well at Long 

Beach, N. Y., and tide at East Rockaway Inlet Contir aed.

Date.

1903. 

July 13.... ...............................

July 14...................................

July 15....... ............................

July 16...................................

July 17..... ..............................

High water.

Well.

Time. 

11.50 

23.00 

11.40 

23.45

12.20 

0.30

1.10

Tide.

Time. 

9.44 

21.54 

10.21 

22.28

11.03 

23.09

23. 56

Difference.

Hours 

and minutes.

2.06 

1.06 

1.19 

1.17

1.07 

1.21-

1.14

1.19

Low water.

Well.

Time. 

4.50 

16.55 

5.10 

17.10 

5.55 

18.00 

6.20 

19.20 

7.20

Tide.

Time. 

3.44 

15. 44- 

4.19 

16.21 

4.55 

17.04 

5.34 

17.55 

6.27

Difference.

Hours 

and minutes.

1.06 

1.11 

0.51 

0.49 

1.00 

0.56 

0.46 

0.25 

0.53

0.40

It will be noted that the lag at high water is greater than at low, which is just 

the reverse of what occurs in tidal rivers, where the water rises much more rapidly 

than it falls and the low-water lag is long and the high-water lag short. This is an. 

important result bearing on the relation between the fluctuations of the water in 

wells and the oceanic tide and clearly refutes the doctrine that the. tidal fluctuations 

here are due to leakage and that the fluctuations are analogous to those of tidal 

rivers. (See pp. 63-67.)

'OBSERVATIONS ON THE SCHEEIBER WELL NEAR MILLBURN, N. Y.

This well is located on the very edge of the sea marsh, about 2 miles south of Baldwin station on the Long Island Eailroad (PL II). It is 8 inches in diameter and 

the total depth determined by sounding is 288.6 feet. The water will, when piped 

up, rise about a foot above the surface of the ground. After an unsuccessful attempt 

to record the fluctuations here with a Friez gage, which gave no results because of 

the small amplitude of the fluctuations, the King gage used ontl ^ Queens County 

Water Company well near Hewlett was set up and the record obtained from July 17 

to August 5. This record shows the most erratic fluctuations obtained on Long 

Island"(PL V).

In all the other records, while there are always many factors present, certain fluctuations can be definitely ascribed to temperature, atmospheric pressure, rainfall, 

pumping, or transmitted tides, but here either the curves produced by several of 

these factors have been so superposed that the character of each is thoroughly 

masked or new factors have been introduced. The most evidert characteristic of 

these curves is the greater rapidity and abruptness in the fall of the water than in. 

its rise. Abrupt drops of this character are known to be produced by changes in 

barometric pressure and by pumping. It will be noted in this c?se that these fluctuations are not represented in the barograph curve, and a comparison with {he 

record from the 504-foot well at Lynbrook (PL VI), in which the geologic conditions are very similar, shows no correspondence, although the Lynbrook well is 

clearly greatly affected by barometric changes.

The nearest pumping stations are at Rockville Center and Freeport, and these are 

small village plants. At Rockville Center there were at this time four 8-inch wells, 

about 50 feet deep, and at Freeport 4 wells, about 35 feet deep. At Rockville Center 

about 150,000 gallons per day were pumped, and at Freeport about 100,000. These
OBSERVATIONS WITH SELF-RECORDING GAGES. 23

stations are, respectively, 1.9 and 2.4 miles from the Schreiber well (PI. II). The 

Rockville Center pumping station is, moreover, nearer the deep Lynbrook veil than 

the Schreiber well, and the Lynbrook well shows no such fluctuations. It is therefore believed that these fluctuations are not due to pumping.

A third hypothesis is that the fluctuations are largely tidal, and that they represent 

the complicated stresses resulting from the culmination of the tides at different times 

in the neighboring network of creeks and channels. The conditions near this well 

are regarded as quite favorable for complex tides, but the resultant of the.^e would 

be represented by a smooth curve, as is shown by the Long Beach well. Trn normal 

tidal curve in such narrow channels would, moreover, show a rapid rise and a gracfcial 

fall, while the well curve is just the reverse.

The fluctuations in this well are, so far as known, unique. The geologic conditions are believed to correspond in a general way with those in the 368-foot well at 

Long Beach and the 504-foot well at Lynbrook, both in the same region, but the 

characteristics of the curves are entirely different and apparently not related to either.

, OBSERVATIONS AT LYNBROOK, N. Y.

A station was established one-half mile west of Lynbrook (PL II). At this point 

there were two test wells, one 504 feet, deep and the other 72 feet, belonging to the 

Queens County Water Company. Through the kindness of Mr. Franklin B. Lord, 

president, and Mr. Charles E. Bettes, chief engineer, these wells were covered with 

a shelter, and a third well, 14 feet deep, driven about 6 feet from the other two. 

This gave a shallow surface well, a "deep well" (comparable to many of those used 

at the Brooklyn waterworks pumping stations west of this point) which flowed at 

the surface for about half the time, and a very deep artesian well, all within a few 

feet of each other and away from the zone of influence of any pumping station.

About 15 feet from the wells there is a small ground-water fed brook, the } ottom of 

which has an elevation of about 10 feet above sea level; the ground at the wells is 

11.3 feet above sea level, and the crest of the low swell, 1,000 feet to the we.st, about 

20 feet (PL II, p. 16). The surface material is yellow loam, ranging from a few 

inches to 3 feet thick, then rather coarse sand and gravel. No record was preserved 

of the strata penetrated in the 72- and 504-foot wells, but a new well sunk dnring the 

summer of 1904, about 300 feet west of this group of wells, gave the following section:

Section of well of Queens County Water Company, one-half mile west of Lynbrook, N. Y.

Tisbury: Feet.

1. Coarse yellow quartz sand; no erratic material..................... 0-29

2. Light-gray sand.................................................. 29-31

3. Same as No.I.................................................... 31-73

Cretaceous?:

4. Light-gray silty clay ............................................. 73-89

5. Light-yellow medium sand; no erratic material.................... 89-150

Cretaceous:

6. Fine to medium gray lignitic sand ................................ 150-158

7. Very fine black micaceous lignitiferous silt........................ 158-200

8-9. Very fine dark-colored lignitiferous sand ........................ 200-^228

10. Medium light-gray sand, with small amount of lignite............. 228-340

11. Dark-colored lignitiferous silty clay.............................. 340-363

12. Medium dirty-yellow sand, lignitic .............................. 363-403

13. Medium to coarse gray sand..................................... 403-536

The water in the 504-foot well, during the time of observation, stood fron 0.8 foot 

to 2.2 feet above the surface; in the 72-foot well from 0.6 foot below to 0.5 foot above 

the surface, and in the 14-foot well from 0.6 foot below to 0.2 foot above the sur-
24 FLUCTUATIONS OF THE WATER LEVEL IN TTELLS.

face. The water in the 14-foot well rose above the surface three or four times for 

periods of a few hours. The elevation of the water table under th^ low swell to the 

west was probably about 13 feet.

Mr. Francis L. Whitney was placed in charge of the observations at this point, and 

King gages were installed on supports clamped to the well casings, The gages were 

maintained from June 25 to September 15, and some of the results are given in 

PI. VI. These give a large amount of important material bearing rot only on purely 

scientific problems, but on some of the live economic problems of the region. It will 

be noticed that as a whole the curves of these wells are parallel. This bears very 

directly on the old question of the source of the'water in the de^p wells on Long 

Island. It has long been a favorite hypothesis that in some mysterious way large 

quantities of water were introduced by great underground streams from the New 

England States, and this 504-foot well was one of the wells which were supposed to 

strike one of these streams. It has already been shown « that the gource of the water 

in the deep wells on Long Island is from the rain that falls on the eurface (see p. 10), 

and the really remarkable agreement of the general shape of thes3 curves furnishes 

additional confirmation, pointing as it does to close interrelation and a common 

source.

The behavior of these wells during rain storms shows that rain may affect the 

water level in wells in two ways, (1) without the water reaching the ground-water 

table, and (2) by actual infiltration and addition to the ground water. In both 

cases the effect is greatest in the shallow well. In the first case all wells commence 

to rise as soon as the rain begins, and rise abruptly, sometimes several inches. That 

this can not be due to actual infiltration is shown by its instantaneous character and 

by the fact that the water in the shallow 14-foot well, driven entirely in sand, rose 

above the surface of the ground four times under such circumstances. Such rises, 

moreover, produce no permanent deflection of the well curve. (See record for Aug. 

18-22, PI. VI.)

This sudden rise is due to a number of factors. In the first pla~e, when the soil 

above the water table is filled with air the addition of water to the surface practically seals the outlets for the air and the weight of the rain is transmitted by this 

confined air to the water table. The effect of such a transmissic n is to hasten the 

discharge of the water at the ground-water outlet, and so produce an immediate rise 

in the streams. In this manner rains which never reach the ground-water table 

and which do not contribute directly to stream flow may immediately produce a 

greatly increased stream discharge. It should be noted in this connection that the 

well always rose before the adjacent brook, although the brook mi^ht later reach a 

higher elevation.

In the second case, when the water in the wells is elevated by the actual percolation of water, the water rises gradually and reaches its highest point several days or 

weeks after the rain, rather than in several minutes. In the case of the heavy rains 

which occurred on August 28, the 14-foot well reached its highest point before noon 

on the 29th, the 72-foot well at about 6 o'clock on the 29th, and the 504-foot well at 

noon on the 30th. There are three factors concerned in this last rise: (1) The 

instantaneous transmission of pressure due to weight of rain on the surface in the 

vicinity of the well; (2) actual percolation in the vicinity of the well, and (3) progressive deformations resulting from the weight of the rain at more distant points. 

The rise in the deeper wells is wholly due to the first and third causes. The curve 

in this case is actually displaced and returns to its former position only gradually, 

instead of at once, as in the case described above.

Barometric changes affect the 504-foot well most, but are occasionally perceptible 

in the 72-foot well. Temperature changes produce rhythmical daily fluctuations in 

the 14- and 72-foot wells; in the first the changes are very pronounced, amounting

a Prof. Paper U. S. Geol. Survey No. 44, 1906, pp. 67-69.
OBSERVATIONS WITH SELF-RECORDING GAGES. 25

to as much as li inches a day. The 504-foot well showed a regular fluctuation with 

two high and two low waters a day. The fluctuation, however, is not progressive, 

and so is not tidal.

The curve from the 504-foot well shows a great number of minor periodic oscillations, but the time scale is not sufficiently great to study them satisfactorily. The 

most pronounced of the series has a period of about forty minutes. The 72-foot well 

occasionally shows well-marked secondary oscillations, with a period of approximately eighty minutes. For a careful study of these, however, a much larger gage 

with a large time scale is demanded.

OBSERVATIONS AT DOUGLASTON, N. Y.

In the winter of 1902 and 1903 a number of shallow wells were sunk along the base 

of hills, east of Alley Creek, and near "The Alley," an old settlement just south of 

Douglaston, N. Y. (PI. VII), for the Citizens' Water Supply Company. Siy of these 

are flowing wells, and in the other two the water conies very near the surface. Through 

the kindness of Mr. Cord Meyer and his son, Mr. J. Edward Meyer, president and 

superintendent, respectively, of the Citizens' Water Supply Company, the flowing 

wells were piped up beyond the limit of flow and thus prepared for gaging.

The relative elevation, depth, and head in these wells are shown in the following 

table:

Elevations in wells of Citizens' Water Supply Company, at Douglaston, N. Y.

Well No. 1........... ..............................................

Well No. 2.........................................................

Well No. 3.........................................................

Well No. 4.........................................................

Well No. 5.........................................................

Well No. 6...................:.....................................

Well No. 7.........................................................

Well No. 8.........................................................

Elevation 

of surface 

above sea 

level.

Feet. 

17.2

20.2

10.2

5

5

10.8

10.1

9.8

10.5

Depth of 

bottom of 

pipe below 

sea level.

Feet.

20.5

. 25

28

25

39

35

30

17

Average 

height 

above sea 

level to 

which 

water will 

rise if 

piped up.

Feet. 

17.2

19

9

8.5

18

18

19

17

15

The strata encountered vary considerably; some of the wells penetrate nothing 

but sand and gravel, and in others clay beds ot greater or less thickness are found. 

The water is derived from the adjacent hill mass, the height of the ground water in 

which determines the head in these wells.

The tidal marsh to the west is a mass of soft black mud largely covered with a mat 

of growing vegetable matter, which is sufficiently firm to walk on, but which gives at 

every step. This surface mat of roots is often sufficiently tenacious to hold up when 

undermined by the small streams formed by the many springs that occur at the base 

of the hills, and these streams often flow through underground passages beneath the 

turf. The underlying mud or black ooze is over 10 feet thick in the upp-^r end of 

the mud flat, and Mr. D. L. Van Nostrand states that, in driving piles for a dock 

at the bridge, the depth to "solid ground" was found to be 65 or 70 feet. The artesian pressure beneath this mud has caused the ground to rise in several places, with 

the resultant production of many small rapids (PI. VII). At a number of points 

near the upper end of the basin, where the mud is thin, the water ha^ broken
26 FLUCTUATIONS OF THE WATER LEVEL IN YHELLS.

through and produced low mud cones or mud volcanoes.« The drilling of the artesian wells and the fact that they were allowed to flow freely have perhaps in part 

relieved the pressure here, and during the three months the cones were observed 

they did not change materially, although on several occasions mrd was seen rising 

from the craters and flowing down the sides. Three hundred feet north of the mud 

flat and on the east bank of Alley Creek there is a lesser area of mud which is not 

covered at low tide. In this there is a marked mud flow, which is likewise probably 

connected with the artesian waters under discussion.

Mr. Francis L. Whitney was placed in charge of the work here, and he prepared 

wooden shelter boxes covered with tarred paper. These were securely clamped to 

the top of the well pipes, which were steadied by means of guy lines. b A tide gage 

was established on the end of the crib of the drawbridge on tl ? main turnpike. 

(PI. VII.). The crib furnished a very good still box, and the locality is as near the 

wells as it was possible to get, for to the south the creek bed is uncovered at low tide.

The equipment consisted of 3 Friez gages and 1 Mead gage. The Mead gage 

was placed on well No. 8 and furnished the only record running through the 

whole of the time of observation. One of the Friez gages was pkced at the drawbridge during the whole period, but from one cause and another no record was 

obtained before August 6, and after that time the record was not complete. 

By shifting the remaining gages records were obtained for a time from all the 

wells but No. 3. Some of the curves obtained from these observations are shown in 

PL VIII.

All these wells are clearly tidal, but when the question of the rate of propagation 

of tidal effect is considered many difficulties are encountered and the extreme complexity of the problem at once becomes evident. The curves, while broadly resembling each other, show many minor points of difference, which must be attributed 

to the varying shape of the tidal wave in the mud flat near the wells and the consequent complexity and variation of the-stresses involved. Thus the records from 

wells 2 and 8 show that, while the relative amplitudes of the high tides agree 

perfectly and both show a tendency toward a double cusp at high tide, in well No. 2 

the second cusp is characteristically greater, while in well No. 8 th? first cusp is often 

the greater; compare curves from July 27 to 29. The low-tide curves also show marked 

differences; thus, in well No. 2 there is a continued fall until the tide turns, which 

it does sharply; in No. 8 there is a long period of stagnation and tl 3 curve is rounded 

when the rise begins. Evidently these curves are not readily comparable with the 

tide gage at the bridge nor with each other, for each represents the resultant of a 

different set of forces. The conditions for the production of such differences are very 

favorable. The semiliquid marsh mud yields readily to all pressure changes, however slight; the liquidity of the mud varies greatly from point to point, and while 

the artesian water does not commonly escape through the mud covering it may, as 

shown by the mud cones, do so at any time, and such a point of relief would affect 

adjacent wells differently.

Another factor making exact time comparisons difficult is the small scale of the 

records and the great amount of lost motion in the Mead gage. T^he Mead records 

show unquestionable time errors of one to two hours, and for tbis reason the end 

values are more important than the initial ones of each recorcf. Where evident 

errors occur in the record of the Mead gage for well No. 8 they have been corrected as far as possible, and an attempt has been made to indicate on the diagram 

the various details affecting the time values so far as known. For this purpose the 

end of each of the original record sheets has been indicated on PI. VIII.

aSee Prof. Paper U. S. Geol. Survey No. 46, 1906, PI. XXVII, C.

b An illustration of the gage box on well No. 4 will be found in Prof. Paper U. S. Geol, Survey No. 44. 

1906, PI. XIV.
0. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY WATER-SUPPLY PAPER NO. 155 PL. Vtl

SKETCH MAP SHOWING LOCATION AND TOPOGRAPHIC SURROUNDINGS OF WELLS OF 

CITIZENS' WATER SUPPLY COMPANY NEAR DOUGLASTON, N. Y.

Black dots indicate location of mud volcanoes. 

By A. C. Veatch, 1903.
LONG ISLAND OBSERVATIONS. 27

OBSERVATIONS OF THE NEW YORK CITY COMMISSION ON 

ADDITIONAL WATER SUPPLY, a

The Long Island division of the commission on additional water supply under the 

direction of Mr. W. E. Spear, division engineer, during the period from the middle 

of April to the last of October, 1903, made many observations on the water level in 

wells on Long Island. In all about 1,200 wells were observed at intervals of from 

one to three days by means of steel tapes fitted with cup sounders. From, these 

observations Mr. Spear endeavored to obtain the velocity of the downward capillary 

flow of the water on Long Island.

Meteorological stations, equipped with self-recording instruments, were established 

at Brentwood and Floral Park (PI. I, p. 9). It was from these records that the 

thermograph, barograph, and rainfall curves shown on Pis. Ill, V, and VI were 

obtained.

Mr. Spear likewise obtained from the records of the Brooklyn waterworks data 

regarding the fluctuations of the water in shallow wells on the south shore and the 

effect of pumping at Merrick and Agawam.

a Spear, Walter E., Long Island sources: Kept. Commission on Additional Water Supply lor the City 

of Hew York, Nov. 30, 1903, New York, 1904, appendix 7, pp. 617-806

pi v
PART II.

GENERAL DISCUSSION OF THE FLUCTUATIONS OF WATER 

LEVEL IN WELLS.

CLASSIFICATION OF CAUSES.

The vertical fluctuations of the ground-water table or the changes in the level of 

the water in wells may be grouped as follows:

A. Fluctuations due to natural causes.

I. Rainfall and evaporation.

1. Fluctuations not depending on single showers, 

a. Regular annual fluctuations, 

b. Irregular secular changes.

2. Fluctuations produced by single showers.

a. By transmission of pressure without any actual addition to the ground water, 

b. By the actual addition of rain to the ground water.

II. Barometric changes.

III. Thermometric changes.

1. Fluctuation directly related to temperature.

2. Fluctuation inversely related to temperature.

a. At the surface of the ground-water table, directly through temperature changes, 

b. In deeper zones, by pressure changes produced by fluctus tions of the preceding 

class.

IV. Fluctuations produced by adjacent bodies of surface water: Rivers, lakes, the ocean.

1. By changes in rate of ground-water discharge.

2. By seepage.

3. By plastic deformation due to varying loads. 

V. Fluctuations due to geologic changes. 

B. Fluctuations due to human agencies.

1. Settlement, deforestation, cultivation, drainage.

2. Irrigation.

3. Dams.

4. Underground water-supply developments.

5. Unequal loading. 

C. Fluctuations due to indeterminate causes.

The relation between the fluctuations due to natural causes may be stated in this 

way: On the broad and irregular curves produced by the secular climatic and geologic changes are superposed the regular annual fluctuations, which are perhaps the 

most characteristic and important of the ground-water fluctuations due to natural 

causes; and on these, in turn, are superposed the simple rainfall, barometric, thermometric, tidal, and flood fluctuations. This complex curve, made up of many regular and irregular elements, is further modified by human agencies. The cumulative 

effect of these human agencies is irregular and the result is to modify indeed, often 

to largely alter the character of the broad irregular curves produced by secular climatic and geologic changes. Yet some of these human modifications have a periodic 

value which, in the case of cultivation, for example, may greatly change the amplitude of the annual fluctuations, or, in the case of pumping or the change of water 

level behind a milldam, may give rise to rather regular daily fluctuations. 

- 28
FLUCTUATIONS OF WATER IN WELLS. 29

FLUCTUATIONS PRODUCED BY NATURAL CAUSES. 

RAINFALL AND EVAPORATION.

REGULAR ANNUAL FLUCTUATIONS. 

GENERAL CHARACTER AND CAUSE.

Woldrich, from a study of nine years' observations on a 19-foot well at Salzburg, concluded that the rise and fall of the ground water stands in no relation whatever to the

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FIG. 9. Yearly rainfall and water-level curves in shallow wells in middle Europe (after Soyka). 

The curves are duplicated for a second year to facilitate comparisons,

amount of rain, since with the same quantity of precipitation it at times rises, ard again 

falls, and even with considerably increasing quantities of rain it often falls constantly.«

.. aWoldhch, Johann Nepomuk, Mitt. d. Techn. Klubs zu Salzburg, 1869, Heft 1, Zeitschrift d. 

Osterreichischen Gesellschaft lur Meteorologie, Bd. 4, 1869, pp. 273-279 Penck's Geograpiiische 

Abhandlungen, Bd. 2, Heft 3, Wien, 1888, p. 23.
30 FLUCTUATIONS OF THE WATER LEVEL ITST WELLS.

While so broad a statement is not entirely true for all localities in the North Tern 

perate Zone, yet it properly emphasizes the fact that the relation between the 

ground-water fluctuations and the rainfall is not the simple one which might be 

inferred from the statement that the rainfall is the source of the ground water. 

Observations at many points in the North Temperate Zone have shown that the

V Geneva,N.Y 

i BrynMawr, Pa,

Millburn, 

Long IslandtN.Y

Michigan

Geneva, N. Y.

Bryn Mawr, Pa. 

Michigan.

Mil/burn, 

Lonq lskma,N.Y.

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FIG. 10. Yearly rainfall and water-level curves in shallow wells in the United States. The curves 

are duplicated for a second year to facilitate comparisons.

ground water fluctuates in a yearly period with a single maximum and minimum, 

and that this curve generally does not correspond with the rainfall curve (figs. 9, 10). 

Indeed, at Frankfurt, Bremen, Berlin, and Briinn, the highest point of the ground 

water is in the spring months at the time -of least rainfall (fiq;. 9). The yearly
FLUCTUATIONS DUE TO BAINFALL AND EVAPOEATIOF. 31

curves of the ground water are much more regular than the rainfall curve, and on 

the whole in general shape they most resemble the annual temperature curve (fig. 

11). The reason for this difference is the simple one that the fluctuations of the 

ground water depend not only on the absolute amount of the rainfall, bvt on the 

quantity that reaches the zone of complete saturation, or the ground-water table, 

and the time consumed in so doing. The quantity is affected by many factors, 

among which are the evaporation from the surface of the ground, the evaporation 

or transpiration from plants, the quantity retained in the soil above the zon^ of saturation, and the amount that runs directly off the surface without ever penetrating 

the ground. The time element is affected by the porosity and moisture content of 

the soil, the character of the covering, and to a greater or less extent by tl ? height 

of the soil column. The general result is that the water is delivered gradually to 

the zone of complete saturation, and as the effects of single rains are thus generally

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PIG. 11. Annual curves based upon mean monthly averages of ground-water level Ft Bryn 

Mawr, Pa.,« and temperature and rainfall at Philadelphia, Pa.,& for the period 1886-1895, 

showing the general resemblance of the ground-water and temperature curves?. The 

exact agreement of the maximum ground- water level and the maximum temperr «;ure is 

unusual.-

minified and often entirely blotted out, a relatively smooth curve results (PL IX) . 

This yearly period of the ground water is largely due to the periodic character of the 

evaporation, including plant transpiration. This depends on the temperature, and 

the net result for the year is a simple curve of the same shape as the mean temperature curve, although inversely related to it, hence the general resemblance of the 

yearly well curve to the temperature curve. Were the rain uniform throughout the 

year, and were there no lag due to transmission or unmelted snow, the maximum 

ground-water level would occur at the time of the minimum temperature and saturation deficit of the atmosphere, or, in the North Temperate Zone, in January. The 

effect of the irregular distribution of the rainfall is to change the time of the occurrence of this maximum. A moderate excess of rain in the summer, such as occurs

aObservations of W. S. Auchincloss; Waters within the Earth and Laws of Rainflow, 1897. 

^Observations of U. S. Weather Bureau; Annual Summary Pennsylvania Climate and Crop Service.
32 FLUCTUATIONS OE1 THE WATER LEVEL IN WELLS.

at Frankfurt-am-Main, causes the maximum to advance to Marc\ while at Bremen, 

Berlin, and Briinn, where the difference between the summer and winter rainfall is 

progressively greater, in the order named, the maxima occur respectively in March, 

April, and May (fig. 9). The extremely great summer precipitation at Munich and 

Salzburg, together with the low rainfall in January, causes the maximum at those" 

places to advance to July and August.

In this connection the observations of (1) Dickinson and Evans, (2) Greaves, and 

(3) Lawes and Gilbert, near London, are of great interest. All of these observers 

endeavored to determine the amount of rain actually contributed to the ground

FIG. 12. Results of English percolation experiments. In the Dickinson and Evans experiments the 

gages were buried in. the ground; one was filled with ordinary Hertfordshire soil (a sandy, gravelly loam) and covered with sod; the other was filled with chalk and covered with a thin layer 

of soil and sod. In the Lawes and Gilbert observations columns of a rather heavy loam with 

clay subsoil in their natural state of consolidation were built in with bri"k and cement; no vegetation was allowed to grow on the gages, which were surrounded by meadow land. Curves are 

based on the monthly averages from September 1, 1870, to August 31,1902.

water. Each used vessels with impervious sides and pervious bottoms, sunk level 

with the surface of the ground. The water percolating through the soil columns was 

collected and compared with the yield of the adjacent rain gages In the case of the 

Dickinson and Evans and the Greaves experiments the boxes were filled with material supposed to represent the average soil of the region, in both cases a sandy loam. 

In the Lawes and Gilbert experiments actual blocks of soil Were undermined and the 

results represent the amount of rainfall passing through a heavy loam with a clay 

subsoil in its natural condition of consolidation, but not covered with vegetation. The 

average results obtained are given in the following table and ar>3 partially shown in 

a graphic manner in fig. 12.
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY f>Ap£-> H&. 155 PL. IK

PROFILE SHOWING LOCATION AND DEPTH OF WELLS

FROM 3 FISCH A

Residual mass curve

showing 

excess rainfall in millimeters

over mean

July 1886- Dec. 1890. 

t Hohe Warte station, Vienna

FLUCTUATIONS OF WATER LEVEL IN WELLS NEAR WIENER NEUSTADT, AUSTRIA.

This illustrates regular annual fluctuations, irregular secular fluctuations, and the increase in amplitude of the fluctuations with the depth of the ground-water table from the surface, and shows that the well fluctuations are generally 

independent of single rains. It also shows concentric fluctuations in deep and shallow wells, which prove'that the depth of the soil above the ground-water table has no effect on the time of occurrence of the yearly maximum 

and minimum. (From Bericht des Ausschusses fur die Wasserversorgung Wiens, 1895.)
 go QQt

aMin. InstCivil vol.Proc 2,9.160-161; Eng.,184350, 158;861, 208-216. 219-222; 20,p.p.. 45, 1876,

b Artificial valuesbsed on observation soiland fourteen sand; Min.Proc. InstCivil twenty-two years'vol. session 1875-76 3years 1876 Eng., 28 45, pt 

cMin. Proc. InstCivil vol.The Rothamsted Results andEg., 45,1876, 59-60; pp. 105,891, 35-46;1. Experiments: Summary Tables, 1903, p. 

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aLawes andGilbert, 

CMtt OI CEKV xIOLEVSOJVAS 
34 FLUCTUATIONS OF THE WATER LEVEL IN WELLS.

Of these the Lawes and Gilbert results are perhaps of the greatest value, because 

they more nearly represent the normal conditions, and they extend through a sufficiently long period to obliterate temporary variations. While th^ quantitative values 

obtained from these experiments differ, the qualitative results, as shown by fig. 12, 

are essentially the same. All except, the bare sand give curves of the same character 

as those obtained from the actual observation of ground-water fluctuations. The low 

percentage of water which passes through the soil in summer is emphasized by all, 

as is also the greater contribution during the winter months. Even in the bare sand, 

where the water sinks at once and so loses little by evaporation, a downward tendency of the curve during the summer months is evident. The effect of the heavy 

precipitation in the fall is particularly evident in the Lawes and Gilbert results (fig. 

12), where it clearly hastened the time of occurrence of the maximum ground-water 

percolation by about two months.

EFFECT OF DEPTH OF SOIL ABOVE ZONE OF COMPLETE SATURATION ON TIME OF OCCUKKENCE OF YEARLY MAXIMUM AND MINIMUM OF GROUND-WATER LEVEL.

It has been suggested that the soil above the ground-water table tends to destroy 

the effect of single rains by causing the water to be delivered gradually to the zone 

of complete saturation, whose upper surface is the water table. In the case of the 

English experiments at Rothamsted (Lawes and Gilbert) and Hemel Hempstead 

(Dickinson and Evans) the maximum percolation occurs from November to January, 

yet the water in the wells in that region, while commencing to rse about December, 

did not reach its maximum elevation until March,« a delay of r.bout three months. 

Yet in any attempt to calculate the rate of percolation from these data two difficulties are encountered. In the first place the yearly maximum occurred at about the 

same time in this region in wells of all depths, and, furthermore, the Rothamsted 

results (fig. 12) show no very important difference in the time in which the water 

is discharged through 20, 40, and 60 inches of soil so far as it relates to the time of 

occurrence of the yearly maximum. In the second place the underground water is 

in motion, a certain amount is discharged at all times, and th^ amount increases 

with the head. The case is not, therefore, the simple one where water is caught in a 

measuring tube, as in the percolation experiments above descrbed, but the water 

must reach the ground-water table at a rate greater than the rate of the outflow, else 

no rise will take place.

At Wiener Neustadt, Austria, a similar relation has been demonstrated by the 

observations made between 1883 and 1895, in connection with tl ? Wiener Neustadt 

deep-well project for the supply of Vienna. 6 These wells are in a valley filling of 

fluvio-glacial material, somewhat irregular in character, which Suess describes as a 

series of old deltas. c The wells extend from Fisha River, a spring-fed stream, southwesterly along the Southern Railway. The land and the ground-water table beneath 

both rise gradually in this direction, but while the water table is at the surface of 

the ground at Fisha River, 6| miles south, at St. Agyden, it is from 140 to 170 feet 

from the surface, the exact depth depending on the time of year. (See section at 

top of PI. IX.) The curves obtained from this series of wells extending roughly 

at right angles to the slope of the water plane, are entirely concentric, and the maximum and minimum occur at the same time, irrespective of depth of soil above the 

ground-water table. It would seem to follow from these data that no very satisfactory determination of the rate of downward percolation can be made from the relation of the time of greatest precipitation, or percolation, to the time of maximum

aClutterbuck, James, Mill. Proc. Inst. Civil Eng., vol. 2, 1842, p. 156.

ft Bericht des Aiisschusses fur die Wasserversorgung Wiens: Osterreichischer Ingenieur- und 

Architekten-Verein, 1895.

c Ibid., p. 32; see also Bericht iiber die Erfolge der Wiener Wasserleitungs-Ccmmission, 1&64; Karrer, 

F., Geologie der Franz Josephs-Quellenleituiig; Abhandlungen der K.-k. geologischen Reichsanstait, 1877.
FLUCTUATIONS DUE TO RAINFALL AND EVAPORATION. 35

ground-water level. The rise of the water is not determined by the simple delivery 

of water to the zone of complete saturation, but by the relation of the water so 

delivered to the rate of outflow. If the water is lowering, a certain amount is consumed in checking that tendency, and only the excess over the outflow is available 

for raising the ground-water level. Moreover, in several carefully observed instances, 

the depth of the soil above the ground water has been shown to have no effect on 

the time of occurrence of the yearly maximum.

The short-period observations on Long Island, New York, during the summer of 

1903, however, gave quite different results from those obtained at Wiener Neustadt. 

The conditions do not appear to be essentially different; the glacial sands ard gravels 

of the south plain of Long Island slope gradually to the ocean and in a similar way 

the valley glacial gravels of Wiener Neustadt slope to Fisha Eiver, and there is 

apparently no great difference in the irregularity and complexity of the bedding. 

The Wiener Neustadt or Steinfeld Valley, it is true, is traversed by a large river, the 

Leitha, whose stages depend on the conditions affecting its headwaters in t^e mountains, but observations have shown that this stream, because of the silted character 

of its bed, affects only a few wells in its immediate vicinity, and is not to be regarded 

as a disturbing factor. (Compare the river stages with well curves on PI. IX.) On 

Long Island the measurements in charge of Mr. Walter E. Spear, departn ent engineer of the commission on additional water supply.,« showed that, during the summer 

of 1903, the highest stage of the ground water occurred, as a rule, earlier in the shallow than in the deeper wells (fig. 13). Where the water level was less than 20 feet 

from the surface the highest stage of the ground water occurred in April, while where 

the water level was 60 to 75 feet below the surface it did not occur until August. 

The increase of the retardation was not always uniform. Thus the highest water in 

a 35-foot well near Jamaica (No. 551) occurred in May, while in a well of the same 

depth near Deer Park (No. 388) it did not occur until August, although in a well 

near Hicksville (No. 237), of about the same depth, the maximum occurred in May. 

Whether this irregularity is typical or is only a result of the rather peculiar season 

in which the measurements were made could be determined only by obs3rvations 

covering a period of years, instead of months. It should, however, be stated in this 

connection that along the south shore, where the Brooklyn water department has 

observed shallow wells for several years, the curve for 1903 is not greatly different 

from that of preceding years, indicating, so far as the shallow wells are ccncerned, 

that the year is jiot to be regarded as an abnormal one (fig. 15, p. 39). On the other 

hand, the results are so at variance with the thirteen years' observations at Wiener 

Neustadt, which apparently cover similar conditions, that further confirmation of 

these Long Island results, by additional observations, is needed before any conclusions can be drawn. Certainly the Wiener Neustadt data indicate that the depth of 

the soil above the ground-water table is of no importance in determining tt e time of 

occurrence of the maximum ground-water level. On the other hand, the Long 

Island observations suggest that a difference in thickness of 60 feet may delay the 

time of the occurrence of the maximum level four months.

The curves showing the result of the Long Island work indicate further that, in 

the soil in question, single showers frequently produce very definite effects in shallow 

wells, and that such effects become less as the depth of unsaturated material above 

the water table increases. Indeed, in the wells where the water is 30 or 40 feet 

below the ground, the curves are relatively smooth or the variations bear no evident 

relation to the rainfall. & Spear has attempted to trace the time of rise, due to given 

showers, from the shallow through the deeper wells, and so determine th^ rate of

a Long Island sources: Kept. New York City Commission on Additional Water Supply, 1904, appendix 7, PI. IV, incorrectly numbered PI. VI, p. 792.

6 Many of the wells observed by the commission were open, dug wells, which were in use, and the 

minor fluctuations are partially due to this cause, as well as to barometric and thermometric changes.
\

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DEPTH BELOW SURFACE GROUN

FIG. 18. Fluctuations of water level in wells on Long Island, New York, based on observations at interval

York City commission on additional water supply. (After Spear, 1904.) The location of the wells is giv

mission's report.
FLUCTUATIONS DUE TO RAINFALL AND EVAPORATION. 37

downward percolation or downward capillary flow. There are certain difficulties in 

the way of determining the value sought in this manner. In the first place, the 

fluctuations in the shallow wells can not be satisfactorily correlated with those in the 

deep ones, and the only line which can be followed through the diagram prepared by 

Spear is the time of maximum ground water, which, as indicated above, in this 

region during the time of observation, in general lags proportionally to tl ?. depth. 

This gives a fairly regular curve and the remaining curves have been interred on 

either side of this one. The yearly maximum, however, can scarcely be attributed 

to a single rain, but represents rather the culmination of a whole series of events, 

and hence can not be used as a basis of such a calculation.

In the case of regions like Wiener Neustadt it is clear that the results from calculations of this character would have no meaning, and, indeed, what do t*ie values 

really represent on Long Island?

IRREGULAR SECULAR FLUCTUATIONS.

The observations of Dickinson and Evans and of Lawes and Gilbert wit! percolation gages developed the fact that, as a rule, not only did more water percolate in 

wet than in dry years, but that the percentage of rain water which passed through 

the soil columns was usually much greater in wet years than in dry ones. Thus 

while the average yearly percolation of 1870-1902 at Rothamsted (Lawes and Gilbert) was 49 per cent of the 

yearly rainfall of 28 inches, in 

the year 1878-79, when 40.2 

inches of rain fell, 61 per cent 

of the rain water passed 

through a soil column 60 

inches high, and in the year 

1877-78, with a rainfall of 18.2 

inches, the percolation was 

but 36 per cent (see p. 47.) 

The general tendency although there are exceptional 

cases, such as recorded at 

Hernel Hempstead (Dickinson 

and Evans) in 1858-59, when, 

with a rainfall of 28 inches, 2 

inches more than the annual 

average, the percolation was 

but one-third of 1 per cent 

instead of the usual 27 per 

cent is for the small differences in the annual rainfall to 

have a rather magnified value 

in the ground-water fluctuations.

The yearly variations of the 

rainfall are generally progressive over rather long periods (fig. 14), and corresponding broad, irregular variations of the ground-water level are produced. On Long Island the shallow wells 

observed by the Brooklyn waterworks show, besides the annual fluctuation?, secular 

variations corresponding in general with those of the rainfall (fig. 15). Thus the 

lowest point in both curves is in 1901 and the highest in 1899. Many differences 

are, however, to be noted between the two curves. The annual curve, though it 

may be slightly modified, persistently recurs, whatever the rainfall. Note in this 

connection the regular downward course of the ground water in the latter part of

-100 -100

FIG. 14. Residual-mass curves of rainfall for Long" Island, 

N.Y., Newark, N. J., and Philadelphia, Pa. (After Spear, 

1904.) These curves show the cumulative excess or deficiency of the total actual rainfall over the toHl mean 

rainfall for the periods under consideration, and'as these 

excess or deficiency values are those which determine 

the long-period rise and fall of the ground wr.ter they 

indicate the general character of the secular fluctuation 

of the ground water occurring at these points.
38 FLUCTUATIONS OF THE WATER LEVEL IN TVELLS.

1898 and 1903, when the rainfall curve is rising, and the appearance in 1900 of a 

typical yearly curve when the rainfall curve falls rather regularly from the spring 

of 1899 to 1901.

Similarly, in the Wiener Neustadt observations (PI. IX, p. 62) the secular variations of the ground-water level broadly follow the variations of the rainfall.

The observations of Auchincloss « on a well at Bryn Mawr, Pa., which have been 

plotted by Spear 6 in connection with the yearly rainfall and temperature curves, likewise show pronounced annual and secular fluctuations. Here, however, the secular 

fluctuations of the ground water, while broadly resembling the rainfall variations, 

show some points of difference. Thus, the minimum of the secular curve of the 

ground water is in 1885-86, while the minimum rainfall is in 1837, and the general 

shape of the two curves for 1886-87 and 1888 is by no means parallel. The positions 

of the maxima, however, agree closely, and there is a general falling off in both 

curves from 1889 to 1893-94. Though the extreme rains of the latter part of 1889 temporarily obliterated the annual curve, it quickly reasserted itself.

In general it may be said that irregularities in the yearly curve are due to irregularities in the rainfall occurring in the same year.

AMOUNT OF ANNUAL AND SECULAR FLUCTUATION.

The size of the annual fluctuations depends principally upon (1) the percentage of 

rainfall reaching the ground water; (2) the amount of free pore space of the strata in 

the zone affected by the fluctuations, and (3) the relation of the ground-water table 

to the topography of the region involved.

It is relatively self-evident that, where a single well is considered, the range of the 

yearly fluctuations will vary with the first factor, and that in general the same 

amount of infiltration will produce a greater fluctuation where the pore space is small 

than where it is large. It does not, however, follow that in a given region, in beds 

of the same porosity, the same annual rainfall under the same climatic conditions 

will produce the same results. Observations have shown that whatever the rainfall 

or porosity, provided the latter be reasonably constant in the area under consideration, the annual fluctuations approach zero at the point of discharge and tend to regularly increase in magnitude from that point to the ground-water divide. c Thus at 

Wiener Neustadt (PL IX, p. 62), near the ground-water discharge into Fisha Kiver, 

where the depth to the ground-water table is about 5 feet, the yearly fluctuation is 3 

to 4 feet, while at St. Agyden station, where the water plane is about 150 feet from 

the surface, the fluctuation is 25 to 30 feet, and the fluctuations in the intervening 

wells are proportional to their position between these two points. On Long Island 

the annual fluctuation 2 miles from the shore, at Millburn (figs. 13, 15), is 22 inches, 

while at the ground-water divide, 8 to 9 miles from the south shore, the fluctuation 

is about 10 feet. A few observations regarding the amount of the yearly fluctuation 

at different points have been collected in the table following. Many of these points 

of observation are located near the points of discharge, and the values as a whole 

are to be regarded as low.

In records for but a few years it is evidently impossible to separate the annual from 

the secular fluctuations. When, however, the observations cover a considerable 

period, it is possible to obtain a value for the secular fluctuation. This equals the 

total range less the average yearly fluctuation. A few such values are given in the 

table on page 40.

. a Auchincloss, W. S., Waters within the Earth and Laws of Rainflow, Philadelphia, 1897, p. 9.

b Spear, Walter E., Kept. Commission on Additional Water Supply for the C ty of New York, 1904, 

appendix 7, fig. 45, p. 822.

^The cross section irom Watford to the Chiltern Hills midway between Colne end Gade rivers, which 

accompanies Clutterbuck's discussion of the " Periodic Alternations of the Chalk Water Level under 

London " (Min. Proc. Inst. Civil Eng., vol. 9,1850, PI. VI), is a most excellent diagrammatic illustration 

of this principle.
CO

05 

^

11

/897

. ,;;, i,y,

l\f 'f/Wb-O

.0 

 s

 

--5

-10

 -15 inches

1890 1899 /900 

Rainfall residual mass curve at Hempstead, 

-10 feet

Fluctuations of ground w

Long Island, 

l

-IS feet 

i 11 i i I i 11 i i 111 i i I i i i i i i i 11 i I i i i ij i i i i i i 11 i i i f i i i 

FIG. 15. Annual and secular changes of the ground-water level and fluctuations due to single 

observations of the Brooklyn water department. (Afte
Table giving amount of annual and secular fluctuations 

Location.

UNITED STATES.

MIDDLE EUKOPE.

Do...............................

Xlfl0^!).^!!*"*

Do...............................

Prno1

Joseuhstadt .........................

Average 

annual 

rainfall.

Inches. 

44

44

35

30

49

28

<¥)

23

46

46

35

 33

4?

42

25

26

22

19

25

24

Character of waterbearing strata.

.....do................

Glacial drift. .........

.....do................

.....do................

schist. 

Glacial drift. .........

deposits (sand).

.....do................

Distance 

from 

point of 

groundwater discharge.

Miles. 

0.02

7.0

.25

Total 

depth of 

well.

Feet. 

25

100

8-55

27

65

40

18

Shallow

19

26

19

32

18

30

26-50

26

20

73

Distance 

of mean 

high water from 

surface.

Feet. 

10

80

25

43

5

18

16-30

17

11

33

Avera

annu

fluctu

tion

Fee

1

2

2

5

9

4
Baden .......^.. .....................

Do...............................

Vo.... ...........................

ENGLAND.

35

25

21

26

25

25

30

30

27

30

30

30

conglomerate. 

.....do................

.....do................

Chalk ................

.....do................

.....do................

.....do................

.....do................

.....do................

.....do................

.....do................

.....do................

.3

2.7

6.3

.2

2.5

1.5

17

oo

21

19

209

8

71

177

16

198

163

225

13

 11

8

154

3

44

144

7

120

154

75

1

2

7

1

7

20. 0-3

2. 0-13

913

9 10

9

a Maximum range f9r period given less the average yearly fluctuation

bRept. New York City Commission on Additional Water Supply. 1904, 

clbiU, PI. VI (should be IV), pp. 819-820.

dAnn. Repts. Michigan State Board of Health, 1879, 1881-1902.

e Auchincloss, W. S., Waters within the Earth and Laws of Rainflow, 

/Emery, Frank E., Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Ann. Repts. New Yor

ffSoyka, Schwankungen des Grundwassers: Penck's Geographische A

h Ibid., p. 34.

i Ibid., pp. 37-38.

fclbid., pp. 41-42.

ZIbid., pp. 48-51.

m Whitlev, Henry Mitchell, Min. Proc. Inst. Civil Eng., vol. 142,1900. 

"Evans, Sir John, Min. Proc. Inst. Civil Eng., vol. 45,1877, p. 124.

oLucas, Joseph, Min. Proc. Inst. Civil Eng., vol. 47,1877, pp. 70-167.

p Clutterbuck, Rev. James, Min. Proc. Inst. Civil Eng., vol. 9,1850, p. 

a Extreme range for period given; it therefore includes secular as wel

>-Min. Proc. Inst. Civil Eng., vol. 47,1876-77, pt. 1,1877, p. 87.

slbid., p. 118.

<Northcote, A. B., Phil. Mag., 4th ser., vol. 14,1857, p. 471.
42 J'LUCTUATIOISrS OF THE WATER LEVEL IN WELLS. 

FLTJCTTJATIONS DTTE TO SINGLE SHOWERS.

In the foregoing consideration of the relation of the rainfall to secular and annual 

fluctuations, the most important factor was clearly the amount of water actually 

contributed to the zone of complete saturation, or the ground water.« In these cases 

the water table rises or falls because the amount of water received is greater or less 

than the outflow.

In the consideration of single showers, however, it is found that another factor is 

of as great or even greater importance. Single showers may affect the water level in 

a well in two ways: (1) By transmission of pressure without any actual addition to 

the ground water indeed, in many cases the elevation of the water in the well is 

accompanied by an actual depression of the ground-water table; (2) by an actual 

contribution to the ground water whereby the level of the water table is raised.

FLUCTUATIONS PRODUCED BY SHOWERS BY TRANSMITTED PRESSUFE WITHOUT ANY 

INCREASE IN THE GROUND WATER.

King observed at Madison, Wis., 6 that the water often rose in veils very suddenly 

and sharply during summer rains, when an investigation of the soil showed that it 

was dry beneath the surface covering wet by the showers. Similar occurrences 

were recorded at Lynbrook, N. Y., where in a 2-inch well 14 feet deep every rain 

during the period of observation, July 17 to September 10 wa^ recorded and its 

duration and complexity indicated. Many of these fluctuations produce no permanent deflection of the ground-water curve and the evidence that no water from 

several of these rains reached the ground water is regarded as conclusive (PI. VI; 

also note particularly the behavior of the shallow well August 19-21 and the fluctuations produced by rains of July 20, 22, 30, and August 6; the two successive showers 

of August 6-7 are particularly noteworthy).

In the case of wells which are not separated from the main water table by impervious layers and in which the water is not under artesian pressure, this is due largely 

to the hydrostatic transmission of pressure by means of the soil air. When the rain 

strikes the surface it closes the superficial soil pores or interstices' and thus confined 

and compresses the air in the soil between the surface and the ground-water table. 

The weight of the rain is thus transmitted to the ground-water table, and the extra 

head so developed raises the water in wells and increases th^ discharge at the 

ground-water outlets. The effect on the stream flow is very analogous to the increase 

produced by a lowering of the barometric pressure. It is thus possible for a rain to 

produce instantly a change in the water level in wells and an increase in the groundwater outflow without contributing a drop to the ground water. This has an important bearing on the calculation of "flood flows" from ground-water-fed streams, for 

it is evident that in this manner a decided rise in the stream may be produced by a 

rain from which there is no direct run-off and which does not reach the ground-water 

table.

Two other factors may be involved in the production of the change in level during 

rains: (1) An actual elastic compression or plastic deformation of the soil, and (2) a 

change in the capillary conditions. King observed in a shallow well near a railroad 

track that the passage of a freight train caused a quick rise and fall of the water in the 

well (p. 75). Apparently the weight of the train compressed the er.rth and by decreasing the pore space caused the water to rise. The weight of the rain might have a 

similar effect. Under this hypothesis the water would rise on'the addition of the 

rain and gradually fall on its removal by evaporation. 

"Ground water as here used does not include the hygroscopic and capillary water above the water 

table, or zone of complete saturation. For the purpose of this discussion, water is not considered 

"ground water" until it reaches the water table.

i>Bull. U. S. Weather Bureau No. 5, 1892, pp. 20, 72-73.
FLUCTUATIONS DUE TO RAINFALL AND EVAPOEATIOF. 43

Eegarding the second hypothesis it is well known that changes in the surface conditions greatly affect the capillary action of the soil. At Purdue University it was 

found that the addition of a thin layer of soil to the surface of a lysimeter caused an 

immediate discharge of water.« This was attributed to a change in the capillary 

conditions, and it has been suggested that the wetting of the ground surface would 

produce a similar effect. King, however, observed & that a moderate wetting of the 

surface tended to increase the upward percolation, and the effect of wetting the surface at Lynbrook would therefore be to diminish rather than increase the rse due to 

rains which do not contribute to the ground water.

At the Colorado experiment station Headden has observed c that light raits during 

dry periods produce a comparatively great increase in the height of the water plane, 

while in intervals of abundant moisture, when the soil is wet, rains of this character 

do not produce such an increase; moderate rains are here sometimes accompanied 

by temporary depressions of the water plane. These observations may be explained 

on the basis that the soil air is the principal factor and that when the soil is very 

moist there is so little soil air that no effect is possible with slight showers. The 

cause of the temporary depression after moderate rains is not evident unless the conditions are unfavorable for the transmission of pressure by the soil air, but are such 

that the increased upward capillary action resulting from the moistening o* the surface is sufficient to perceptibly decrease the ground water.

Where there is an impervious layer between the water-bearing strata and the 

local ground-water surface, and where there is artesian pressure, the added weight 

due to the rainfall in all cases acts directly. In case the rain is uniform ov«r a considerable area this pressure may be regarded as acting on an elastic body and the 

same character of results is to be expected in both deep and shallow wells. Thus in 

the Lynbrook wells on July 22 and August 25 all wells show a sharp vertical rise 

(PI. VI). On July 22 the rise started in the 14-foot well at 10 p. m., in the 72-foot 

well at 10.25, and in the 504-foot well at 10.34; on August 25 a somewhat s;milar lag 

is noted, the 14-foot well rising at 4.10 p. m., the 72-foot well at 4.20, and the 504- 

foot well at 4.24. The cause of this lag is not fully apparent. With a direct transmission of pressure such as the curve indicates no lag is to be expected. It may be 

that in this case the soil is to be regarded as having some of the plastic characters 

shown in other cases.

On the other hand, when the rainfall is unequally distributed in time and amount 

a plastic deformation may result, due to unequal loading, which will give rise to 

different results in wells of different depths. In the shallow well the zone of influence is relatively limited and the condition in this area may be regarded as fairly 

uniform. The result is therefore immediate and abrupt, as in the first case. In the 

deeper wells, however, the increasing zones of influence bring in more factors, which,, 

arriving progressively from different sources, tend to produce a more end more 

gradual change. Thus, in the Lynbrook wells there were on August 6-7, 11, and 20 

abrupt changes in the 14-foot well and a more gradual one in the 72- and 504-foot 

wells.

This plastic deformation in the surficial beds, produced by varying load and the 

response of the water to it, throws some light on the extreme complexity of the 

fluctuation recorded in the wells, for it suggests that variation in load, from whatever 

cause, will produce corresponding fluctuations. The water level in deep wells where 

an artesian head is developed may thus be very sensitive to local conditions, the 

effect of local rainfall and of the yearly fluctuations of the local ground-water level 

being felt to a greater or less degree by transmitted pressure in the deepe" zones.

"Second Ann. Kept. Indiana Expt. Station, 1889-90, pp. 32-33. 

& Seventh Ann. Kept. Wisconsin Agric. Expt. Station, 1890, p. 135.

e Headden, William P., A soil study, pt. 4, The ground water: Bull. Colorado Agric. Erpt. Station 

No. 72, 1902.
44 FLUCTUATIONS OF THE WATEK LEVEL IN WELLS.

FLUCTUATION OF THE GROUND-WATER LEVEL RESULTING FROM SINGLE SHOWERS, BY

ACTUAL PERCOLATION.

The fluctuations produced by direct percolation are of a mucl less abrupt character than those just described; indeed, it is usually the case that the water is delivered so gradually to the water table that no change is noticed. Only in the shallow 

wells in coarse material can these fluctuations be identified, except in the cases of 

extraordinary rains, when the result is an irregularity of greater or less importance 

on the regular annual ground-water curve.

On Long Island the shallow wells near the south shore are affected by most of the 

important rains, although part of the fluctuations recorded are of the character just 

described. (See figs. 13, 15.) This is due to the coarseness of the surficial material and to the nearness of the water table to the surface. In the wells in which the 

ground water is farther from the surface the effect of any rain can not be positively 

identified. In the Wiener Neustadt records the effect of sing^ rains is entirely 

obliterated (PI. IX), and in long observations of the chalk waters of England the 

general rule, to which, of course, there are exceptions where large underground 

caverns are concerned, is that the water is delivered very gradually to the groundwater table.

PERCENTAGE OF RAINFALL CONTRIBUTED TO THE GROTTNT WATER.

METHODS OF ESTIMATION.

In connection with this discussion of the fluctuation of the water level it may not 

be inappropriate to take up the allied question, to which reference has been made at 

several points, of the percentage of rain contributed to the ground water.

Estimates of this character have been made by three method's (1) by means of 

the lysimeter, (2) by stream discharge, and (3) by changes in the level of the 

ground water.

ESTIMATION OF PERCOLATION BY MEANS OF LYSIMETEBg.

By the lysimeter method the rain water parsing through a column of soil in field 

conditions is measured directly. The gage used for this purpose consists of a 

vessel with impervious sides and a pervious bottom, filled with t^e soil to be tested, 

and buried so that the surface of the soil in the gage is at the sa^ie level as the surrounding ground. The discharge through the pervious bottom of the vessel is collected by a cone and conducted by a small tube to the measuring gages. In the early 

forms of the apparatus used by Dalton, 1796, and Dickinson, 1835, surface outlets 

were provided to discharge the excess rainfall, but these were abandoned when it 

was found that on the level surface of the gage there was no surface run-off.

Many observations have been made along this line, and while the results for long 

periods clearly have a greater value than those for short periods, some of these shortperiod values have been included in the table on the following prge for the purposes 

of comparison.

Lysimeter results have been subjected to considerable criticism, and very differing 

views expressed regarding their value. It has been suggested (1) that the material 

in the gage is not in the natural condition of consolidation, and that, therefore, the 

results are too high; (2) that the underdrainage necessary to collect and carry the 

water from the base of the soil column to the measuring tube introduces an unnatural 

condition whereby the results are too low; (3) that the surface run-off factor is 

surpressed and the results are too high.
Results of lysimeter experiments to determine the amount of rainfa

Observer.

Dickinson and Evans/

Do.................

Do.................

Do.................

Do.................

Do.................

Do.................

Locality.

Nash (or Apslev Mills),

Hemel Hempstead, 

Herts, England.

.....do....................

.....do....................

.....do....................

.....do....................

.....do....................

.....do ....................

Conditions of experiments.'

average Lancashire soil & and sunk level with ground;

after first year covered with grass.

.....do...................................................

Gage sunk flush with ground, filled with soil 10 inches.

sandy gravel 16 inches, clean coarse gravel 11 inches, g 

representing ordinary surface conditions of that region. From 1835 to 1868 gage consisted of a wooden 

cylinder 12 inches in diameter and 3 feet deep, with 

lead funnel and draw pipe at bottom. After 1853 a 

cast-iron cylinder, 18 inches in diameter and 3 feet

high, was used. Surface in all cases covered with

filled as above.

filled as above.

period 1835-1875.

period 1835-1875.

1835-1875.

Cast-iron cylinder ......................................

«Mem. Lit, Phil. Soc. Manchester, vol. 5,1st ser., p. 360; Jour. Royal Agric. Soc., vol. 10,1844.

& Described by Prestwich (On Water-bearing Strata about London, 1899, p. Ill) as common soil of the n

o Field has suggested (Min. Proc. Inst. Civil Eng., vol. 40,1876, p. 88) that the underdrainage of Dalton

tJBibl. Universelle de Geneve, Sciences et Arts, vol. 1; Gilbert, J. H., Min. Proc. Inst. Civil Eng., vol. 4

« dours 4' .\sricnHnre, vol. 1, p. 118.

/Dickinson, John, and Evans, John, Min. Proc. Inst. Civil Eng. [vol. 2], 1843, pp. 160-161; vol. 9,1850, 

ffMin. Proc. Inst. Civil Eng., vol. 14,1865, pp. 86-87.

ft Obtained by combination of values given in Min. Proc. Inst. Civil Eng., vol. 105,1891, p. 50, and vol. 
Results oflysimeter experiments to determine the amount of rainfall reac

Observer.

DicMnson and Evans. .

Do.................

Do.................

Do.................

Do.................

Do.................

Von Mollendorffe ..... 

Do.................

Do.................

Do.................

Do.................

Locality.

Nash (or Apsley Mills) 

Hemel Hempstead, 

Herts, England.

England.

England. 

.....do....................

.....do....................

.....do....................

.....do....................

.....do....................

Gorlitz, Silesia, Germany . 

.....do....................

.....do....................

many. 

.....do....................

zerland.

Conditions of experiments.

Cast-iron cylinder 18 inches in diameter, 3 feet deep

filled with broken chalk covered with a thin layer 

of soil and grass.

with drain at bottom was put 2 feet of gravel and 

the remainder filled with the average quality o

magnesium-limestone soil." The soil was kept free 

from weeds and well stirred.

loam, gravel, and sand, all well mixed beforehand

trodden in and turfed. Material intended to represent common Hertfordshire land.

tion, period 1853-1873.

period 1853-1873.

toon, period 1853-1873.

period 1853-1873.

tion.

Cylinder 1.25 meters deep, filled with clay, not covered 

with vegetation.

with vegetation.

covered with vegetation.

meters in a field covered with vegetation; clay soil.

meters in a field covered with vegetation; loamy soi

ons subsoil; land cropped as usual during experiment
Do.................

Lawes and Gilbert/ . . . 

Do.................

Do.................

Do.................

Do.................

.....do....................

.....do....................

Rothamsted, Hertfordshire, England.

.....do....................

.....do....................

.....do....................

.....do....................

Gage 1.20 meters deep, filled with sand, not covered 

with vegetation.

Gage 1.20 meters deep, filled with loam, not covered 

with vegetation.

Gage 1.20 meters deep, filled with peat, not covered 

with vegetation.

Gage one-thousandth of an acre area, soil rather heavy 

loam with clay subsoil built in, in natural state of 

consolidation with brick and cement. No vegetation allowed to grow on gages, which are surrounded 

by meadow land; soil column 20 inches deep.

Same as above; soil column 40 inches deep. 

Same as above; soil column 60 inches deep.

Same as above; soil column 60 incites deep. Year of 

maximum rainfall, period 1870-1902.

Same as above; soil column 60 inches deep. Year of 

minimum rainfall, period 1870-1902.

« Charnock, Chas. [Results of percolation experiments near Ferrvbridge, York, 1842-1846] : Jour. Eoyal 

* Greaves, Chas., Min. Proc. Inst. Civil Eng., vol. 45, 1876, pp. 19-48. / 

« Von Mollendorff, G., Die Regenverhaltnisse Deutschlands, Gorlitz, 1862; Gerhardt, I. P., Der Wasserb

rf Archives des Sciences, Bibliotheque Universelle, Sept., 1869, quoted by Gilbert, Min. Proc. Inst. Civil 

 e Wollny, E., Forschungen a. d. Gebiete d. Agrikulturphysik; Gerhardt, Der Wasserbau, Leipzig, 1892, p

.f Lawes, Sir John, and Gilbert, Sir J. H., Min. Proc. Inst. Civil Eng., vol. 45, 1876, pp. 59-60; id., vol

Summary Tables, 1903, p. 1. 
48 FLUCTUATIONS OF THE WATEK LEVEL IN WELLS.

The objection regarding consolidation is well taken, though it clearly does not 

apply to the results at Kothamsted, where natural soil columns were used, and where 

very high results were obtained, or to other gages after the first few years, during 

which the soil has settled. In the Kernel Hempstead experiments the percolation 

between 1835 and 1843 was 42.5 per cent of the rainfall, while in the period 1835 to 

1853 it was but 35 per cent, a decrease which is perhaps due in part to the gradual 

compacting of the soil, though it is also affected by the varying rate of percolation, 

for it must be remembered that the amount of percolation depends more on the time 

at which the rain falls and the manner in which it is distributed than on the actual 

amount.

Regarding the unnatural condition introduced by the method of drainage, it has 

been suggested on the one hand that the lower part of the soil column is thus exposed 

to evaporation, and that not only is there a loss in this manner not accounted for by 

the measuring gage, but that the dry condition of the basal layer would retard the 

percolation to a measureable extent and increase the loss by evaporation from the 

surface of the ground. Ebermeyer has shown, however, that with small lysimeters 

the lower portion of the soil column is damper than normal/' and he proposed to 

remedy this by constructing larger gages. These defects are clearly ones of construction which it is possible to remedy. At Rothamsted essentially the same results 

were obtained from soil columns 20, 40, and 60 inches high (fip. 12), showing conclusively that in this case the natural conditions were not essentially disturbed.

Indeed, it is believed that carefully conducted lysimeter observations, extending 

over long periods, such as are represented by the Dickinson and Evans and the 

Lawes and Gilbert experiments, give very important values bearng on this question, 

the Lawes and Gilbert results being particularly important and trustworthy. They 

indicate that in the climatic condition of middle England, with 28 inches of rainfall, 

half of the rainfall is contributed to the ground water -through a rather heavy soil 

not covered with vegetation, and half of it evaporated. If the rainfall is greater, the 

percentage increases, if less, it decreases. Had the ground been covered with leaves, 

straw, or similar matter the percolation would have been greater; if covered with 

growing vegetation, less. Lawes and Gilbert estimate, from their observations on 

plant transpiration, that in this region 2 inches per year would represent the plant 

transpiration in the area of downs and waste land, where there was very little vegetation, while with a heavy grass or mangel crop it would amount to 7 inches or more. 

The average for the whole region was estimated at 3 to 4 inches. This would make 

the percolation for soil of this character, in the case of downs an! waste land, 43 per 

cent; for-the average mid-England district, 39 per cent, and fo~ land covered with 

heavy grass or mangel crop, 25 per cent or less.

It should be noted in this connection that while the most of these observations, 

including those at Rothamsted, were made in connection with agricultural investigations, the Hemel Hempstead and Lee Bridge (Greaves) experiments were made 

for engineering purposes. The Hemel Hempstead observations were undertaken by 

a paper manufacturer, dependent on the water power of a spring-fed stream. He 

argued that stream flow depended on the amount of water which percolated through 

the soil; that measurements of this quantity would indicate th<? stream flow to be 

expected during the following summer. It is stated that he fonnd that the indications of the gage during the winter enabled him to calculate the supply of water trom 

the stream during the ensuing season, that he had always tound the indication perfectly reliable, 0 and that he was accustomed to regulate the volume of the orders 

accepted for the summer season by the indication of the gag?, for the preceding 

winter. c Clutterbuck adds, though the relation is clearly more of a qualitative than

' "Reported by R. H. Scott, Jovir. Royal Agric. Soc , 2d ser., vol. 17, 1881, pp. 66-67. 

«>Min. Proc. lost. Civil Eng., vol. 2, 1842, p. 158. 

pIbid., p. 157,
FLUCTUATIONS DUE TO RAINFALL AND EVAPORATION. 49

a quantitative one, that the rise in level of the water in the wells in that region is 

found to coincide with the readings of the Dickinson gages.«

The lysimeter certainly furnishes a very direct and exact means of determining the 

amount of water contributed to the ground water at any given point. The principal 

objection to it is that the block of soil tested is not necessarily representative of the 

whole area under investigation.

Somewhat similar experiments, having for their object the determination of the 

evaporation from plants, have been conducted by many agriculturists in this country, 

notably by King, & by means of tanks which can be lifted from the ground and 

weighed. This method is not so applicable to the amount of water contributed to 

the ground water as is the lysimeter type used above, for the results are lers direct, 

the percolation being inferred from the evaporation generally under more artificial 

conditions than with the lysimeter.

ESTIMATION OF PERCOLATION FROM THE STREAM DISCHARGE.

The favorite method of estimating the evaporation of a given drainage ba->m is to 

subtract the stream discharge expressed in inches of rainfall over the drainage basin 

from the average rainfall. Thus it is assumed that 

Rainfall Stream discharge = Evaporation.

The stream discharge is composed of (1) the rain water which flows into tl ? drainage channels without penetrating the soil this is, strictly speaking, the rur-off, but 

as this word is now by common consent used for the whole quantity of wter discharged by the river, this contribution may be somewhat arbitrarily referred to as 

the flood flow; and (2) the water which after agreater or less journey through the earth 

returns to the surface this may be called the spring or ground-water flow ot the river. 

It has been assumed that the ground-water flow of a river is its low-water flow and 

that any excess of this quantity can be regarded as flood flow. This is far from being 

a general fact. As the height of the ground-water table increases the stream discharge also increases, and it is possible to have high and low waters dependent 

entirely on the fluctuation of the ground-water discharge. In streams which cut the 

ground-water table and are clearly ground-water-fed streams, such as those on Long 

Island, a rise in the ground-water table changes the position of the head of the stream, 

and by thus increasing both the head and the area of discharge greatly increases the 

stream flow. The total range of the ground-water table near the coast is rruch less 

than near the ground-water divide, and the discharge during periods of high groundwater level may therefore be disproportionate to the changes in level recprded by the 

wells near the coast. Because of these great changes in the area of the discharge and 

the relatively free flow of the surface water, it often happens that the fluctuations of 

the stream height in the lower part of the stream are greater than the changes in the 

level in wells in the same region.

Heavy rains, with no surface run-off, may likewise produce sudden and considerable rises by increasing the spring flow by transmitted pressure in the manner 

described above (p. 42). In the 14-foot well at Lynbroofc (p. 23), besides the sudden rises recorded for every rain, the water four times during the period of observation rose above the surface. In the first instance the water, much to the arrazement 

of the observer, gushed over the top of the pipe a few minutes after the shower began, 

and, while after the pipe was raised this did not occur again, the records show that 

on several occasions the water rose higher than the ground surface. There appear, 

then, to be great and almost insurmountable difficulties in the way of the satisfactory 

separation of the stream discharge into spring or ground-water flow and flood flow.

a Min. Proc. Inst. Civil Eng., vol. 9, pp. 153, 156.

bAnn. Repts. Wisconsin Agric. Expt. Station, 1892, pp. 94-100, 1893, pp. 162-159, 1894, pp. 240-280; 

1897, pp. 228-231.

IRR 155 06 4
50 FLUCTUATIONS OF THE WATER LEVEL IN WELLS.

It is the belief of the writer that in the eastern United States the portion of the total 

stream flow attributed to ground-water contributions is commonly greatly underestimated.

, On Long Island Spear, from a comparison of the hydrographs of several of the 

streams near the south shore with the fluctuation in neighboring wells, has concluded that of the total stream discharge but 57 per cent is spring or ground-water 

flow. a This is an extremely low value, and from a consideration of the various factors 

involved it is believed that 90 per cent is much nearer the true value. On this basis 

the flood flow is but 3 or 4 per cent of the yearly rainfall.

In the simple equation, Rainfall Stream flow=Evaporation, no account is taken of 

the underflow, it being assumed that all the ground water is returned to the stream 

above the point at which the measurement is made, an assumption which is far from 

correct. The result of this is to give to the evaporation a value just as much in excess 

of its true value as there is loss by underflow. Thus on Long Islavl, where the percolation is perhaps 60 per cent of the rainfall, the estimate of Spear * gives the total normal stream discharge as 33 per cent of the rainfall, and the estimates of the Brooklyn 

water department are still lower. This, according to the above formula, would give 

a loss by evaporation of 67 per cent, when it is actually about 40 per cent. It may 

be assumed, however, except in regions deeply covered with loose superficial material, such as Long Island, that the loss by underflow is less than the excess by flood 

flow, and that the total stream flow represents a quantity slightly larger than the 

percolation. With thh in mind, some idea of the amount of percolation can be 

obtained from the following values:

Rainfall and run-off of drainage basins in the United States.

Drainage basin.

Croton River, N. Y ..................

Nashua River, South Branch, Mass..

Years of 

record.

1875-1902

1884 1899

1872-1885

1897-1902

Average 

yearly 

rainfall.

Inches of 

depth.

42.56

39.7

40.3

47 i

48.07

47.6

46.1

46.38

48.0

51.32

Average 

yearly 

stream 

flow.

Inches of 

depth.

14.0

13.1

U

rt

20.3

20.0

22.33

23.1

22.6

22.75

23.3

27.56

Percentage: 

Stream 

flow of 

rainfall.

33.0

33. C

35. C

43. P

45. ?

46.5

48.5

49.0

49.0

49 0

51.0

52.7

53.7

Authority.

Rafter.

Do.

Do.

Do.

Do.

works.

Do.

Do.

Metropolitan waterworks.

In this table the large loss by underflow in the Muskingum and Genesee drainage 

basins is evident.

ESTIMATION OF PERCOLATION FROM CHANGES IN LEVEL OF THE GROtTND-WATEE TABLE.

The broader and more important fluctuations of the ground-water table are clearly 

due to the infiltration of water, and attempts have been made repeatedly to estimate

« Rept. New York City Commission on Additional Water Supply, 1904, p. 829. 

frlbid., p. 795.
FLUCTUATIONS DUE TO KAINFALL AND EVAPORATION. 51

the amount of infiltration by the rise in the ground water. After having determined 

the available pore space, which is by no means a simple matter, it appears v^ry easy 

to calculate the'amount of water which will cause the water level to rise a fey inches 

or a few feet. The method is an attractive one, with an appearance of exactness and 

simplicity, and has often been tried. The results have very little meaning, however, 

for the very important reason that the same rainfall under the same climatic conditions will produce very different rises in material of the same porosity; for, as pointed 

out previously (p. 38), the amplitude of the fluctuation increases with the distance 

from the ground-water discharge. Thus, with material of the same porosity, an 

annual rainfall of 25 inches produces at Wiener Neustadt a fluctuation in one well of 

1 foot, and in another a fluctuation of 25 feet (PI. IX). It is evident that a calculation of infiltration based on the rise of water produced in well No. 1, will give very 

different values from that of No. 2, and yet it may be confidently asserted that the 

same amount of percolation is received in both. Similarly, in the chalk region of 

England, the fluctuation in the same region ranges from a few inches to 50 or 100 

feet. The impossibility of accurately calculating the amount of percolation from the 

rise of the ground-water table is evident.

REFERENCES RELATING TO WELL FLUCTUATIONS DUE TO RAINFALL AND EVAPORATION.

The bibliography relating to fluctuations of water in wells due to rainfall is naturally very extensive, and an attempt has been made to collect a few only of these 

titles, important either for their general bearing or their special reference to the 

United States:

AUCHINCLOSS, W. S. Waters within the Earth and Laws of Rainflow, Philadelphia, 1897.

Gives record of fluctuations in well at Bryn Mawr, Pa., 1886-1895, showing annual an-t secular 

fluctuations.

BAKBOUK, EEWIN HINCKLEY. Water-Sup, and Irr. Paper No. 29, U. S. Geol. Survey, 1899, p. 28; 

Nebraska Geol. Survey, Rept. of State Geologist, vol. 1, 1903, p. 106.

States that wells in Nebraska show an annual fluctuation independent of the rainfall, with the 

maximum occurring in February.

CLUTTERBUCK, JAMES. Observations on the periodic drainage and replenishment of the subterraneous reservoir in the chalk basin of London: Min. Proc. Inst. Civil Eng. [vol. 2J, 1842, 

pp. 155-165; 1843, pp. 156-159. 

 On the periodic alternations and progressive permanent depression of the chalk-water level

under London: Min. Proc. Inst. Civil Eng., vol. 9, 1850, pp. 151-180, PL VI.

EMERY, FRANK E. Notes on fluctuations in height of water in an unused well: Eighth Ann. Rept. 

New York Agric. Expt. Station for 1889, 1890, pp. 374-375, fig.

Records monthly observations from December, 1886, to December, 1889, on a 40-foct well at 

Geneva, N. Y., which shows a single yearly period independent of the rainfall. 

FORTIER, SAMUEL. A preliminary report on seepage water and the underflow of rivers: Bull. Utah 

Expt. Station No 38,1895.

On p. 30, under heading "Effect of subsurface temperature on rate of flow," are given discharge, temperature, and rainfall at Denver Water Company's plant at Cherry Creek, frcm 1888 to 

1891. This is an infiltration gallery in fine sand 15 feet below the surface, and the discharge 

shows a rather regular yearly fluctuation with a minimum in February-March and a maximum, 

normally, in August-November. This fluctuation is ascribed by Fortier to changes in soil temperature. It should be pointed out, however, that, while the annual changes in soil temperature 

do affect the rate of flow (see p. 59), the yearly maximum is independent of this fluctuation and 

the agreement here is merely a coincidence.

FREITND, ADOLPH (secretary). Bericht des Ausschusses fiir die Wasserversorgung Wiens, 6i?terreichischen Ingenieur- und Architekten-Verein, 1895.

PI. V, Graphische Darstellung der Wasserstitnde im Steinfelde, 1883-1888.

GEBHARDT, P. I. Handbuch der Ingenieurwissenschaften, vol. 3, Der Wasserbau, pt. 1,1892, pp. 46-51. 

Under heading " Schwankungen des Gnindwas ers," gives a summary based largely on the 

reports of Soyka.

HEADDEN, WILHELM P. A soil study, pt. 4, The ground water: Bull. Colorado Agric. Expt. Station 

No. 72,1902.

Gives data regarding effect of single showers.

KING, FRANKLIN H. Fluctuations in level and rate of movement of ground water: Bull. U. 8. 

Weather Bureau No. 5, 1892, pp. 72-74. 

Discusses instantaneous percolation after rains.
52 FLUCTUATIONS OF THE WATER LEVEL" IN WELLS.

KING, FEANKLIN H. Principles and conditions of the movement of ground water: Nineteenth 

Ann. Rept. U. S. Geol. Survey, pt. 2,1899, pp. 100-106.

Discusses "Elevation of ground-water surface due to precipitation ani percolation," largely 

from standpoint of porosity. 

LIZNAE, JOSEF. Ueber die periodische Anderung des Grundwasserstandes, e^'i Beitrag zur Quellentheorie: Gsea, vol. 17,1881, p. 330; Meteorol. Zeitschr., Wien, vol. 17, 1882, pp. 368-371. 

LUEGEK, OTTO. Die Schwankungen des Grundwassers: G»a, vol. 24,1888, p. f30. 

MICHIGAN STATE BOAED OF HEALTH. Annual reports, 1878-1903.

Contain monthly observations of water level at many points in Michigan. 

SOYKA, ISIDOK. Experimentelles zur Theorie des Grundwasserschwankungen: Vierteljahrsschrift

fur off. Gesundheitspflege, vol. 4,1885, p. 592.

 Der Boden (Handbuch des Hygiene und der Gewerbekrankheiten, vol. 2, pt. 3), Leipzig, 

1887, pp. 251-351.

Contains much of the material incorporated in the following report. 

Die Schwankungen des Grundwassers mit besonderer Berucksichtifung der mitteleuropiiischen Verhaltnisse: Penck's Geographische Abhandlungen, vol. 2, pt. 3, Wien, 1888. 

SPEAK, WALTER E. Long Island sources: Rept. New York City Commission on Additional Water

Supply, appendix 7, 1904, pp. 816-826.

Discusses fluctuation in elevation of ground-water surface. 

TODD, JAMES E. Water-Sup, and Irr. Paper No. 34, U. S. Geol. Survey, 1900, p 29.

The normal yearly maximum is here tentatively referred to the melting of snows or floods. 

TKIBUS, L. L. Trans. Am. Soc. Civil Eng., vol. 31,1894, pp. 170, 391-395.

Reports (p. 170) that in driven wells in New Jersey, 50 feet deep, the effect of rain was rarely

felt in less than thirty hours; gives curve (pp. 391-395) showing fluctuation of water level in 50-foot

well at Plainfleld, N. J., waterworks, 1891-1894. This shows normal annual curves slightly affected

by pumping. 

WOLDKICH, JOHANN NEpoMUK. Ueber den Eitifluss der atmospharischen Niederschlage auf das

Grundwasser: Zeitschr. Meteorol., Wien, vol. 4, 1869, pp. 273-279. 

 Ueber die Beziehungen der atmospharischen Niederschlage zum Fl ?ss- und Grundwasserstand: Mitt. d. Techn. Klubs zu Salzburg, pt. 1, 1869.

FLUCTUATIONS DUE TO BAROMETRIC CHAJ TGES.

CHARACTER AND CAUSE.

Changes in air pressure have been observed to affect wells in two ways; in some 

there is an inflow and outflow of air, and in others a rising and lowering of the water 

level.« The rise or outflow occurs with a falling barometer, and the depression or 

inflow with a rising barometer. In the case of flowing wells, wl en the external air 

pressure decreases, the air within the earth expands, and, as the escape through the 

soil is greatly retarded by friction and as the well offers a free e3cape, it finds relief 

through the well tubing. The power of this blast evidently depends on the area 

tributary to the well, the loss by friction, and the rate of lowering of the outside 

pressure. On the other hand, with a rising barometer the exterral air flows into the 

pipe to supply the volume lost by the compression of the soil air or earth air. If 

water is interposed between this included air and the well, the well becomes a rough 

differential-pressure gage in which the maximum change possible is about 12 inches 

of water for each mercurial inch of variation in the barometric pressure.

Where there is no soil air suitably confined to produce the result just described, 

the air and other gases in the water so increase its compressibility that a small, 

though measurable result may be produced by the direct compression and expansion 

of the water. In the latter case the depth of water involved is ?.n important factor, 

and it is probably for this reason that on Long Island, where the earth air occurs 

only in the porous surficial soil, from which it is relatively free to escape, in the 

wells at Lynbrook fluctuations due to barometric changes are clearly noticeable only 

in the 504-foot well, and these are relatively small. An examination of PL VI shows 

that there are no indications of barometric influence on the curves from the 72-foot 

well, but that in the 504-foot well there is a striking resemblance. The similarity is, 

however, in some places due in part to other causes. Thus the elevations of the water 

on July 18-19, August 5, and September 16, while closely following the barometric

a See in this connection Nineteenth Ann. Rept. U. S. Geol. Survey, pt. 2,1899, figs. 3, 4, 5; WaterSup, and Irr. Paper No. 67, U. S. Geol. Survey, 1902, Bg. 39, p. 73.
FLUCTUATIONS DUE TO BAROMETRIC CHANGES. 53

curve, are partly due to rainfall. This is indicated by the fact that somewhr.t similar 

abrupt barometric depressions on July 26, August 20, and September 4-5, when there 

were no important rains, did not produce similar elevations of the water in the well. 

There is a further point of resemblance and dissimilarity between the curve for the 

504-foot well and the barometric curve. The well curve shows a very marl ed semidiurnal fluctuation, the two parts of which are generally of about the same value, 

although they sometimes merge into a pronounced diurnal wave, as on August 1, 2, 

and 3. In the barometric curve, although there is a tendency toward a semidiurnal 

well wave, it is nowhere well marked. The semidiurnal well wave is clearly not tidal. 

Its resemblance to the barometer curve is, however, sufficiently close to lead to the 

belief that it is largely barometric, but modified by some other element, perhaps the 

diurnal temperature wave which shows in the 14- and 72-foot wells (pp. 24-25).

REFERENCES RELATING TO WELL FLUCTUATIONS DUE TO BAROMETRIC CHANGES.

BLOWING WELLS.

BAEBOUE, EEWIN HINCKLEY. [Blowing wells in Nebraska]: Water-Sup, and Irr. Paper No. 29, IT. S.

Geol. Survey, 1889, pp. 78-82; Nebraska Geol. Survey, Kept, of State Geologist, vol. 1,1903, pp. 93-97. 

FAEELEY, T. On the blowing wells near North Allerton: Proc. Yorkshire Geol. and Polyt. Soc., n. s.,

vol. 7, pt. 3, 1880, pp. 409-421, PI. VII. 

HAEEIS, GILBEET DENNISON. [Blowing wells in Rapides Parish, La.]: Water-Sup, and Irr. Paper

No. 101, U. S. Geol. Survey, 1904, pp. 60-61; Louisiana Geol. Survey, Bull. No. 1, 1905, pp. 59-60. 

LANE, ALFEED C. Water-Sup, and Irr. Paper No. 30, U. S. Geol. Survey, 1899, pp. 65-56.

Records shallow blowing well in Michigan. 

VEATCH, A. C. Prof. Paper U. S. Geol. Survey No. 44,1906, p. 74.

Records reported occurrence of blowing wells on Long Island, New York.

CHANGES IN WATER LEVEL.

ATWELL, JOSEPH. Conjectures on the nature of intermitting and reciprocating springs: Trans. Phil. 

Soc. London, No, 424, vol. 37,1732, p. 301; Trans. Phil. Soc. London from 1665-1800 (abridged), vol. 

7, 1809, pp. 544-550.

Describes irregular fluctuations of short interval in springs at Brixam, near Torbay, in Devonshire called "Lay well." These, he supposes, are produced by the action of natural siphons. 

Perhaps they are barometric fluctuations.

DENIZET. Sources sujettees a des variations qui paraissent li^es a l'6tat du barometre: Comptes 

rendus, vol. 7, 1839, p. 799.

Reports that springs at Voize are affected by changes in barometric pressure, and that the discharge is directly related to the pressure, instead of inversely, as has been proved by irore recent 

work.

GOUGH, JOHN. Observations on the ebbing and flowing well at Giggleswick, in the West, Riding of 

Yorkshire, with a theory of reciprocating fountains: Jour. Nat. Phil. Chem. Arts, ser. 2, vol. 35, 

1813, pp. 178-193; Mem. Phil. Soc. Manchester, n. s., vol. 2, 1813, pp. 354-363.

The water level in this well fluctuates irregularly at short intervals, and Mr. Gough suggests 

that the fluctuations are produced by the obstruction resulting from the natural accumulation 

of air bubbles in the outlet and the relief resulting from their irregular escape. He cities the irreggular fluctuations of the Weeding well in Derbyshire and the Lay well near Torbay, as proving 

that the prevailing idea of the production of these phenomena by natural siphons is erroneous. 

He concludes, very correctly, that too little is known of the fountain of Jupiter in Dodona and 

Pliny's well in Como to judge of the true cause of the fluctuations mentioned by Pliny.

KING,FBANKLIN H. [Influence of barometric changes on discharge and water level in wells and 

springs at Madison and Whitewater, Wis.]: Bull. U. S. Weather Bureau No. 5,1892, pp. 44-53; 

Nineteenth Ann. Rept. JJ. S. Geol. Survey, pt. 2,1899, pp. 73-77.

LATHAM, BALDWIN. On the influence of barometric pressure on the discharge of water from springs: 

Brit. Assoc. Rept. for 1881,1882, p. 614; Brit. Assoc. Rept. for 1883, 1884, pp. 495-496.

The fluctuation of the Croydon Bourne, due to barometric pressure, on one occasion exceeded 

half a million gallons per day. Observations in deep wells are also recorded, showing that fluctuations are inversely related to the pressure. The fluctuations are attributed to the expansion and 

contraction of the air and gases in the water.

KNIGHTLEY, T. E. Ebbing and flowing wells [in Derbyshire, England]: Geol. Mag., n. s., decade 4, 

vol. 5, 1S98, pp. 333-334.

Suggests that irregularities in flow are due to cavernous limestone, which, by means of 

natural siphons, gives rise to " intermittent spring phenomena." The possibility of tl '3se fluctuations being due to barometric changes is not considered.
54 FLUCTUATIONS OF THE WATER LEVEL IN WELLS.

LTJEGER, OTTO. Einfluss der Atmospharendruckes auf die Ergiebigkeit von Brunnen und Quellen:

Centralblatt d. Bauverwaltung, 1882, p. 8. v 

MILNE, JOHN. Seismology. London, 1898, p. 243.

Reports two sinkings and two risings of about 5 millimeters in a shallow well near Tokio. The 

sinkings took place between 2 and 6 p. m. and 2 and 5 a. m. Note: These fluctuations suggest the 

diurnal barometric wave, but they can be referred to it only if the time given is taken to mean 

the time at which the water commenced to sink and not the time of the low-water stage. 

OLIVER, Dr. WILLIAM. Of a well that ebbs and flows . . . : Trans. Phil. So". London, No. 204, vol. 

17, 1693, p. 908; Trans. Phil. Soc. London from 1665-1800 (abridged), vol. 3, 1809, pp. 585-586.

Describes well near Torbay called '' Lay well," that ebbs and flows from 16 to 20 times per hour. 

See Atwell, above, and discussion of minor periodic fluctuations on p. 75. 

PLINY THE YOUNGER (Cains Plinius Csecilius Secundus). Epistolse, lib. 4, epist. ult.

In his letter to Licinius Pliny describes the fluctuations in the discharge of a spring near bis 

villa in Como, Italy, which he states ebbs and flows thrice a day. He suggests that the fluctuations may be due to " the obstruction of air," tidal action, or some secret and unknown contrivance in the nature of a valve. Pliny the elder, in his Historia Naturalis, lib. 2, cap. 106, refers to 

the same spring, but states that it ebbs and flows every hour a statement which is verified by 

Catanseus, the learned commentator on the Epistles. Prom the meager and contradictory data 

given it is unsafe to venture a decided opinion on the cause of these fluctuations, but they may 

be tentatively regarded as barometric.

ROBERTS, ISAAC. On . . . the variation in atmospheric pressure . . . causing oscillations in 

the underground water in porous strata: Kept. Brit. Assoc. for 1883, p. 405.

States that autographic records from a well at Maghill, near Liverpool, show such fluctuations. 

SLIGHTER, CHARLES S. Water-Sup, andlrr. Paper No. 67, U. S. Geol. Survey, 1902, pp. 71-72.

Refers to reports of Latham, King, and Lueger.

TODD, JAMES E. Bull. Geol. Survey, South Dakota, No. 2, 1898, p. 116; Water-?up. and Irr. Paper No. 

34, U. S. Geol. Survey, 1900, p. 29. 

Reports that well discharge varies inversely with barometic pressure.-

FIATCTUATIONS DUE TO TEMPERATURE CHANGES.

OBSERVATIONS AT MADISON, WIS. FLUCTUATIONS VARYING DIRECT"Y WITH THE TEMPERATURE.

In 1888 King observed in certain shallow wells at Madison, Wis., that the water 

regularly for a portion of the summer months stood higher in th^ morning than at 

night.« Further observations during the period 1888 to 1892 showed that there was 

in many wells a diurnal wave, distinctly marked during the summer and dying out 

in winter, which was clearly not barometric in character, and was not produced 

by the unequal plant transpiration during the day and night. Suspecting that these 

changes were intimately related to temperature, King tried the following experiment:

A galvanized-iron cylinder, 6 feet deep and 30 inches in diameter, provided with a bottom, and 

water-tight, was filled with soil, standing its full height above the ground in the open field. In the 

center of this cylinder and extending to the bottom a column of 5-inch drain tile was placed and the 

soil filled in about it and packed as thoroughly as practicable. Water was poured into the cavity 

formed by the tile until it was full, and allowed to percolate into the soil so as to saturate it and leave 

the water standing nearly a foot deep in the well. When the water in this artificial well had become 

nearly stationary one of the self-registering instruments was placed upon it.'' In order to avoid any 

complications due to percolation, the apparatus was provided with a cover wr ich could be put on in 

times of rain and removed again during fair weather. The first records showed a small diurnal oscillation, and as the season advanced these increased in amplitude until finally the water rose in the 

well during the day of July 8,1.8 inches and fell during the following night 1.84 inches. After these 

diurnal oscillations had become so pronounced and so constant, a series of thermometers were introduced into the side of the cylinder, extending to different distances from the surface, and a record 

kept of the changes in the soil temperature; and the result of these observations was to show that the 

turning points in the water curve fell exactly upon the turning points of the temperature of the soil 

in the cylinder. When this fact was ascertained, to show whether the correspondence in the time of 

the two curves was due to a diurnal cause, other than temperature, which ha"1 its turning points so 

related to those of the temperature as to cause the two to accidentally fall together, cold water was

a King, Franklin H., Observations and experiments on the fluctuations in the level and rate of 

movement of ground water on the Wisconsin Agricultural Experiment Station Farm and at Whitewater, Wis.: Bull. U. S. Weather Bureau No. 5, 1892; also Ann. Repts. Wisconsri Agric. Expt. Station, 

1889-1893.

b For a figure of this apparatus see Bull, U. S. Weather Bureau No. 5.
FLUCTUATIONS DUE TO TEMPEBATUEE CHANGES. 55,

brought from the well and, with a spray pump, applied to the surface of the cylinder all around. 

The water was applied on a hot sunny day, just after dinner, when the water was rising in the welt, 

and the result was an immediate change in the curve, the water beginning to fall in the well. The water was then turned off, and the result of this change was to stop the fall of the water in the well, 

as shown by a change in the direction of the curve.

This led to the conclusion that there was a very positive connection between the 

changes in the soil temperature and changes in the level of the water in the wells, 

and that the fluctuation varied directly with the temperature; that is, the water in 

the wells rose with increasing temperature and fell when the temperature lowered. 

A specially constructed self-recording soil thermometer showed that at a c"e;pt]ti t of. 

18 inches the minimum temperature occurred at noon, and the the maximum a lif^le 

after midnight. It was therefore argued that at a depth of 3 feet, or the ieye^at^ 

which the wells were fluctuating, the maximum and minimum temperature would. 

occur still later, and that the high water which occurred in the wells at 8 o'clocl^ in 

the morning was due to the maximum temperature falling at that time at that depth. 

The autographic records, moreover, show that the well curves have the same characteristic as the temperature curve there is in both a comparatively sudden ri^e and a 

long fall. King at first believed that these fluctuations were produced by a variation 

in the capillary action of the soil resulting from the change in temperature,« but 

afterwards concluded that the fluctuations were due not so much to " a chang-e in the 

viscosity of the ground water as to variations in pressure due to the expansion and 

contraction of the gas confined in the soil within and above the water." 6

Changes in capillary attraction and surface tension, due to temperature changes, 

are quite competent to produce fluctuations which are related to the temperature in 

the way observed. A rise in temperature, by decreasing the capillary attraction, 

causes some of the capillary water above the water table to be added to the zone of 

complete saturation, and so increases the level of the water in wells. Conversely, a 

decrease of temperature, by increasing the surface tension and capillary attraction, 

causes water to be transferred from the ground water to the partially saturated zone 

above it, and so lowers the water in wells. There is, then, a continual interchange, 

a flux and reflux, between the ground water and the water in the partially saturated 

zone above it. The amount of water involved in this change is probably arm 11, but, 

because of the very small amount of unoccupied pore space existing immediate1 y above 

the zone of saturation, a very slight shifting of water can produce a fluctuation of several inches in the surface of the zone of saturation or the water level in a well. This 

effect is marked only when the bottom of the well (supposing the well tube to be 

impervious) is very near the top of the ground-water table; it is not shown in deep 

wells because, while the position of the ground-water table is constantly changing in 

this way, there is, so far as deeper points are concerned, no important cha'nge in 

pressure. The total pressure at a given point below the ground-water table is essentially the same whether the water involved is in the saturated zone or 2 or 3 inches 

above it in an almost saturated layer. To this, more than to the fact that the variations in soil temperature at a given depth are less in winter than in summe-, is due 

the fact that these fluctuations at Madison, Wia., were not shown by the twice-daily 

observations, made morning and evening between 1888 and 1892, until past or near 

the middle of July (when the water was nearing its yearly minimum), and from that 

time increased toward a maximum, occurring sometime in August (probably corresponding with the ground-water minimum), and then died away until the middle 

of October, when they became inconspicuous. It likewise explains the fact that not 

all the wells observed, though they were in a limited area, show these fluctuations, 

and why they begin at different times in adjacent wells of different depths.

a Bull. U. S. Weather Bureau No. 5, 1892, pp. 63, 67.

bBull. U. S. Weather Bureau No. 5, 1892, p. 72. Nineteenth Ann. Kept. U. S. Geol. Survey, pt. 2, 

1899, pp. 75, 77.
56 FLUCTUATIONS OF THE WATER LEVEL IN WELLS.

To this relation are due the apparently anomalous phenomena observed in "well 

No. 5," which King records as follows:

The ground-water level had fallen until well 5 was likely to become dry. In order not to lose the 

records it was deepened by boring a hole in the center and curbing it with sections of 5-inch drain 

tile in the manner represented in the figure," which shows the two water surfaces whose fluctuations 

are recorded in flg. 16. The original well, having an inside diameter of 1 foot B.nd a depth of 5.5 feet, 

was bricked up to within 2 feet of the surface and then finished with a section of sewer pipe, as 

shown in the cut,« where the character and arrangement of the soil through which the well penetrated may also be seen. &

The facts are, strange as it does appear, that under these conditons and in such close juxtaposition, 

oscillations so unlike in their character as the two under consideration were produced simultaneously. 

The level of the water in the outer well oscillated so as to stand in the mornirg from 0.1 to 0.3 inch 

above the level of toe water in the inner one, and at night from 0.5 inch to 1.2 inches below that 

surface, and these differences were maintained with only the unglazed section of drain tile separating 

them. The large oscillations in this well became very pronounced and constant only a short time 

before it became dry, and the inner well did not take up the marked changes in level after the water 

fell below the bottom of the original well. No other well of this series, although constructed in the 

same manner, showed such marked oscillations.

The second suggestion, that the fluctuations are produced by the expansion and 

contraction of the air due to temperature changes, is not supported by the observed 

facts. The daily temperature fluctuation at the depths observed amounts to but a 

fraction of a degree, and the change in volume or vapor tension of the air resulting 

from this is quite incompetent to produce the fluctuations observed. Moreover, this 

involves an elevation in the well due to pressure of much the same character as that 

producing the fluctuations due to barometric changes. The effects of such pressure 

changes are felt not only at the surface of the zone of complete saturation, or the 

water table, but are transmitted for many feet below it, and in the case of well No. 5, 

described above, the fluctuations under such conditions would be shown in both 

wells, though in the deep one the amplitude would be slightly les^.

On the whole there seems to be no other alternative than to regard these Madison 

fluctuations as the result of variations in the capillary attraction and surface tension, 

of the water above the zone of complete saturation, produced by variations in 

temperature.

In fluctuations of this character a limiting factor is clearly the range of temperature, which decreases very rapidly with depth, so that at a relatively shallow depth, 

much less than the limit of no annual change, the fluctuations become imperceptible. The amplitude will, moreover, be affected by the size of the pore spaces, being 

greater in fine than in coarse material.

OBSERVATIONS AT LYNBROOK, N. Y. FLUCTUATIONS INVERSETY RELATED TO

TEMPERATURE.

Two of the wells at Lynbrook show pronounced fluctuations wl 'ch are clearly due 

to temperature changes. These fluctuations, while they resemble those observed at 

Madison in the fact that the water is higher in the morning th an at night, differ 

from them in two important respects. There is no connection between their occurrence and the relation of the ground-water table to the bottom of the well; they are 

best developed in a 2-inch well, 14 feet deep, whose bottom is about 13.75 feet below 

the ground-water level; they are distinctly developed in a well 72 feet deep, and are 

believed to form one of the elements in a compound curve obtained from the 504- 

foot well (PL VI, p. 24). There is also the further difference tint, while these are 

clearly temperature fluctuations, they are inversely related to the temperature that 

is, the water is high when the temperature is low. Avoiding all discussion of the

a Omitted in this report.

f>The stratification, as shown iu the original cut, is as follows:

Section of well at Madison, Wis., which furnished fluctuations shoum in fig. 16. Feet.

1. Loam...................................................................................... ...... 0.6

2. Clay.............................................................................................. 3.0

3. Sand.............................................................................................. .9

4. Clay.............................................................................................. .8

5. Sand.............................................................................................. 2.0
FLUCTUATIONS DUE TO TEMPEEATUEE CHANGES. 57

question of lag, this relation is 

conclusively shown by the 

shape of the curves. The characteristic of the air temperature 

curve is a quick rise and slower 

fall; well fluctuations directly 

related to the temperature, as 

those at Madison, therefore 

must show a quick rise and a 

slower fall, but in the Lynbrook wells there is a quick 

fall and slower rise (see PL VI, 

Aug. 1-3). These evidently 

belong in quite a different class 

from the temperature fluctuations observed at Madison, and 

involve quite a different relation between the soil temperature and the ground water.

The soil is a very poor transmitter of heat, and there is not 

only a very rapid diminution 

of the temperature range with 

depth, but a very considerable 

time lag. Swezey's observations « at Lincoln, Nebr., for a 

period of fourteen years show 

that while in winter the maximum temperature occurs in the 

air at about the middle of the 

afternoon, at a depth of 3 to 6 

inches it occurs in the evening, 

and at 1 foot it is delayed until 

the following morning; below 

1 foot it is scarcely appreciable. 

In summer the daily range is 

considerably greater at all 

depths, the changes are appreciable to a depth of at least 2 

feet, and are retarded to about 

the same extent as in winter.

At Bronx Park, New York 

City, the record obtained by 

MacDougal & with a Hallock 

thermograph showed that at 1 

foot below the surface the maximum daily temperature occurred between 8 and 11 p. m., 

and the minimum between 8

"Swezey, G. D., Soil temperature 

at Lincoln, Nebr., 1888 to 1902: Sixteenth Ann. Kept. Nebraska Agric 

Expt. Station for 1902,1903, pp. 95-129; 

Expt. Station Record, vol. 15, 1904. 

pp. 460-461.

b MacDougal, Daniel Trembly, Soil 

temperaturesand vegetation: Monthly Weather Review, vol. 31, August. 

1903, pp. 375-379.

? 3 1 &££

2 5

*^i B S' a' B; 

so e

a o 

If

Depth ot water in_innerwelLbelow,surtace of ground

Depth of water In outer well below surface of ground

IT

2.

f a*
Maximum temperature. Flow accelerat'etl. eaustngf water to lower.

Minimum temperatur

depletion below an

^&

R^8

o_|2. 

o^ «o

t*B

K'Ste 

p tD(B

^

a»s.

Minimum temperature. Flow dimin" 

ished. causing water to accumulate.

"Maximum temperatur

accumulation bel

FIG. 17". Diagram showing production of fluctuations of ground-water level by temperature 

temperature at A, a minimum occurs at some point B, a distance of 1 or 2 feet from 

increase the rate of flow, and of the lowering to decrease the flow. The flow is therefore 

occurs between A and B, causing low water. When the minimum temperature occurs 

elevation of the water. The maximum effect is much nearer A than B, because of the g

appear to be inversely related to the temperature.
FLUCTUATIONS DUE TO TEMPERATURE CHANGES. 59

These data suggest that the annual changes of the soil temperature may produce a 

somewhat analogous effect, the warm summer temperature assisting in the depletion 

or lowering of the water near the ground-water outlets, and the cold winter temperature, by rendering the water more viscous, retarding the outflow. In one respect 

the result would be in the same direction as the annual ground-water fluctuations, 

and this is perhaps to be considered one of the minor factors. It would also tend to 

make the'time of occurrence of the maximum and minimum of the yearly fluctuation earlier near the ground-water outlets than on the divides or just th^ condition observed on Long Island (p. 35).

OBSERVATIONS AT SHERLOCK, KANS.

Diurnal fluctuations due to temperature changes were observed by Mr. F'inry C. 

Wolff, at Sherlock, Kans., in 1904, while working under the direction of Prof. C. S. 

Slichter.« Mr. Wolff reports that the wells are low in the evening and higl in the 

morning, and that there is no important time lag between wells where the water line 

is 6 inches below the surface and those where it is 3 feet below. In a few wells 

where the water level was about 3 feet from the surface, which were observed long 

enough to show the shape of the curve, the characteristics of the Madison curve are 

shown that is, there is a long fall and sudden rise.

DIURNAL FLUCTUATIONS OF CACHE LA POUDRE RIVEE, COLORADO.

Carpenter has observed very regular diurnal changes in the height of Cache la 

Poudre Eiver near Fort Collins, Colo. b Here the high water occurs at from 4 to 6 

a. m., the low water at 8 p. m., and the extreme range of the daily change in -river 

level noted was about 1 foot. The curves show the same characteristics as those 

observed by Wolff at Sherlock, Kans.; there is a long fall and a sudden rise, and 

they are therefore directly related to the temperature. Carpenter concludes that 

these fluctuations are due to differences in daily melting in the snow fields, and that 

the occurrence of the high water in the morning is due to the distance from the snow 

fields. While this is a very possible explanation, and in theiwriter's opinion it is 

probably the correct one, it is desirable to have the matter checked by other observations. If the fluctuations are purely due to daily waves moving down the river, 

due to melting snow, gages at other points should show the maximum and minimum 

at different times; if the fluctuations are due-to variation in rate of grourd-water 

discharge and are analogous to those described above, the time will be the same at 

different points.

REFERENCES RELATING TO FLUCTUATIONS PRODUCED BY TEMPERATURE CHANGES.

Besides the references given above to the discussions of King, Slichter, and Wolff, 

it is desirable to add here the early reference of Pliny to fluctuating wells belonging 

to this class:

PLINY THE ELDER (Caius Plinius Secundus). Historia Naturalis, lib. 2, cap. 106 [Pliny's Natural 

History, Bostock and Riley's translation, Bonn's Libraries, vol. 1,1887, pp. 133-134].

" In the island of Tenedos there is a spring which, after the summer solstice, is fuT of water 

from the third hour of the night to the sixth." "The fountain of Jupiter in Dodona . . . 

always becomes dry at noon, from which circumstance it is called ' The Loiterer.' It then 

increases and becomes full at midnight, after which it again visibly decreases." Hardouin notes 

that there is a similar kind of fountain in Provence called "Collis Martiensis." These fluctuations' clearly belong to the class produced by temperature changes.

FLUCTUATIONS PRODUCED BY RIVERS.

Eivers may produce fluctuations of the water level in wells in three ways: (1) By 

changing the height of the ground-water discharge; (2) by seepage or actual contributions to the ground water, and (3) by transmitted pressure or plastic deformation.

«The underflow of the Arkansas Valley in western Kansas: Water-Sup, and Irr. Paper No 153, U. S. 

Geol. Survey. > 

bCarpenier, L. G., Bull. Colorado Agric. Expt. Station No. 65,1901, figs. 2-6.
60 FLUCTUATIONS OP THE WATER LEVEL IT5T WELLS.

FLUCTUATIONS PRODUCED BY CHANGES IS RATE OF GROUND-WATER DISCHARGE.

In regions where the sides of the channels are pervious and the ground water contributes to the stream flow, the water table, after a period of long drought, slopes 

regularly down to the water surface. If the stream rises throitgh causes not associated with local ground-water conditions, the ground-water table is found likewise 

torsfee to a greater or less extent. This is accomplished in part by an outflow: from 

the river and in part by the accumulation of the ground-water flow, which ean not 

so readily escape under the new conditions as under the old. If this new level were 

permanently maintained a complete readjustment would take place, and a line 

roughly parallel to the initial position of the ground-water table would be developed;- 

and if there were no new outlets developed by this elevation of the ground water, 

wells at all distances would be similarly affected. Actually, however, the river is constantly changing; a series of waves of unequal height and duration, representing the 

high and low waters, are constantly traveling down every stream, and no stage lasts 

long enough for the establishment of a perfectly graded ground-water table, even 

were there no other factors involved. The result of this unceasing change is that 

the fluctuations are greatest near the river and become imperceptible at very short 

distances. This is due not only to the rapidity of the fluctuations in the river, but 

to the slow rate of outflow and accumulation.

Observations made by Hess « along Aller River, near Celle, Germany, in 1866, give 

the values expressed in the table below:

Table showing lag of high- and Imo-water stages in wells along Aller River, behind high- and

low-water stages in the rirer.

Test well No. 

1.. .........................

2...........................

3...........................

4...........................

5...........................

Distance 

from 

river.

Meters. 

47 

140 

351 

468 

584

High water, Peb.- 

Mar., 1866.

High water in 

well behind high 

water m 

river.

Days. 

5 

5 

17- 

19 

21

Rate per 

day.

Meters. 

10 

28 

21 

24 

28

Low water, Mar. 7, 

1866.

Low water 

in well behind low 

water in 

river.

Days.

3 

4

7

Rate per 

day.

Meters. 

23.5 

47.0 

88.0 

67.0

High water, Apr. 1, 

1866.

High water 

in well behind high 

water in 

river.

Days. 

4 

5 

10

Rate per 

day.

Meters. 

12.5 

28,0 

35.0

Observations made by Slichter in very porous gravels in western Kansas, at Garden, Sherlock, and Deerfleld, while showing a more rapid transmission than those 

just indicated, give very marked time lags. The conditions here are different in the 

respect that the ground water does not materially add to the stream flow, and the 

rise of the water in the wells is due wholly to seepage. The slope of the water plane 

is not toward the river, but downstream, at a rate very nearly the same as that of 

the stream. At Sherlock the water plane on July 27,1904, sloped gently to the river 

from test well No. 5, but the water in test wells Nos. 2, 3, and 6 was lower than the 

river. Between 11 and 4 o'clock the river rose 1.6 feet, and then fell gradually. The 

beginning of the rise was felt in well No. 3, 400 feet north of the river, in less than 

two hours; in wells No. 2, 900 feet north of the river, and No. 5, 550 feet south of 

the river, in between three and four hours; in well No. 4, 1,000 feet south of the

a Hess, Beobachtungeii viber dasGrundwassers der norddeutsehen Ebene. Zeitschr. des Architekten 

und Ingenieurvereins in Hannover, vol. 16,1870, quoted by Soyka, Der Boden Leipzig, 1887, pp. 262- 

267, figs. 23-25; and Gerhardt, Der Wasserbau, Leipzig, 1892, pp. 49-50, PI. I, fi]?rs. 7, 8. The diagrams 

given by Soyka and Gerhardt do not check with the values given in the text, and as the figures are 

clearly carelessly drawn the text values are reproduced here.
FLUCTUATIONS PRODUCED BY RIVERS. 61

rbner, in four hours. Well No. 6, 2,500 feet from the river, fell during the whole 

period of observation. The difference in time in the occurrence of the maximum is 

expressed in the following table:

Difference in time between high water in Arkansas River and wetts on Us banks, necvr-iSherlock, Kans., July, 1904.

No. of 

well.

3

2

1

5

4

6

Distance 

from 

river.

Feet.

"400

«900

"600

&550

bl.OOO

& -2, 500

Lag.

Hours.

3-6

12

36

108+ (?)

108+

( c )

a North. 

6 South. 

"No rise in five days.

It will be noted that the most rapid transmission was toward the north, vrhere the 

water plane sloped away from the river, while the slight rise of the water plane 

toward wells Nos. 4 and 5 produced a very marked retardation.

These observations seem to indicate that the rate of transmission is greater when 

the water plane slopes from the river than when it slopes toward it an<? help to 

explain the great retardation observed at Celle. In no instance in this Kansas work 

were the effects of floods observed in wells at distances of more than one-fourth of 

a mile from the river.

In case there is open connection between the river and the well, such as might be 

afforded by limestone caves, changes in level may be felt at considerable distances 

with but very little time lag. Very rapid fluctuations would, however, be obliterated here, for the well would act very much as the still box used in tidal work, 

which consists of a large well connected with the ocean by means of a relatively 

small passage opening at some distance below the water surface. The wave action 

is entirely obliterated, because the water does not have time to flow in and out of 

the well in the period between fluctuations. The gradual changes of the tide are, 

however, exactly recorded. But direct cavernous connections between vrells and 

waterways are rare, and generally river changes act through the interstices of the 

soil in the way observed at Celle and Sherlock or by transmitted pressure as described 

below.

FLUCTUATIONS PRODUCED BY IRREGULAR INFILTRATION FROM RIVERS WITH NORMALLY

IMPERVIOUS BEDS.

Besides rivers "which have pervious sides and into which the ground water is 

always free to flow or out of which the water flows whenever the river leve1 exceeds 

that of the ground water, there are many rivers which, under normal cond : tions, so 

plaster their beds with fine silt that water is unable to flow either in or out. Nearly 

all rivers carrying large amounts of fine silt« are normally in this condition, and 

it is thus that the water in many delta regions is able to flow at heights above the 

surrounding land, and rivers in other regions flow at heights much above tin normal 

ground-water level.

Thus the Leitha at Katzelsdorf, near Wiener Neustadt, flows at a height of 10 to 

70 feet above the level of the ground water at that place, the height depending on

a For an example of the silting power of a clear stream see Freeman, John K,., Percolation through 

Embankments and the Natural Closing of Leaks, Boston Soc. Civil Eng., June 20,1888.
62 FLUCTUATIONS OF THE WATER LEVEL IN WELLS.

the stage of the ground water, although there is at all times considerable seepage. 

(PI. IX.)

The Rio Grande in a similar way flows from central New Mexico to the sea, always 

above ting ground-water level.

When the rivers silt up their beds, where the water plane slopes down to the river 

and there is a tendency to discharge into the river, the silting develops an artesian 

head which causes the water to rise above the level of the river in wells sunk within 

the channel. Such occurrences have been reported by Sal bach in the Elbe. a This 

Elbe occurrence may, however, be due to a sheet of clay not connected with the 

river-silt deposits of the present regime. During floods such rivers frequently scour 

out their beds and establish a connection between the surface and the underground 

waters. When the river is above the ground-water table, this leakage will raise the 

water level; when the reverse is the case, it may, by permitting a discharge of the 

artesian water, cause the water level in a near-by well to lower.

Slichter has found at Mesilla Park, N. Mex., that the greater part of the underflow 

in the valley is derived in this way from the flood waters of the Rio Grande. 6 Preceding the flood of October 5, 1904, the ground-water level was several feet below the 

river channel, although the river contained considerable water. The effect of the 

flood was well marked at well No. 7, three-fourths of a mile from the river, but did 

not affect well No. 6, 1.3 miles from the river, in seventeen days The rate of transmission is evidently quite similar in this case to those given above.

Quite different from these slow rates of change in the ground-wrter level due to river 

changes are the changes in the London wells ascribed by Clutterl nek and Buckland c 

to floods in Colne River at Watford, Hertfordshire. According to these observers a 

rise in the Colne produces a rise in the London wells, 15 miles distant, in a few hours. 

These floods are due to heavy rains and it seems much mor3 probable that the 

observed rise is due to the weight of the rain on the local London area than to the 

transmitted pressure from a flood 15 miles distant. Fluctuations of this character 

due to rainfall have been observed at Lynbrook, N. Y. (p. 42), and no such rates of 

lateral transmission have been observed either from the river flood or tides, with the 

possible exception of the tidal wells at Lille, France (p. 64.) Certainly there is no 

evidence of such great underground caverns between Lille and the sea as this rate of 

transmission would require, though its very occurrence, if conclusively proven, would 

indicate some such connection.

FLUCTUATIONS DUE TO A PLASTIC DEFORMATION PRODUCED BY V/ RYING VOLUMES OF 

WATER CARRIED BY RIVERS.

The alternations of load due to the irregular waves, whose crests are the high- and 

low-water stages, which are constantly passing down every river, produce fluctuations anagalous to those produced by tides, though lacking their periodic character. 

They resemble also the sympathetic fluctuations produced in the 72- and 504-foot 

wells at Lynbrook due to variations in load produced by rainfall and thermometric 

changes (pp. 43,58). The zone in which these fluctuations will b? distinctly recognizable will be limited to a mile or two in the immediate vicinity cf the river.

REFERENCES RELATING TO FLUCTUATIONS OF THE WATER IN WELLS PRODUCED BY

RIVERS.

BncKLAND, DR. Min. Proc. Inst. Civil Eng:. [vol. 2], 1842, p. 159.

Reports that wells in London rise in a Jew hours alter floods at Wa-tford, 15 miles distant. 

CLUTTERBUCK, JAMES. Observations on the periodical drainage and replenishment u£ the subterraneous reservoir in the chalk basin of London: Mm. Proc. Inst. Civil Eng. [vol. 2], 1842, pp. 156, 

158; 1843, p. 162. 

Same as under Buckland.

Paper No. 141, U. S. Ge'ol. Survey, 1905, p 27. 

fMin. Proc. Inst. Civil Eng., 1842, pp. 158, 159, 1843, p. 162.
FLUCTUATIONS DUE TO LAKE AND OCEAN LEVELS. 63

FULLER, MYRON L. Notes on the hydrology of Cuba: Water-Sup, and Irr. Paper No. 110, U. 8. Geol. 

Survey, 1905.

Records, on p. 189, fluctuations of spring level at Vento, Cuba, due to changes ir level of 

Almendares River, evidently acting through a free connection of large size in the limestone. 

HARRIS, GILBERT D. Underground waters of south Louisiana: Water-Sup, and Irr. Paper No. 101, U. 8. 

Geol. Survey, 1904, p. 14; Bull. Louisiana Geol. Survey No. 1,1905, p. 4. 

Discusses effect of Mississippi River on level of wells along its banks. 

GERHARDT, P. Der Wasserbau, vol. 1, pt. 1, 3d ed., 1892, pp. 48-49.

Gives Hess's observations on Aller River.

SLIGHTER, CHARLES S. Observations on the ground waters of Rio Grand Valley: Water-Sup, and 

Irr. Paper No. 141, U.S.Geol. Survey, 1905, pp. 18,25-28,30.

Gives observations on effect of outflow from river on ground-water level at El Pa?o, Mesilla 

Park, and Berino.

 The underflow of the Arkansas Valley in western Kansas: Water-Sup, and Irr. Paper No. 153, 

V. S. Geol. Survey.

Gives results of observations on the influence of floods in Arkansas River on the water level in 

wells at Garden, Sherlock, and Deerfleld, Kans., in the summer of 1901.

SOYKA, ISIDOR. Die Schwankungen des Grundwassers: Penck's Geographische Abhandlungen, vol. 

2, pt. 3, 1888.

Chapters, " Die Beziehungen des Grundwassers zu den oberirdischen Wasserlaufen," contains 

an excellent discussion of middle European conditions. 

THOMASSAY, RAYMOND. Geologic pratique de la Louisiane, 1860.

Contains an entirely fanciful discussion of the seepage of the water from Mississippi River. 

TODD, JAMES E. Geology and water resources of a portion of southeastern South Dakota: Vrater-Sup. 

and Irr: Paper No. 34, U.S. Geol. Surrey, 1900, p. 29; Bull. South Dakota Geol. Survey lTo. 2,1898, 

p. 116.

Records that many deep wells have a greater discharge when Missouri River is high, and suggests that the increased hydrostatic pressure checks the leakage.

VEATCH, A. C. Geology and underground water resources of northern Louisiana and southern 

Arkansas: Prof. Paper U. S. Geol. Survey No. 46.

Records fluctuations of water level in artesian wells at Fulton, Ark., agreeing with stages of 

Red River. These are ascribed to pressure of river water acting at the outcrop of the waterbearing sands in river bed several miles from the town. This probably is a case of transmitted 

pressure, the blue clay over the water-bearing layer acting as a diaphragm and produc'ng fluctuations in wells near the river.

FLUCTUATIONS PRODUCED BY CHANGES IN LAKE LEVEL.

Variations in lake levels of whatever cause produce fluctuations of the level in welte 

along their shores (1) by checking the rate of outflow when the ground water is 

draining freely into the lake and (2) by transmitted pressure and deformation as in 

ocean tides described below. The pressure of deep-seated waters might also 1 a. slowly 

affected by the weight of the sediment deposited in the lake beds. This would tend 

to equalize itself by back flow, and is perhaps a factor of no great importance, except 

when considered for very long periods. King has, however, obtained a flow artificially by ordinary sedimentation in a tank."

FLUCTUATIONS PRODUCED BY VARIATIONS IN THE OCEAN LEVELTIDAL WELLS.

As partially indicated in the references on page 67, wells and springs which fluctuate 

with the tide have been observed on nearly all coasts and under many different geologic conditions. These fluctuations are produced in three ways: (1) By transmission of pressure through open cavities or passageways affording a free communication 

between the wells and the ocean; (2) by a checking of the rate of discharge of the 

normal ground-water flow through porous beds freely connecting with U ^ ocean; 

and (3) by a deformation of the strata due to the alternate loading and unloading of 

the tides. In this last case, instead of leakage being an important factor, as it is in 

the first two, the fluctuations are greater the more nearly complete the separation of 

the oceanic and ground waters.

 aNineteenth Ann. Rept. U. S. Geol. Survey, pt. 2, 1899, pp. 79-80.
64 FLUCTUATIONS OF THE WATER LEVEL IN WELLS. 

FLUCTUATIONS PRODUCED BY CHANGES IN RATE OF OUTFLOW.

The first two classes differ more in the rate at which the change takes place and the 

character of the zone of influence than in the manner in which it is produced. If the 

ocean level is raised the first effect is to check the velocity of outflow; but before any 

change occurs'in the level of near-by wells it is necessary that water accumulate at the 

point of observation by actually flowing in. This change, then, is clearly dependent 

on the same factors which influence, the rate of flow, and in underground caverns 

where the velocity is a question of miles per day this accumulation will be rapid, 

there will be a relatively short lag, and the distance from the shore to which the rise 

can be propagated before the water begins to fall will be comparatively great. Its 

influence will, however, be restricted to wells along limited lines, following the 

course of the underground passageway. On the other hand, wh?n the water is flowing through the interstices of porous strata, where the motion is one of feet per day 

instead of miles, the accumulation will be slow, the lag proportionately greater, and 

the zone of influence, while not extending so far from the ocean, will perhaps occupy 

a larger area, because of its uniform distribution along the coast. When the ocean 

level falls the reverse will occur,

Where there is considerable velocity, as in a cavernous opering, the velocity of 

outflow' retards the effect of the rising tide and hastens that of the falling tide and 

there is then, as in tidal rivers, a greater lag at low than at high water. When the 

outflow is slow, as from porous beds, the velocity is not sufficient to exert a very 

great retarding influence.

The fluctuations in porous materials along the seashore are clearly the same in 

character and cause as those occurring under similar conditions along river courses 

(see p. 60), and the same great time lag is to be expected. The difference is only in 

the very regular periodic nature of the oceanic fluctuations. Nearly all the shallow 

tidal wells noticed along the seacoasts belong.to this class, fuch are clearly the 

tidal wells« reported near Bombay and along the Malabar coast; at Barren Island, 

in the Andaman Sea; at Perim Island, in the Red Sea; at South Foreland light-house, 

Kent; the shallow wells at Seagirt, N. J.; and perhaps the wells at Newton Nottage, 

Glamorganshire, Wales, and Ghepstow, Moiimouth, England. At Perim Island, in 

shallow pits at a distance of 60 to 300 feet from the shore, the lag is such that the 

high water in the wells appears to agree with the low water in the ocean. A similar 

lag is reported in a well 14 feet deep and 400 feet from the rive" at Chepstow. At 

Newton Nottage, where a shallow well 500 feet from the ocean WPS observed by Mandan, the lag is but three hours.

Experience has shown that wells which are sunk entirely in porous beds near the 

seacoast should have their bottoms about midway between high ?nd low tide; if they 

are deeper there is generally an infiltration of salt water. Such wells are commonly 

dry at low tide, but frequently furnish good supplies of fresh w?.ter at high tide, at 

which time it is necessary to obtain all the water used for domestic and other purposes.

Wells dependent on underground cavernous openings, such as required by the first 

case, are quite rare. The fluctuations of the Iceland springs, reported by Hallan de 

Roucroy, are perhaps connected with such open fissures, though any opinion from 

the data presented is but a hazard. Perhaps the most remarVable occurrence of 

tidal fluctuation is that reported at Lille in an artesian well at the citadel. These 

fluctuations, which amount to 0.415 meter, are referred by Bailly & to the tides of the 

English Channel, 30 miles away, with a time lag of but eight hours. The only basis 

on which these fluctuations can now be explained is a supposition of a relatively 

open connection between the well and the ocean, which, it rnu^t be admitted, is a 

very unsatisfactory hypothesis.

a See references, pp. 67-69. &Comptes rendus, vol. 14,1842, pp. 310-814
TIDAL WELLS. 65 

TIDAL FLUCTUATIONS IN WELLS PRODUCED BY PLASTIC DEFORMATION.

Besides the shallow wells, depending on ordinary porous surficial beds, there are, 

along and near the seacoast, many deep artesian wells which show tidal fluctuations. 

In many of these wells there are clearly no underground caverns involved, the 

water-bearing beds being ordinary porous strata in which the water flows through 

the small interstices at a rate to be expressed in feet rather than miles per day, and 

in which accumulation or depletion by simple flowage will be correspondingly slow. 

There is, moreover, every reason to believe, in some cases where there are thick clay 

beds above the water-bearing strata, which are known to be continuous for many 

miles, that there are no near suboceanic outlets of importance. In case there is 

some distant outlet it is evident from the slow rate of change shown in the examples 

given above, where there was a sudden increase or decrease in the volume of river 

water (pp. 60, 61), that the fluctuation produced by a simple checking or hastening of 

the rate of outflow could be propagated but a short distance, and that a long period 

of time would be necessary for even that.

There is, however, in the case of waters under artesian head a new factor introduced which is of very great importance. The pressure of the artesian water exerted 

against the retaining cover, which may be assumed at present to be clay, tends 

to elevate it, thus placing the clay under an upward stress. The addition of any 

weight on the surface tends to disturb the equilibrium. If there is no outlet and the 

weight is applied uniformly, the additional weight can not change the position of 

any portion of the mass, except to the very slight degree of the elastic compressibility 

of the water and the soil. If, however, there is any escape for the confined water, 

such as would be afforded by a well tube, the mass will yield and the water be forced 

up in the tube. Were the clay layer perfectly elastic, or in the condition of a 

stretched elastic membrane above a perfectly mobile body, there would be no time lag, 

and the water in the well would exactly follow the fluctuations of the ocean waters; 

but the clay is not to be regarded as an elastic diaphragm, and the water-bearing 

sand is not a perfectly mobile body; moreover, for such a deformation to be felt in 

a well water must be transferred from one point to another, and this involves a time 

element. The deformation is essentially a plastic one; the clay yields to the superposed weight and the water is lifted in the well, but if there were no pressure from 

below the clay could not return to its original position. In the cape of tides along 

the coast only the portion of the clay layer under the ocean is loaded, and that loading is a progressive one from a distant point toward the shore. The effect h a deformation in which the clay layer is depressed under the ocean and elevated under the 

land. When the weight "is removed the artesian pressure tends to reestablish the 

old conditions of equilibrum, and the clay layer is lifted under the ocean and sinks 

under the land.

If the artesian pressure is high, compared with the tide when the ocean water commences to fall after high tide, this pressure lifts the clay quickly and thus tends to 

shorten the high-tide lag in a near-by well; as the tide falls the high pressure enables 

the clay to follow the tide closely; at low tide the artesian pressure is clearly in the 

ascendancy and the clay still rising in the ocean area. As the tide begins- to rise it 

must overcome this artesian pressure before any deformation occurs, and the rising 

curve in the well therefore lags more behind the tide than the falling curve. Under 

such conditions the high-tide lag is less than the low-tide lag. . Conversely, when the 

artesian pressure is low compared with the tide, at high tide the feeble artesian pressure but slowly lifts the clay weight and the lag is long; at low tide, when the clay 

diaphragm is high, the greater tidal weight quickly overcomes the feeble resistance of 

the artesian water and the lag is short; it may then happen that the low-tide lag will 

be less than the high-tide lag. 0 It is evident that between the two extremes thus

a This plastic deformation should not be confused with the elastic deformation of the earth which 

Darwin has considered in his calculations of the effect of tides on seacoasts. He assumes that the

IKR 155 06 5
66 FLUCTUATIONS OF THE WATER LEVEL IN VTELLS.

indicated there are all possible variations, and that the thickness and plasticity of the 

beds above the water-bearing layers are important modifying factors. The fluctuation in a well in such cases does not furnish an exact measure of the amount of 

deformation; it furnishes only a fair indication of the variation in pressure at the 

particular point at which the well is sunk.

The maximum effect is felt at the seacoast near low-tide mark and gradually 

decreases inward, disappearing in a few miles. It is less if there is leakage from subocean springs, for in such cases the escape of the water decreases that available for 

the elevation of the water in the tube.

On Long Island the tidal fluctuations observed in the wells at Huntington, Oyster 

Bay, Long Beach, and Douglaston are clearly of this character, all depending more 

on the deformation of the overlying layer through tidal load than on changes of discharge in leakage. At Huntington (p. 10), Oyster Bay (p. 13), and Douglaston 

(p. 25) the lag is greater at low than at high tide, as would be expected from the 

great head and shallow depths, while at Long Beach, where the head is low, the 

water-bearing sand fine, and the thickness of overlying strata great, the reverse is 

true (p. 19). The Oyster Bay observations give the following values:

Summary of observations on tidal ivells at Oyster Bay, N. Y.

Well.

Underbill............. ....................................

Depth.

Feet. 

93

155

188

114

Distance 

from ordinary high 

tide.

Feet.

50

100

500

Low-water 

lag.

Minutes. 

12.6

33. -t

58.0

75.6

High-water 

lag.

Minutes.

8.0

124.7

42.0

71.8

It will be noticed that the lag here increased with the distance from the shore, 

and that the low-water lag increased more rapidly with depth than the high-water 

lag. The cause of the very small difference between the high- and low-water lags in 

the Underbill well, the one farthest from the shore, is not clear, but it is apparently 

related to the lessening of the tidal influence with the increasing distance.

The Long Beach well is affected both by the tide in the ocean and in the channels 

behind it, the curve being, as would be expected, a simple resultant of the two 

stresses. Because of the shallow bars at the openings the irregularity in the height 

of the inner low tide is less than in the ocean, and. the effect of this difference is 

shown in the greater regularity of the low-tide heights in the well than in the ocean 

(PL IV, p. 20). Here the high-tide lag is one hour and nineteen minutes and the 

low-tide lag forty minutes, when compared with the ocean, while compared with the 

tide behind the bar the high-tide lag is practically nothing and the low-tide lag is 

nearly two hours.

To this same class belong nearly all the deep artesian wells along the seacoast 

which fluctuate with the tide. The phenomenon observed is the result of actual 

deformation, and the occurrence of tidal fluctuations in deep wells does not, as has 

been commonly supposed, prove a connection between the water-bearing strata and 

the ocean. Examples of this type are afforded by the deep wells rlong the New Jerearth has an elasticity equal to twice that of the stiffest glass, and the elastic compression produced 

by loading a sphere of such material of the same size as the earth with a tide ol 5 feet is calculated 

on the supposition that the ocean is in the shape of a narrow canal. According to this the tides on 

the Atlantic coast may cause the land to rise and fall as much as 5 inches, fee Darwin, G. H., On 

variations in the vertical due to elasticity of the earth's surface: Brit. Assoc. Rept., 1882, p. 388; Phil. 

Mag . 5th ser., vol. 14, 1882, pp. 409-427. The Tides, Boston and New York 18ST8, pp. 139-143, quoted 

by Milne, J., Nature, vol. 38, 1883, p. 367, Seismology, London, 1898, pp. 236-237.
. TIDAL WELLS BIBLIOGEAPHY. 67

sey coast, the wells at Pensacola, Fla., the deep wells at Greenwich Hospital, London, and the wells along the Lincolnshire and Yorkshire coasts.

Shelford« has presented a very clear diagram of the conditions on the Lincolnshire 

coast. This shows overflow springs occurring at the top of a porous layer and the 

base of an impervious one, and the relation between ordinary overflowing and tidal 

wells, all depending on the same strata. Here, as is almost universally the case, the 

tidal wells occur only on the shore, and the wells 2 and 3 miles inland are not 

affected. In explaining the phenomenon Shelford supposed that the water found 

an outlet in Silver Pit, a deep hole in the ocean bed about 18 miles from the coast, 

which he has represented in his drawing as the ground-water outlet, and that changes 

in level in the discharge produced the tidal fluctuations. Such a simple change in 

the rate of discharge could affect the wells 18 miles distant only if there were a large 

open cavernous connection. That there is no such cavern is shown by the fact that 

the effect diminishes very rapidly in passing inland, entirely dying out in 2 miles. 

There is no reason why the effect should be propagated 18 miles to the coast and then 

suddenly cease, when tidal wells of the same character penetrating a thick clay bed 

and obtaining water in the upper porous layer of the chalk occur along the whole 

Lincolnshire and Yorkshire coast. In many cases springs near the coast, deriving 

their supply from the water beneath the clay, are likewise tidal. The cause of this 

phenomenon in the Bridlington Quay wells, Yorkshire, was correctly given by Inglis 

in 1817. He recognized in the clay layer a moving diaphragm affected by the tidal 

pressure from above and the artesian pressure from below.

REFERENCES RELATING TO TIDAL FLUCTUATIONS IN WELLS AND SPRING".

ANONYMOUS. London Athenaeum, August, 1860; Jour. Franklin Inst., vol. 72, 1861, pp. 309-310.

States that tides in wells near the sea are universal, and records'their occurrence about Bombay and along the Malabar coast wherever the material dug through is porous. Wells dug in 

trap rock are not tidal.

BAILLY. Rapport sur les variations observers dans la depense du puits art£sien de 1'hdpital militaire 

de Lille et dans les hauteurs de la colonne d'eau quand on a interrompu l'6coulement: Comptes 

renuus, vol. 14, 1842, pp. 310-314.

Gives observations showing that fluctuations, having a range of 0.415 meter, are clearly tidal 

and occur eight hours behind the tide on the adjacent coast between Dunkerque and Calais. 

Reports that tidal wells also occur at Noyelle-sur-Mer, D£partement de la Somme, and at Fulham, London, England. 

BRAITHWAITE, FREDRICK. Min. Proc. Inst. Civil Eng., vol. 9, 1850, p. 168; vol. 14, 1855, pp. 507-522.

"At Greenwich Hospital, London, the land springs ebb and flow 2 feet 6 inches, the sand 

springs, 3 feet, and the chalk springs, 4 feet 6 inches every tide." The total depth of the chalk 

well referred to is 149 feet. 

CHRISTIE, JAMES. Jour. Franklin Institute, vol. 101,1901, p. 193.

Reports fresh-water well near shore which fluctuates with the tide. 

CLUTTERBUCK, JAMES. Min. Proc. Inst. Civil Eng., vol. 9, 1850, p. 170.

Explains tidal fluctuation in wells on basis of leakage between high- and low-tide marks.

 Mm. Proc. Inst. Civil Eng., vol. 14, 1855, pp. 510-511.

Wells at Ramsgate, England, are sunk to half-tide level. These begin to fall at half tide, are 

dry at low tide, and begin to rise at half tide on the flood.

 Mm. Proe. Inst. Civil Eng., vol. 19, 1860, p. 33.

Reports that wells at Portsmouth, England, are tidal, and concludes that this proves a free 

connection with the sea.

DESAGULIERS, Rev. J. T. An attempt to account for the rising and falling of the water of some 

ponds near the sea, etc. Trans. Phil. Soc. London, No. 384, vol. 33, 1724, p. 132; Trans, Phil. Soc. 

London from 1665-1800 (abridged), vol. 7, 1809, pp. 39-41.

Reports well at Greenhithe in Kent, between London and Gravesend, which appears to fluctuate inversely with the tide. This he explains by imagining a natural siphon. 

DOCGLAS, JAMES NICHOLS. Mm. Proc. Inst. Civil Eng., vol. 47,1879, p. 88.

Chalk well at South Foreland light-house, Kent, England, 283 feet from face of cliff, 280 feet 

deep, with bottom level with half tide, has a peculiarity common to many wells of thi? region in 

that it is dry at low tide and filled with pure spring water at high tide.

aShelford, W., Min. Proc. Inst. Civil Eng., vol. 90, 1887, p. 69.
68 FLUCTUATIONS OF THE WATER LEVEL IN V^ELLS.

FBAZER, PEESIFOE. Notes on fresh-water wells of the Atlantic beach: Jour. Franklin Inst., 1890, vol. 

130, p. 231. "

Reports well at Sea Girt, N. J., 20 feet deep, which rises and falls with tide in ocean 150 feet 

distant. 

HALLAN DE ROUCBOY. Comptes rendus, vol. 12, 1841, pp. 1000-1001.

States that well at Lille, France, shows tidal fluctuations. 

BUTTON, Capt. F. W. Trans. and Proc. New Zealand Inst., 1895, vol. 28, 1896, p. 655.

States that artesian wells at New Brighton are affected by the tide.

INGLIS, GAVIN. On the cause of ebbing and flowing springs [at Bridlington, Yorkshire]: Phil. Mag., 

vol. 50, 1817, pp. 81-83.

"When the recess of the ocean lessens the pressure upon the upper surface, the hydraulic pressure on the under stratum must raise the whole mass in proportion as the force is superior to the 

resistance. The return of the tide brings with it the weight and altitude of its mass of water and 

acts on the flexibility of the clay as a pressure would on a hydraulic blowpipe." 

KING, FRANKLIN H. Fluctuations in the level and rate of movement of ground water: Bull. U. S. 

Weather Bureau No. 5, 1892, pp. 52-53.

Suggests that tidal fluctuations may be produced in wells by coastal deformation. 

MANDAN, H. G. Note on ebbing and flowing well at Newton Nottage [Glamorganshire, Wales]: Abs. 

Proc. Geol. Soc. London, 1898, pp. 85-86; Nature, vol. 58, 1898, pp. 45-46.

Shallow well 500 yards from shore ebbs and flows with the tide; lag about three hours. 

MALLET, F. R. Ebbing and flowing wells: Nature, vol. 58, 1898, p. 104.

Shallow wells in volcanic ash on Barren Island, Andaman Sea, show tidal fluctuations clearly 

due to retardation of leakage.

MCCALLIE, S. W. A preliminary report on the artesian-well systems of Georgia: Bull. Geol. Survey 

Georgia No. 7, 1S98, p. 112.

Reports three artesian wells at Tybee Island, near Savannah, Ga., 240 feet deep, one of which is 

affected by the tide.

MOORE, H. C. A well intermitting inversely with the ebb and flow of the tide: Trans. Woolhope Naturalists Field Club, 1892, pp. 23-24; Jour. Manchester Geol. Soc., vol. 10, 1894, pp. 223-224.

Well at Chepstow, Monmouth, fluctuates inversely with the tide. Shallow pits on Perim Island, 

Straits of Bab el Mandeb, Red Sea, 20 to 100 yards from shore, are full of fresh water at low tide, 

empty at high tide; explained on basis of time required for filtration.

PEAESON, Rev. W. Observations on some remarkable wells near the seacoast at Brighthelmstone 

and other places contiguous. Jour. Nat. Phil. Chem. Arts, vol. 3, 1802, pp. 65-69.

States that shallow wells at Brighton fluctuate with the tide, but with a lag of two hours. He 

ascribes the fluctuation to retardation of leakage.

PLINY THE ELDER. (Caius Plinius Secundus.) Historia Naturalis, lib. 2, cap. 106: (Pliny's Natural 

History, Bostock and Riley's translation, vol. 1, 1887, pp. 134-135).

" There is a small island in the sea opposite the river Timavus, containing warm springs which 

increase and decrease at the same time with the tide of the sea." 

RIVIERE. Comptes rendus, vol. 9,1839, p. 553.

Spring at Givre, canton Montiers-les-Maux, fluctuates with tide. 

ROBERT, E. Comptes rendus, vol. 14, 1842, pp. 417-418.

Reports that springs near Buder, Olafsen, and Paulsen, Iceland, ebb and flow with the tide. 

ROBERTS, ISAAC. On the attractive influence' of the sun and moon causing tides ... in the underground water in porous strata: Rept. Brit. Assoc., 1883, p. 405; see also Proc, Liverpool Geol. Soc., 

vol. 4, pt. 3, 1881, pp. 233-236.

Reports that in a well sunk in Triassic sandstone in which the water rose 60 feet above sea level, 

autographic records showed solar and lunar tides. (See p. 69.) 

' SHELFORD, W. Min. Proc. Inst. Civil Eng., vol. 90,1887, p. 68.

Describes wells 200 feet deep, on the North Sea, near Louth, Lincolnshire, which fluctuate 3 

feet with spring tides. 

SINCLAIR, W. F. Ebbing and flowing wells: Nature, vol. 58,1898, p. 52.

Describes well at Alibag, near Bombay, in. sand dunes about 25 yards from high-tide mark, 

which fluctuated with the tide after heavy rains when the ground water level was high. Tide 

in well occurred later than that in ocean.

STORER, Dr. JOHN. On an ebbing and flowing stream discovered by boring in the harbor of Bridlington [Yorkshire]: Phil. Trans., vol. 105, pt. 1, 1815, pp. 54-59; Phil. Mag., vol. 45, 1815, pp. 432- 

436. 

S., W. On ebbing and flowing springs: Phil. Mag., vol. 50, 1817, p. 267.

States that wells near Hull under conditions similar to those at Bridlington are not tidal. 

TRAUTWINE, J. C., jr. Jour. Franklin Inst., vol. 51, 1901, pp. 193-194.

Explains tidal wells on basis of free discharge in ocean, as from an open tube; changes in pressure at discharge change water level in wells as if they were piezometers al?ng a conduit. 

TRIBUS, L. L. Trans. Am. Soc. Civil Eng., vol, 30, 1893, p. 695.

Mentions tidal fluctuations in wells at Pensacola, Fla., H miles from the shore front, 4 to 6 

inches in diameter, and from 60 to 280 feet deep. Water rises 16 to 17 feet above sea level and
GROUND-WATER TIDES GEOLOGIC CAUSES. 69

fluctuates 6 to 10 inches daily with the tide. He supposes, therefore, that they tap subterranean 

rivers which have free connection with the ocean. Note: The tides at Pensacola are rather 

irregular, with a small semidiurnal and large diurnal value, and it is quite possible thf.t a portion 

of the fluctuation observed is due to barometric and thermometric changes.

VERMEULE, C. C. Water supply for wells: Ann. Kept. New Jersey Geol. Survey for 1898, 1899, p. 163. 

States that many wells along the coast of New Jersey show tides corresponding in period, but not 

in time of occurrence, with the tides of the ocean, and with a smaller range.

WOOD, JAMES G. Jour. Manchester Geog. Soc., vol. 10, 1894, pp. 237-239; Abs. Proc. Geol. Sec. London, 

1898, p. 86.

Reports well near that described by H. C. Moore (see above), and suggests that well is fed by 

water coming along fault, which passes under the river; that at high tide this fauT, is closed, 

cutting off supply, and at low tide opens again, allowing an influx; and that therefore well fluctuates inversely with tide. ' (Note: A simple leakage would, on account of slow propagation of 

change, explain the phenomena quite as well, and more naturally.)

WOOLMAN, LEWIS. Artesian wells in New Jersey: Ann. Rept. New Jersey Geol. Survey for 1898,1899, 

pp. 76, 78, 79.

Records that the height of water in many artesian wells along the New Jersey coast fluctuates 

with the tide. At Ventor fluctuations were noted in a well 813 feet deep, which ha<? a range of 

11 to 14| inches, and a lag of approximately forty-five minutes. Similarly at Avalon, in a well 925 

feet deep, the fluctuation observed had a range of from 10J to 15J inches.

YOUNG, Rev. G. and J. BIRD. A Geological Survey of the Yorkshire Coast. 4°. Whitby, 1822; 2ded., 

1828. 

Ebbing and flowing springs, Bridlington, pp. 22-24; intermittent springs, pp. 27-28.

TIDES IK THE GROUND WATER PRODUCED BY DIRECT SOLAR AND

LUNAR ATTRACTION.

The ground water has not an extended Level surface like the ocean, where the 

tides range from nothing to 50 feet, or even the Great Lakes, where the tidal fluctuation is but a few inches. The ground-water table is comparatively level only over 

areas which are but a fraction of the size, of the Great Lakes, and direct groundwater tides would be of extremely small size. It seems quite unlikely, therefore, 

that the fluctuations in the Maghull (Liverpool) well are due to direct solar and 

lunar attraction, as Roberts « suggests, but, as King b has already pointed out, are 

rather to be ascribed to the action of the ocean tides on the near-by coast.

FLUCTUATIONS DUE TO GEOLOGIC CAUSES.

In regions of abundant rainfall the ground-water table is but a subdued reflection 

of the surface topography, and any changes in the topography will therefore change 

the position of the ground-water table. If a stream valley is filled by sedimentation, 

the ground water is raised over the whole tributary area up to the ground-water 

divide; if the stream valley is eroded, the water level is in like manner lowered. 

Similarly, if a lake is produced by a landslip or destroyed by the erosion of its outlet, 

or the ocean level is changed by orographic movements, the ground-water table likewise is changed. . To these broad generalizations certain exceptions are to be mentioned. If a river is intrenched in an impervious layer overlain by porous strata,-it 

is evident that the position of the impervious bed in the bank, when the water level 

in the river is below it, is the factor which determines the position of the groundwater table. A stream may thus lower its bed without affecting the adjacent ground 

water. Examples of this kind are found in the Isar at Munich and the S^lzach at 

Salzburg, both of which have deepened their beds in recent times, due to regulating 

works, without lowering the adjacent ground water, because the deepening was 

entirely in impervious material. c

Solution and deposition by percolating waters may cause a gradual depression or 

elevation of the water level; solution, by increasing the porosity and consequent rate 

of flow, will enable quite a quantity of water to escape along certain lines and so lower 

the water level; deposition, in an opposite way, will raise it.

a Roberts, Isaac, Rept. Brit. Assoc. 1883, 1884, p 405.

6King, Franklin H., Bull. U. S. Weather Bureau No. 5, 1892, p. 54.

"Soyka, Penck's Geographische Abhandluugen, vol. 2, pt. 3, Wien, 1888, pp. 60, 63.
70 FLUCTUATIONS OF THE WATER LEVEL IN ^YELLS.

In regions where the rainfall is low and the ground-water table is below the level 

of the rivers changes in topography naturally have little effect, except where the 

erosion is sufficient to cut the ground-water table. Generally ir such regions the 

rivers contribute to the ground water by seepage, and the amornt so contributed 

becomes small when the conditions are favorable for the depositior of silt with which 

the rivers plaster up their beds. During flood periods the rivers scour out the silt 

and again allow the percolation of water.

Earthquakes may produce fluctuations due to several causes: Small fluctuations 

may result directly from the earth's tremors; a deformation without faulting may 

produce changes in pressure; and faulting may make new ground-Abater outlets which 

 will cause the water in neighboring wells to rise or fall according to their relation to 

the faulting.

Geyser phenomena may produce both periodic and irregular fluctuations of the 

water level, and Slichter has suggested that the peculiar periodic fluctuations at Urisino Station, New South Wales (p. 76), may be due to such a cause.

In this connection it may be well to refer to the hypothetical siphon, or Tantaluscup arrangement, which the old philosophers gave as an explanation of intermittent 

springs,« a theory which has survived in Houston's Physical Geography, a work still 

used in the high schools in some parts of this country. & From a geologic standpoint the existence of such a siphon arrangement as this theory postulates may be 

regarded as almost impossible because of the difficulty of finding an air-tight passage. 

The fluctuations are now known to be due in many cases to causes not understood at the 

time this hypothesis was advanced, and in the light of our preeent knowledge an 

intermittent spring depending on a natural siphon for its action would lie regarded 

as a most exceptional phenomenon. It would be necessary to do more than prove 

that a spring or well ebbs and flows to establish the existence of such a siphon.

FLUCTUATIONS PRODUCED BY HUMAN AGENCIES.

EFFECT OF SETTLEMENT, DEFORESTATION, AND CULTIVATION ON 

THE LEVEL OF WATER IN WELLS.

It is well known that many hillside springs throughout the entire eastern United 

States which furnished water when the country was first settled are now dry, that 

large areas of former marsh land are now in cultivation, and that streams on which 

boats plied in the early days are no longer navigable. The rainfill records do not 

indicate that there have been any radical climatic changes, and the changes are clearly 

the result of human occupation. < 

Part of this is due to the fact that large areas have been artificially drained by 

tiles, ditches, or absorption pits; beaver dams and other stream obstructions, such as 

the Great Red River Raft, have been removed, with the consequent drainage of greater 

or less areas.'' Some of the hillside springs have nlerely been buried as the soil 

washed in from the surrounding lands, while others have been affected by the drainage 

of the lower lands.

Different kinds of vegetation use different amounts of water * and affect the surface

"See Regnault, Pere, Phil. Conversations, vol. 2, conversation 6; Dechales, Tract. 17 de Fontibus 

Naturalibus, etc.; Desaguliers, Rev. J. T., Trans. Phil. Soc. London, No. 384, vol. 33, 1724 (abridged 

edition Trans. 1665-1800, vol. 7, pp. 89-11); Atwell, Joseph, Trans. Phil. Soc. London, No. 424, vol. 37, 

1732 (abridged edition Trans. 1665-1800, vol. 7, pp. 544-555).

6For a more recent suggestion of the same theory, see Knightly, T. E., Geol. Mag., n. s., decade 4, 

vol. 5, 1898, pp. 333-334.

cSee, in this connection, King, Franklin H., Bull. IT. S. Weather Bureau Fo. 5, 1892, p. 42; Lane, 

Alfred C., Water-Sup, and Irr. Paper No. 30, U. S. Geol. Survey, 1899, pp. 54-55.

dProf. Paper U. S. Geol. Survey No. 46,1906.

eThe literature on the amount of water transpired from plants and evaporated from the earth 

under different conditions is very extensive, but the results are neither readily comparable nor 

readily applicable to natural conditions, because of the differing- and in many cases unnatural conditions under which these experiments have been tried. FOE a review of the literature, see Harrington, 

M. W., Review of forest-meteorology observations, and Fernow, B. E , Relation of forest to water 

supply; Bull. Bureau of Forestry, U. S. Dept. Agric. No. 7, 1873; Lueger, Otto, Die Wasserversorgung 

der Stadte: Der stadtische Tiefbau, Bel. II, pp. 176-177, 196-205, bibliography, pp. 143-161; Wollny, 

Ewald, Expt. Station Record, vol. 4, 1893, pp. 531-533; King, F. H., The Soil, New York, 1895, Drainage 

and Irrigation, New York, 1899.
FLUCTUATIONS PBODUCED BY HUMAN AGENCIES. 71

evaporation in different ways, and a change in the plant covering or crop over large 

areas may clearly result in a broad elevation or lowering of the water level. Similarly, certain methods of cultivation conserve more moisture than would find its way 

into the ground under certain natural conditions, while others allow large quantities 

to flow off the surface. Fertilizers and manures affect the rate of percolation in different ways; some greatly hasten and others retard the percolation of the soil water. 

The relation of cultivation to the position of the ground water is therefore very complex, and it is clearly possible to have different results on adjacent fields. In regard 

to the effect of forested areas on percolation it should be pointed out, OE the one 

hand, that (1) a portion of the rain water, varying from 8.5 to 59 per cent 3 of the 

yearly rainfall, is caught in the crowns of the trees and is evaporated without reaching the ground; (2) the absorption capacity of the forest litter and moss is great, and 

water can be contributed to the ground water only after this is saturated; Awhile the 

evaporation from this surface is slow, it is to be considered evaporation from a saturated surface, and the net result may be greater than from a region where the water 

sinks rapidly into the ground; (3) the old litter or humus is, according to th e experiments by Eiegler, Ebermeyer, and Wollny, practically impervious, and, v^hile the 

fresh litter may absorb large quantities of water, the impervious humus or rotted litter prevents the water from reaching the ground water; (4) the roots of th^ trees in 

some cases draw from ground water that is entirely out of the reach of ordinary field 

plants. Moreover, the direct observations of Ototzky & and Henry and Tolsl-y c yield 

the positive result that in Russia and France the level of the ground water is decidedly 

lower under forests than under cleared land. The results of Ototzky's observations 

are summarized in the Experiment Station Record in the following words:

This is a translation from the Russian giving the results of a hydrological survey in the steppes 

region. The conclusion is reached that, physico-geographical conditions being the same, the level 

of ground water is lower in forests than in adjacent steppes or in general in neighboring open spaces. 

The level falls as forests are approached, the fall sometimes being very sudden, and it is more marked 

in case of old forests than new.

On the other hand, it should be pointed out that the stream flow from forested 

regions is more constant than from unforested ones, f? and as this is to be ccnsidered 

as due to ground-water phenomena it indicates a greater percolation.

On the plains, groves and hedgerows by acting as wind breaks tend to elevate the 

water level by decreasing the surface evaporation.

It is well known to agriculturists that it is possible to cultivate the soil so that the 

evaporation will be greater than under natural conditions or so that the moisture 

will be conserved. It is thus possible to either increase or decrease the ground water 

by cultivation. In the semiarid region of the Middle West, where the rainfall is 

light, the secret of the so-called "dry or arid farming" is to so prepare the soil as to 

itosure the percolation of all the rain water or of a very large percentage of it, and to 

prevent its escape by evaporation. To accomplish this various methods of subsoiling, subsurface rolling, and surface mulching, either by pulverizing the soil or by the 

addition of straw or manure, have been employed, in some cases with marked success. I am informed by Prof. Charles S. Slichter that in western Kansas, where the 

Campbell system is employed, the ground water has in places been raised several 

feet by the increased percolation.

a See Bull. Division of Forestry, U. S. Dept. Agric. No. 7, 1893, pp. 100-101, 130-131, and references 

therein given; also Lueger, Wasserversorgung der Stiidte, p. 197.

6Ototzky, P., Ann. Sci. Agron. 1897, vol. 2, No. 3, pp. 455-477, pis. 2; review, Expt. Static" Record, 

vol. 9, 1898, p. 1041. *

c-Henry, E., and Tolsky, A., Ann. Soc. .Agron. 1902, vol. 3, No. 3, pp. 396-422; review, Expt. Station 

Record, vol. 15, 1903, p. 125.

dgee Bull. Division of Forestry, U. S. Dept. Agric., No. 7, 1892, pp. 158-170; Manson, Marsden, Comparison of low-water discharge from a timbered with that from a. comparatively tiinberless area: 

Water-Sup, and Irr. Paper No. 46, TT. S. Geol. Survey, 1901, pp. 46-47.
72 FLUCTUATIONS OF THE WATER LEVEL IN WELLS.

EFFECT OF IRRIGATION.

Irrigation, almost without exception, raises the ground-water level, and in regions 

where there is no natural ground-water outlet so placed that it furnishes a sufficient 

natural escape for the underflow, elaborate systems of tiling and pMmping are necessary to keep the water level from reaching the surface in the IOVT places and converting them into marshes or alkali flats. Carpenter reports th?t in the Cache la 

Poudre Valley, Colorado, the water level has been raised 20 to 40 feet.« The effects 

of irrigation in the King River Valley, California, are shown in Water-Supply and 

Irrigation Paper No. 58, PI. XXVI.

On Long Island only limited areas have so far been irrigated, but these bid fair to 

rapidly increase. On account of the very porous character of the soil and the fact 

that all the water used must be obtained from the ground water of the region 

involved, there is no danger of serious raising of the ground-water level; indeed, the 

net result here of extreme irrigation, which would have to be done by pumping, 

would be a lowering of the ground-water level to the extent of the added loss by 

evaporation and plant transpiration. When the water for irrigation is supplied 

wholly from springs, as it is at one or two points near Flushing, or where supplied 

from the city waterworks, as at Elmhurst, 6 the result is a local raising of the groundwater level

EFFECT OF DAMS.

In regions where the ground water is tributary to the stream channels the effect 

of the ponding of streams, except where the material of the bed of the reservoir 

is entirely impervious, is to raise the ground-water level. As the pond or reservoir 

is relatively permanent, the ground water generally has time to adjust itself to the 

new conditions, and an elevation is produced which is persistent a? long as the reservoir lasts. Thus on Long Island, where dams were built in all th?. little streams at 

an early day, the effect has been to abnormally raise the ground-water level over 

considerable areas.

Iii mill ponds of this character the use of the water during the day and the accumulation during the night give rise to a periodic fluctuation of the water in the wells 

along their banks which tends to accentuate the temperature effect.

In regions where the ground-water table is below the stream, pording will increase 

the leakage, though this may naturally check itself in time by the deposition of silt

and colloidal material.

<

EFFECT OF UNDERGROUND "WATER-SUPPLY DEVELOPMENTS.

Underground water is developed for water supply in one of four general ways: 

(1) By subsurface dams, (2) by infiltration galleries, (3) by pur^ping from single 

wells or groups of wells, and (4) by flowing wells. "*

EFFECT OF SUBSURFACE DAMS.

In regions where there are valleys with impervious sides filled with porous material a dam across the valley will pond this underflow and force it to the surface. 

This has been employed in many regions of the West where dry stream beds with 

considerable underflow abound. The effect of such a structure on the ground-water 

level is shown in Water-Supply and Irrigation Paper No. 67, Pis. v, VII.

EFFECT OF INFILTRATION GALLERIES.

*

Infiltration galleries may either raise or lower the ground-water level. When constructed along the line of contact of a pervious and impervious bed they may act in

a Carpenter, L. G., Seepage or return waters from irrigation: Bull. Colorado Expt. Station, No. 33, 

1896, p. 4. 

b Bull. Office Expt. Stations, U. S. Dept. Agric., No. 148, 1904.
FLUCTUATIONS DUE TO PUMPING. 73

a way analogous to a subsurface dam. Where deep in pervious layers they offer a 

new outlet at a lower, level than the natural one, and so depress the water plane. 

This effect is the same as that in a pumped well, except that here the cone of depression is greatly lengthened in one direction.

EFFECT OF PUMPING.

Tne first effect of pumping is to develop a more or less symmetrical cone of depression, of which the well is the center. The steepness and slope of the cone depend 

on such factors as the porosity, rate of flow, rate of pumping, and uniformity of soil. 

The effect of such a depression in the porous material on Long Island is to lower the 

water in adjacent wells and drain the near-by ponds and marsh areas.«

The effect of this lowering of the water table has a marked effect on the stream 

flow on Long Island, as is shown by the following table, compiled by L. P Ward:

Effect of ground-water pumping in diminishing stream flow, from 1873 to 1895, in the old 

watershed of the Brooklyn waterworks, comparing five-year periods.**

Period.

1873-1877............ .......................

1878-1882...................................

1883-1887...................................

1889-1893...................................

1895-1899...................................

Period.

1873-1877...................................

1878-1882...................................

1883-1887...................................

1889-1893...................................

1895-1899...................................

Average 

annual 

rainfall.

Inches. 

43.33 

41.58 

43.30 

45. 05 

43.14

\

Average annual 

rainfall collected, referred to 

watershed as awhole.

Per cent. 

25. 07 

29.60 

31.60 

38.43 

36, 32

Other pumped 

sources of 

supply.

Expressed 

as rainfall.

Inches. 

0.18 

.99 

2.30 

4.17 

2.74

Daily per 

square 

mile.

Gallons. 

8,659 

47,063 

109,041 

198, 605 

130, 224

Inches, 

10.86 

12.31 

13.68 

17.31 

15.67

Daily 

total per 

square 

mile 

derived 

from all 

sources in the watershed.

Gallons. 

517, 206 

585, 978 

651, 506 

824, 195 

745, 983

Area of 

watershed.

Square 

miles.

52.30 

55.14 

6142 

65.54 

66.44

Driven-well supply.

Expressed 

as rainfall.

Inches. 

( & ) 

( & ) 

2.95 

5.85 

7.76

Daily per 

square 

mile.

Gallons. (*) (& )

140, 392 

278,883 

369,581

Water collected1 as stream 

flow, referred to 50 square 

miles of watershed.

Daily per 

square 

mile.

Gallons. 

532, 034 

594, 310 

518,071 

455, 153 

327, 122

Expressed as rainfall.

Amour t.

Inches. 

11.17 

12.48 

10.88 

9.56 

6.89

Proportion of 

total.

Per cent. 

25.79 

30.02 

25.13 

21. 22 

15.96

a Merchants' Association of New York, The Water Supply of the City of New York, 19TO, p. 186. 

& Began in 1883.

While all pumped, wells cause a cone of depression, in regions where the ground 

water moves rapidly and where the demand does not exceed the supply th? recovery 

is very rapid, as is shown by the figures prepared by W. E. Spear from the records 

of the Brooklyn water department. &

Several points are noteworthy about these diagrams. The water-bear ng strata, 

in the deep and shallow wells, in each case are separated by rather fin3 material 

which may usually be called a clay. There is a distinct flow below the clay layer 

with a velocity, as shown by Slichter, of 6 feet per day, while that immediately above

"See discussion in Prof. Paper U. S. Geol. Survey No. 44,1906, pp. 78-79.

& Kept. New York City Commission on Additional Water Supply, 1904, appendix 7, Pis. XI, XII.
74 FLUCTUATIONS OF THE WATER LEVEL IN WELLS.

the clay layer is but 18 inches. Near the surface the velocity is 3 to 15 feet per day. 

It is therefore interesting to notice at Agawam, which is essentially a deep-well 

station, the sympathetic effect of pumping in the lower layer on the water in the 

upper. There is also an important difference in the depression produced in well 

No> 11 and well No. 16. This indicates local irregularities in porosity. At Merrick 

the wells connected to the suction are all shallow but one; the effect of pumping is 

therefore more marked in the shallow than the deep wells. It is 1 °re quite normally 

greatest in the center well. The recovery after pumping is very rapid in both cases, 

indicating that the supply is a free one and that the plants have rot overdrawn it.

The records for a 181-foot well at the Queens County Water Company pumping 

station, near Hewlett, N. Y., show regular fluctuations due to pumping (PL III, 

p. 18). This well is 3,000 feet from the pumping station and 2,000 feet from the 

nearest pumped well, and the records showed fluctuations of such a regular rhythmical 

character that they were at first thought to represent fluctuations due entirely to 

temperature changes. Further consideration in connection with the record of pumping from the station shows that the fluctuations are almost wholly due to pumping, 

although there is perhaps a slight temperature effect involved.

The response of the water level in the deeper wells to changes of pressure at the 

surface, due to rainfall, tidal, barometric, and thermometric fluctuations, suggests that 

the removal by pumping of the surface ground water over an artesian stratum will, 

by relief from load, produce sympathetic fluctuations in deep wells where there is 

absolutely no connection between the water-bearing strata.

EFFECT OF ARTESIAN-WELL DEVELOPMENTS

The universal experience in artesian basins has been that afte~ a time the head 

decreases. This is due to many causes. When the whole basin is effected, it indicates 

that the outflow or pumping from the wells exceeds the inflow from the porous strata, 

and a gradual decrease is to be expected until these factors are balanced. A well or 

group of wells may be influenced by interference from a single well favorably situated. 

Thus the drilling of a well in which the outflow is many feet below that of near-by 

wells quickly affects the head of the higher wells. Very often where but a few wells 

here and there are affected the decrease in head is to be regarded as wholly due to 

leakage, either on the outside of the casing or by the failure of the casing through 

corrosion.

All artesian wells are sooner or later pumped, and the effect of tl <? pumping is often 

to lower the head over wide areas. The diminution of the head in the chalk wells 

in London during the early part of the nineteenth century is well shown by 

Clutterbuck.«

EFFECT OF LARGE CITIES ON THE WATER LPVEL,.

Aside from the general lowering of the water level in cities due to pumpage, 

another factor tending in the same direction is a decrease of the inflow of rain waters. 

The mass of buildings, paved streets, and drainage systems absolutely prevent the 

infiltration of rain water over wide areas. This loss is, however, in part replaced "by 

leakage from the water and sewer systems.

The loading resulting from the placing of large and heavy buildings on small areas 

will have the same effect as loading due to any natural causes, except that the former 

is so gradual that in most cases the water has time to escape laterc lly. It is conceivable, however, that the loading may exceed the rate of outflow and a temporary 

measurable increase in the artesian head be produced, but this is of such slight value 

as to be of theoretical rather than practical importance. The effect is practically 

nothing when the building rests on bed rock, as at New York, ani reaches its maxioMin. Proc. Inst. Civil Eng., vol. 9,1850, pi. vi, p. 180.
FLUCTUATIONS DUE TO INDETERMINATE CAUSES. 75

mum at points like New Orleans, Galveston, and other coast towns underlain by 

unconsolidated Tertiary and Quaternary beds. A much more readily Er^asarable 

effect would be produced by large fires, which in a short time would renac ve a large 

weight from a limited area. These pressure effects would be noticeable only in wells 

in which the water is already under artesian head and when the overlying beds have 

considerable plasticity. They would clearly be greatest in unconsolidated materials 

and would decrease with the thickness of the strata above the water-bearing layer.

EFFECT PRODUCED BY LOADED FREIGHT TRAINS.

The sensitiveness of the water in wells to any change in load at the surface is 

strikingly illustrated by the oscillation produced by slowly moving freight trains at 

Madison, Wis. This is described by King as follows: a

While the self-registering instrument was upon well No. 48, it was observed that there were frequent 

records of sharp short-period curves shown upon the sheet, which at first were supposed to be the 

result of accidental jars which the instrument sustained; but the frequency of their occurrence and 

the fact that they always indicated elevations of the water led to a closer scrutiny and their final 

association with the movement of trains past the well. On the eight-day instrument tl ese fluctuations are shown as single dashes, but with the one-day form the curve was opeu. The W'?ll in which 

these disturbances occur is situated about 140 feet from the railroad track aud has a depth of 40 feet. 

It is tubed up with 6-inch iron pipe to the sandstone, 37 feet below the surface, and the water has a 

mean depth of about 20 feet in it.

The strongest rises in the level of-the water are produced by the heavily loaded trains, which move 

rather slowly. A single engine has never been observed to leave a record, and the rap'dly moving 

passenger tains produce only a slight movement, or none at all, which is recorded by the instrument. 

The figure shows the curve to be produced by a rapid but gradual rise of the water, which is followed 

by only a slightly less rapid fall to the normal level, there being nothing oscillatory m character 

indicated by any of the tracings nor observable to the eye when watching the pen whiH in motion. 

The downward movement of the pen usually begins when the engine has passed the well by four or 

live lengths, and when the pen is watched, it may be seen to start and to descend quite gradually, 

occupying some seconds in the descent.

This is very similar to the various pressure effects noted above, due to t; dai, barometric, and rainfall loading, and to transmitted fluctuations due to variations in local 

load produced by temperature changes, except that the time of lateral trrnsmission 

is rather shorter, and it is not clear that the water is under artesian head.

FLUCTUATIONS DUE TO. INDETERMINATE CAUSES. 

SMALL FLUCTUATIONS.

The extreme susceptibility of the water level in wells to pressure changes would 

lead one to expect many minute fluctuations; and, indeed, all the well curves show 

a great number of such fluctuations superposed on the larger fluctuations' produced 

by the dominant element at that point. Many are clearly compound waves of very 

complex character aud represent the resultant of many forces. They emphasize the 

continued state of unrest of the earth's surface. These fluctuations can b3 properly 

studied only with instruments having both a large vertical and time scale, and 

their elucidation would necessitate corresponding meteorologic instruments of great 

delicacy.

On the day gages at Hewlett (p. 18) there is a distinct series of minor fluctuations 

with a well-defined period of about twenty minutes. These greatly resemble the 

minor oscillations in the tidal curves at many points. &

a Bull. U. S. Weather Bureau No. 5, 1892, pp. 67-68.

bSee Airy, Sir G. B., On the seiches or nontidal undulations of short period at Malta: Phil. Trans. 

Royal Soc., 1878, pp. 123-138. Davvson, W. BelJ, Notes on secondary undulations recorded by selfregistering tide gages, Trans. Royal Soc. Canada, sec. 3, 1895, pp. 25-26; Illustrations of remarkable 

secondary tidal undulations in Nova Scotia, Trans. Royal Soc. Canada, sec. 3,1899, pp. 23-26. Duff, 

A. W., Secondary undulations shown by recording tide gages; Trans. Nat. Hist. Soe. New Brunswick, 1897; Am. Jour. Sci., 4th ser., vol. 3, 1897, pp. 406-412. Am. Jour. Sci., 4th ser., vol. 12, 1901, pp. 

123-139. Denison, F. Napier, The Great Lakes as a sensitive barometer: Canadian Eng., Oet.-Nov., 

1897; Secondary undulations 01 tide gages, Proc. Can. Inst., n. s., vol. 1,1897, pp. 28-31; The Great 

Lakes as a sensitive barometer: Proc. Can. Inst., 11. s., vol. 1, 1897, pp. 55-63; The origin o* ocean tidal 

secondary undulations: Proc. Can Inst., n. s., VOL 1, 1897, pp. 134-135.
76 FLUCTUATIONS OF THE WATER LEVEL IN T^ELLS.

The secondary oscillations in the tide ciirve at Swansea, England, have a time 

interval of fifteen to twenty minutes; at Malta, twenty-one minutes; and at Sydney, 

twenty-six minutes; while Denison has observed on Lake Huron oscillations with 

periods of fourteen, eighteen, twenty-two, and forty-five minutes. As no such 

secondary tidal oscillations have been observed near Long Island, and as. the Hewlett 

well is at such a distance from the coast that it is not affected by tides 4 feet high, 

these oscillations are clearly not of transmitted ocean origin. Denison's observations 

led him to the conclusion that many of the secondary oscillation^1 are due to barometric fluctuations, and the occurrence of these fluctuations in wells must be regarded 

as strong confirmatory evidence of his conclusion.

Besides these fluctuations with a period of twenty minutes, there are several other 

minor vibrations with smaller amplitudes and periods; one series peems to have a 

period of five or six minutes, but is not very sharply defined.

In the wells at Lynbrook (p. 23) minor fluctuations with periods of forty and eighty 

minutes have been clearly recognized in a mass of still smaller fluctuations.

FLUCTUATIONS AT MILLBURN, N. X.

Extremely irregular fluctuations with a range of as much as 1 inch were obtained 

from a well at Millburn, N. Y. (PI. V, p. 22). These are quite different from any 

of the other curves obtained and no cause can be assigned for tl ese irregularities. 

Not the least strange part of the curve is that its general character changes sharply 

on July 29. (See discussion, pp. 22-23.)

FLUCTUATIONS AT URISINO STATION, NEW SOUTH WALES.

The fluctuations reported by Professor David a at Urisino Station, between Wanaaring and Milparinka, in. the northwest corner of New South Wales, 200 miles from the 

ocean, are unique. Two subartesian wells, one 1,680 and the other 2,000 feet deep, 

in which the water rises to within 15 or 20 feet of the surface, sbow regular rhythmical pulsations with a range of 4 to 5 feet every two hours. That is, there are here 

six almost equal "tides" of large size every twenty-four hours. Prof. Charles S. 

Slichter has suggested the very probable explanation that the fluctuations are due 

to a sort of periodic geyser phenomena. This is quite competent to produce the fluctuations observed and the high temperature of the water in. this ba^in lends considerable color to the suggestion.

a David, T. W. E., Notes on artesian water in New South Wales and Queens-land: Jour, and Proc. 

Royal Soc. New South Wales for 1893, vol. 27, pp. 429-430.
INDEX.

A. Page.

Agawam, N. Y., pumping at, effect of...... 74

Agram, Hungary, annual fluctuations in

well at.......................... 41

Air, fluctuations produced by pressure transmitted through.......... 7-8,24,42-43

Airy, G. B., on minor tidal fluctuations at

Malta........................... 75

Alfriston, England, annual fluctuations in

well at.......................... 41

Almenderes River, Cuba, fluctuations in

springs produced by............ 63

Aller River, Germany, well fluctuations

produced by.................... 60

Ann Arbor, Mich., annual and secular fluctuations in well at.............. 40

Annual fluctuations, character and cause

of............................... 29-34

dates of maximum and minimum, factors affecting ................... 34-37

diagrams showing....... 30,81,32 (PI. IX), 39

Arkansas, well fluctuations produced by

Red River in.................... 63

Artesian well developments, effect of, on

water level..................... 74

Atwell, Joseph, on fluctuating springs in

Devonshire..................... 53

Auchincloss, W. S., on annual and secular

fluctuations at Bryn Mawr..... 38,51

Avalon, N. J., tidal fluctuations in well at. 69

B.

Baden, Austria, annual fluctuations in well

at............................... 41

Bailly, , on tidal well at Lille, France.. 64,67 

B.arbour, E. H., on blowing wells in Nebraska .......................... 53

 on annual well fluctuations in Nebraska ................................ 51

Barometric changes, effects of. 7-8,24-25,52-54,76 

effects of, bibliography of............... 53-54

diagram showing............. 24 (PI. VI)

Barren Island (Andaman Sea), tidal wells

on .............................. 64,68

Berlin, Germany, annual fluctuations in

well at.......................... 40

annual rainfall and water-level curves

at, figure showing.............. 29

Bettes, C. R., aid of......................... 18-19

Bibliography of fluctuations, due to barometric changes................. 53-54

due to ocean tides...................... 07-69

due to rainfall.......................... 51-52

due to rivers............................ 62-63

due to temperature...................... 59

Page.

Blowing wells, occurrence aud bibliography of.......................... 53

Bombay, India, tidal wells near......... 64,67-68

Bowman, Isaiah, well observations by..... 13,16

Braithwaite, Frederick, on tidal-well fluctuations at London............... 67

Bremen, Germany, annual fluctuations in

well at.......................... 40

annual rainfall and water-level curves

at,figure showing .............. 29

Brentwood, N. Y., barograph record at, figure showing............. 18 (PI. Ill),

22 (PI. V),24(P1. VI) 

observations at......................... 27 -

rainfall record at, figure showing. 18 (PI. Ill), 

22 (PI. V),24 (PI. VI) 

Bronx Park, N. Y., soil temperatures at,

observations on................. 57,58

Brooklyn waterworks, effect of pumpmg at,

on stream flow.................. 73

Briinn, Austria, annual fluctuations in well

at............................... 40

annual rainfall and water-level curves

'at, figure showing.............. 29

Bryn Mawr, Pa., annual and secular fluctuations in well at.............. 40,51

annual rainfall and water-level curves

at, figure showing.............. 30

ground-water curves at................. 38

figures showing..................... 30,31

Buckland, Doctor., on London well fluctuations. ........................... 62

Cache la Poudre River, Colo., diurnal fluctuations of..................... 59

rise of ground water along............. 72

Caleves, Switzerland, percolation experiments at........................ 46

Callender, H. L., on soil temperature,? ..... 58

Capillarity, effect of, in producing well

fluctuations ............... 8,42-43,57

effect of surface c banges on............ 43

Carpenter, L. G., on fluctuations in Cache

la Poudre River, Colo.......... 59

on rise in ground water along Cache la

Poudre River, Colo............. 72

Caterham, England, annual fluctuations in

well at.......................... 41

Caverns, tidal fluctuations transmitted

through ........................ 62-64

Celle, Germany, well fluctuations produced

by Aller River at............... 60-61

Charnock, Charles, lysimeter experiments

at Ferrybridge by .............. 46

77
78 INDEX.

Page. 

Chelgrove, England, annual fluctuations in

well at.......................... 41

Cheshire, England, annual fluctuations in

well at.......................... 41

Christie, James, on tidal fluctuations in

wells ........................... 67

Cities, effect of, on water table............. 74-75

Citizens Water Supply Co., wells of, fluctuations in, plate showing .. 26 (Pl.VII) 

wellsof,locationof,mapshowing. 26 (PLVII) 

observations on..................... 25-26

Clutterbuck, James, on lysimeters ......... 48-49

on tidal wells in England .............. 67

on well fluctuations at London...... 51,62,74

Cochituate, Lake, Mass., basin of, rainfall

and run-off in................... 50

Colne River, England, well fluctuations at

London due to.................. 62

Colondo, annual fluctuations in infiltration

gallery in....................... 51

annual rainfall and water-level curves

in, relations of.................. 43

ground-water fluctuations in........... 43,59

Connecticut River, Conn., basin of, rainfall

and run-off in .................. 50

Consolidated Ice Co., Huntington, N. Y.,

observations on well of......... 13

Cretaceous clays, lack of continuity of, on

Long Island.................... 10

flgureshowing.......................... 9

Cretaceous sands, figure showing........... 9

water in ................................ 10,19

Croton River, N. Y., basin of, rainfall and

run-off in....................... 50

Cuba, spring fluctuations produced by Alinenderes River in.............. 63

Cultivation, changes in ground-water level

due to .......................... 70-71

Czernowitz, Austria, annual fluctuations in

well at.......................... 41

D.

Dalton, John, lysimeter experiments of.... 44-45

Dams, changes in ground-water level due

to............................... 72

Darwin, G. H., on elastic deformation of the

earth ........................... 65-66

David, T. W. E., on well fluctuations in New

South Wales.................... 76

Dawson, W. Bell, on secondary tidal fluctuations. ........................... 75

Debreczin, Hungary, annual fluctuations in

well at.......................... 41

Deformation, elastic, of earth, G. H. Darwin on.......................... 65-66

Deformation, plastic, of earth, well fluctuations due to..................... 8,28,

42-i3,62-63,65-6S,74-75

Denizet, , on spring fluctuations at 

Voize, France, due to barometric changes..................... 53

Denison, P. Napier, on secondary fluctuations of Lake Huron............ 75-76

Denver Water Co., infiltration gallery of,

fluctuations in.................. 51

Page. 

Desaguliers, J. T., on tidal fluctuations in

England........................ 67

Dickinson, John, lysimeter of .............. 44-4&

Dickinson, John, and Evans, John, percolation experiments of. 32-34,37,45-46,4& 

percolation experiments of, diagram

showing........................ 32

Discharge, point of, distance from, relations

of fluctuations and.......... 33,49,51

rate of, fluctuations due to....... 57,61,63-64

Douglas, J. N., on tidal well in Kent, England ............................ 67

Douglaston, N. Y., marsh near, description

of............................... 25-26

marsh near, map showing....... 26 (PI. VII)

mud volcanoes near.................... 25-'. 6

wells at, description of ................. 25

fluctuations in...................... 2&

figure showing.......... 28 (PI. VIII)

lag in........................... 25,66

location of, map showing.... 26 (PL VII)

observations on............... 10,25-26,66

errors in ........................ 18,26

Drainage, changes in water table due to... 70 

Dubois, H. J., well record by ............... 12

Duff, A. W., on secondary tilal fluctuations

in New Brunswick.............. 75

E.

Earthquakes, changes in v^ater table due

to............................... 70

East Rockaway Inlet, tide curves at, figure

showing .................. 20 (PI.IV)

Eastdean, England, annual fluctuations in

well at.......................... 41

Ebermeyer, Dr. E., on forest litter.......... 71

on lysimeters ........................... 48

Elbe River, Germany, artesian wells in bed

of............................... 62

Emery, F. E., on annual fluctuations in well

at Geneva, N. Y ................ 51

England, annual fluctuations in wells in... 41,51 

barometric fluctuations in springs and

wells in..................... I... 53-54

blowing well in......................... 53

decrease of head in artesian wells in... 74 

fluctuations due to rivers in............ 62

percolation experiment? in....... 32-34,44-47

tidal fluctuations in we^s in ........ 64,67-69

Erosion, changes in water table due to..... 69

Europe, annual and secular fluctuations in

wells in ...... ?4-35,38,40-41,51,61-62

annual rainfall and water-level curves

in, figures showing. 29,32 (PI.IX),62 

Evans and Dickinson. See Dickinson and

Evans. 

Evaporation, loss by........................ 50

Evaporation and rainfall, fluctuations due

to............................... 29-42

F.

Farrley, T., on blowing well in England... 53

Fenhurst, N. Y. See Hewlett, N. Y.

Fires, effect of, on water level.............. 75
INDEX. 79

Page. 

Flood flows, contribution by ground water

to............................. 8,42,49

definition of ............................ 49

effect of showers on .................... 42

See also Stream flow. * 

Floral Park, N. Y., observations at.....'.... 27

rainfall records at, figures showing... 18 (PI. 

Ill),22 (P1.V),24 (PI. VI) 

thermograph records at, figures showing.. 18(P1.III),22(P1.V),24(P1.VI) 

Fluctuations in ground-water level, amount

of.......................... 7,38-41,51

causes of.............................. 7,28-76

classification of.....................

See also Annual fluctuations; Artesian 

wells; Bibliography; Capillarity; 

Cities; Dams; Deformation; Forests; Geysers; Geologic changes; 

Irrigation; Pumping; Rainfall; 

Secular fluctuations; Showers; 

Soil; Streams; Tides.

Forest, effect of, on ground-water level....

Fortier, Samuel, on underflow .............

France, barometric fluctuations in springs

28

forests in, effect of, on ground-water

level............................ 71

percolation experiments in............. 45

tidal fluctuations in wells in ..... 62,64,67-69

Frankfurt, Germany, annual fluctuations in

well at.......................... 40

annual rainfall and water-level curves

in wells at, figures showing..... 29

Freund,-Adolf, report of, on Vienna waterworks .......................... 51

Frazer, Persiflor, on tidal well at Seagirt,

N. J............................. 68

Friez gage, description of .................. 18

Fuller, M. L., on spring fluctuations in

Cuba, due to river changes..... 63

Fulton, Ark., fluctuations due to stream

flow in well in.................. 63

G.

Gages, direct-reading, description of....... 10-11

observations with ...................... 10-17

self-recording, description of........... 17-18

observations with ...................... 18-26

Galleries, infiltration, changes in water

table due to..................... 72-73

Gasparin, Doctor, lysimeter experiments 

of......................................... 45

Genesee River, N. Y., basin of, rainfall and

run-off in....................... 50

Geneva, N. Y., annual fluctuations in well

at............................... 40,51

annual rainfall and water-level curves

in well at, figure showing...... 30

Geneva, Switzerland, percolation experiments at........................ 45

Geologic causes, changes in ground-water

level due to..................... 69-70

Geological Survey, U. S., observations by... 10-27 

Georgia, tidal fluctuations in wells in...... 68

Gerhardt, P., on annual fluctuations....... 51

on fluctuations due to stream flow...... 63

Page. 

Germany, annual and secular fluctuations

in wells in...................... 40

percolation experiments in............. 46-47

well fluctuations due to streams in..... 60-62

Geysers, well fluctuations due to........... 70,76

Gilbert and Lawes. See Lawes and Gilbert. 

Gorlitz, Germany, percolation experiments

at............................... 46

Gough, John, on barometric fhictuatiorf! in

Yorkshire wells................. 53

Graz, Austria, anuual fluctuations in well

at............................... 40

Greaves, Charles, percolation experiments

of......................... 82-83,46,48

Green, H., gages of, description of ......... 18

Ground water, definition of ................ 42

topography and, relations of ........ 3S, 60-70

See also Bibliography; Capillarity; Cities; 

Dams; Deformation; Forests; 

Flood flow; Geysers; Geologic 

changes; Human agencies; Irrigation; Pumping; Rainfall; 

Showers; Streams; Stream flow; 

Temperatures; Tides. 

Ground-water curves, relation of rainfall

curves and, figures showing.... 18

(PI. Ill),22 (P1.V),24 (PI.VI), 

29, 30, 31, 32 (PI. IX), 36, 39 

Ground-water divide, distance from, effect

of, on fluctuations.............. 38,49

figure showing.......................... 9

H.

Hallan de Roucroy, on spring fluctuations

in Iceland...................... 64

tidal fluctuations at Lille, France... 68 

Sarris, G. D., on blowing wells in Louisiana ............................. 53

on relations of Mississippi River to well

fluctuations .................... 63

Headdon, W. P., on effect of showers on

ground water................... 43, 51

Kernel Hempstead, England, annual percolation and rainfall curves at, 

figure showing.................. 32

percolation experiments at.... 32-34,45-46,48

Henry, E., and Tolsky, A., on relations of

forests and ground water....... 71

Hess, , on fluctuations due to stream

flow ............................ 60

Hertfordshire, England, annual fluctuations

in well in....................... 41

Hewlett, N. Y., wells at, description of..... 18-19

wells at, location of, maps showing.... 9

(PL I), 16 (PI. II) 

observations on .............. 18-19,75-76

pumping of, effect of................ 74

effect of, figure showing.. 18 (PI.Ill) 

tidal fluctuation in, figure shoving. 18 

(PI. Ill) 

Hicksville, N. Y., annual fluctuations in

wells at......................... 40

Hudson River, N. Y., basin of, rainfall and

run-off in....................... 50

Human agencies, ground-water fluctuations due to .................... 70-75
80 INDEX.

Page. 

Humus, absorptive capacity of............. 71

Huntington, N. Y., wells at, description of. 10-13 

wells at, location of .................... 11

location of, figure showing......... 11

observations on..................... 10-13

tidal fluctuation in, figure showing. 12 

lag in........................... 10,66

Huntington Light and Power Co., well of,

location of, figure showing..... 11

well of, observations on ................ 10-13

record of............................ 12

Huron, Lake, secondary tidal oscillations

on ............................. 76

Hutton, F. W., on tidal fluctuations at New

Brighton, Englaud............. 68

I.

Iceland, springs in, tidal fluctuations of... 64,68 

Infiltration from rivers, fluctuations due to. 60-61 

Infiltration galleries, changes in water table

due to....................... 51,72-73

Inglis, Gavin.on tidal fluctuations in springs

in Yorkshire.................... 68

Innsbruck, Austria, annual fluctuations in

wellat.......................... 40

Irrigation, changes in water table due to .. 72

J.

Jaegle, W. C., well record by .............. 20

Japan, barometric fluctuations in well in.. 54 

Jevington, England, annual fluctuations in

well at ......................... 41

Josephstadt, Austria, annual fluctuations

in well at....................... 40

Xing, F. H., citations of.. 42-43,51-56,63,68-69,75 

evaporation experiments by............ 49

Xlagenfurt, Austria, annual fluctuations in

well at.......................... 40

Knightly, T. E., on barometric fluctuations

in Derbyshire wells ............ 53

Krakau, Austria, annual fluctuations in

well at.......................... 40

L.

lag in well fluctuations ................... 13,

17,19,21-22,24,34-36,60-62,64-66

lake level, changes in, effect of, on water

table ........................... 63,69

Lane, A. C., on blowing well in Michigan.. 53

lansing, Mich., annual fluctuations in well

at............................... 40

annual rainfall and water-level curves

at, figure showing .............. 30

Latham, Baldwin, on barometric fluctuations in springs in England .... 53

Lawes, John, and Gilbert, J. H., percolation

experiments of ........ 32-34,37,47-48

percolation experiments of, figure showing ............................. 32

Leakage from rivers, effect of, on water

level............................ 61-63

leitha River, Austria, effect of, on ground

water........................ 35,61-62

Page. 

Lille, France, tidal wells at.......... 62,6-1,67-69

Lincoln,Nebr.,soil temperatures at,observations on ........................ 57

Liverpool, England, barometric and tidal

fluctuations in well near.... 54,68-69

Liznar, Joseph, on periodic fluctuations in

wells ........................... 52

London, England, annual and secular fluctuations in wells at............. 41,51

barometric fluctuations in wells at..... 53

diminution of artesian head at......... 74

fluctuations due to riv?rs at............ 62

percolation experiments near.......... 46

tidal fluctuations in w°lls at........... 67

Long Beach, N. Y., well at, description

of..................................... 19-20

well at, location of, maps showing.. 9 (PI. I),

16 (PI.II) 

observations on.................. 10,19-22

errors in........................ 18

record of............................ 20

tidal fluctuations in.......... 18,21-22, 66

figure showing............ 20 (PI. IV)

lag in........................... 19,66

Long Island, blowing weFs on............. 53

ground water on, soune of............. 10

hydrologic conditions on............... 9-10

figure showing...................... ^ 9

similarity of, to those at Wiener

Neustadt ....................... 35

irrigation on............................ 72

map of southern part of............ 16 (PI. II)

map of western end of............... 9 (PI. I)

observations on......................... 10-27

ponds on, effect of...................... 72

pumping on, effect of................... 73

rainfall eurveson,figuresshowing. 18 (PI. Ill),

22 (Pl.V),24 (Pl.VI),30,36,37,39

section of............................... 9

secular fluctuations on ................. 37-38

south side of, rainfall and run-off on... 50 

stream flow on.......................... 10,50

topography of.......................... 9

underflow on........................... 73-74

wells on, fluctuations iu............... 10-27,

35,37-38,40,42-44,49, 52-53, 57-59, 

62,66,74-76. 

fluctuations in, fig-ires showing.... 12,

16,18 (PI. Ill), 20 (PI. IV), 22 (PI. 

V), 24 (Pl.VI),26 (PI.VII), 28 (PI. 

VIII), 30,36,39. 

observations on................. 9-27

Louisiana, blowing wells in................ 53

fluctuations of wells in, due toMississippi

River........................... 63

Lueger, Otto, on annual fluctuations in

wells ........................... 52

on barometric fluctuations in wells and

springs ......................... 51

Lynbrook, N. Y., wells at, description of... 23 

wells at, fluctuations in................ 22,

42-43,49,52,57-59, 62,76 

location of, map showing....... 9 (PI. I),

16 (PI. II) 

observations on............... 23-25,57-59

record of............................ 23
INDEX. 81

Page. 

Lysimeters, descriptions of.............. 32,44-47

objections to......................... 44,48-49

observations with ................ 32,34,44-49

results of, figure showing........... 32

M.

MeCallie, S. W., on tidal well fluctuations

in Georgia,...................... 68

McDougal, D. T., on soil temperatures..... 57-58

Madison, Wis., temperature and well fluctuations at ..................... 54-57

well at, fluctuations in, due to showers. 42 

fluctuations in, figure showing..... 56

record of............................ 56

Maghull, England, tidal and barometric

fluctuations in well at....... 54,68-69

Malabar coast, tidal wells on............... 64,67

Mallet, F. R., on tidal fluctuations in wells

in Wales.......:..............., 68

Mal ta, secondary tidal oscillations at...... 76

Manchester, England, percolation experiments at........................ 45

Mandan, H. G., on tidal wells.............. 64,68

Map of Douglaston and vicinity............ 26

of Oyster Bay and vicinity............. 13,14

of property of Huntington Light and

Power Company and vicinity.. 11 

of southern Long Island .......... 16 (PL II)

of western Long Island ............. 9 (PI. I)

Maurice, , lysimeter experiments of.... 45

Mead, Elwood, gage of, description of..... IS

Merrick, N. Y., pumping at, effect of....... 74

Mesilla Park, N. Mex., underflow at....... 13,62

Meyer, Cord, aid of......................... 25

Meyer, J. E., aid of......................... 25

Michigan, annual and secular Quotations

in wells in...................... 40

blowing well in ........................ 53

rainfall and water-level curves in, figures showing................... 30

water level in, observations on......... 52

Mill .ponds, effect of, on ground-water

level............................ 72

Millburn, N. Y., well at, fluctuations in.... 22-

23,38,40,76

well at, fluctuations in, figures showing................... 22 (PI. V) 30,39

location of, map showing....... 9 (PI. I),

16 (Pl.-II) 

observations on ................. 10,22-23

rainfall and water-level curves in, 

*, figures showing ................ 30,39

Milne, John, on barometric fluctuations in

well in Japan .................. 54

Moore, H. C., on tidal fluctuations in wells. 68 

Mud volcanoes, location of, near Douglaston, map showing....... 26 (PL VII)

occurrence of, near Douglaston ........ 25-26

Munich, Germany, annual fluctuations in

well at.......................... 40

annual rainfall and water-level curves

in well at, figure showing...... 29

percolation experiments at............ 47

Muskingum River, Ohio, basin of, rainfall

and run-off in .................. 50

IRR 155 06 6

Page.

Muskingum River, Ohio Continued.

basin of, underflow in..................

Mystic Lake, Mass., basin of, rainfall and 

run-off in.......................

N.

60

50

Nashua River, Mass., basin of, rainfall and .

run-off in....................... 50

Nebraska, annual fluctuations in wells- in.. 51 

blowing wells in ....................... 53

soil temperatures at, observations on .. 57 

Neshaminy Creek, Pa., basin of, rainfall

and run-off in .................. 50

New Inlet, N. Y., tide curve at........ 22 (PL V)

New Jersey, annual fluctuations!!! wellsin. 52 

I artesian wells in, fluctuations in ....... 69

tidal fluctuations in ................ 66-69

New York, annual fluctuations in well at

Geneva......................... 51

soil temperatures at Bronx Park, observations on...................... 57-58

See also Long Island.

New York City commission on additional 

water supply, observation'' of, 

on Long Island...............'.. 27

observations of, results of, figure showing....................... 18 (PL III),

22 (PI. IV), 26 (P\ VII), 36 

Newark, N. J., residual-mass curves of rainfall at .......................... 37

Newell, F. H., aid of ....................... 17-18

North Allerton, England, blowing well at. '53

O.

Oliver, William, on minor periodic fluctuations of well in England........ . 54

Orange, France percolation experiments at. 45 

Ototsky, P., on forests and ground water .. 71 

Oyster Bay, N. Y., sections at, figures showing ............................. 14,15

wells at, location of, figures showing... 13,14 

observations on ................. 15-17,66

tidal fluctuations in ................ 17

figure showing ................. 17

P.

Paleozoic rocks, occurrence of ............. 10

occurrence of, figure showing.......... 9

Pearson, W., on tidal-well fluctuations in

England........................ 68

P«nnsylvania, annual fluctuations in well

in............................... 51

Pensacola, Fla., fluctuations in wells at.... 67-69

Pequanock River, Conn., basin of, rainfall

and run-off in .................. 50

Percolation, amount of, estimation of. f2-37,44-51 

rainfall and, relations of, figure si owing ............................. 32

stream flow and, relations of........... 49-50

Perim Island (Red Sea), tidal wells on .... 64,68.'

Perkiomen Creek, Pa., basin of, rainfall and

run-off in....................... 50

Philadelphia, Pa., rainfall curve at........ 31,37
INDEX.

Plastic deformation. See Deformation, plastic.

Pleistocene gravels, of Long Island, occurrence of ........................ 10

Pliny the Elder, on barometric fluctuations

in wells in Italy................ 54

on temperature fluctuations in wells in

Italy............................ 59

on tidal fluctuations in wells in Italy .. 68 

Pliny the Younger, on barometric fluctuations in wells in Italy .......... 54

Point of discharge. See Discharge.

Poisenille, , on temperature and viscosity. 58

Prag, Hungary, annual fluctuations in well

at............................... 40

Pressure, transmitted, fluctuations produced by........................ 7-8,

24,28,42-43,62-63,65-68,74-75 

Pumping, effect of, on ground water ...... 52,73

effect of, on ground water, plate showing ....................... 18 (PI. Ill)

on stream flow ..................... 73

Purdue University, lysimeter experiments

at............................... 43

Q.

Queens County Water Co., wells of... 18-19,23-25 

wells of, fluctuations in, figures showing........... 18 (PI. Ill),24 (PI. VI)

R.

Railway trains, effect of, on water table... 42,75

Rainfall, contribution to ground water by. 44-51

effect of, on ground water......... 7,24,29-62

excess of, effect of...................... 37-38

effect of, figure showing ........ 34,36,37

figures showing ................. 18 (PI. Ill),

22 (PI. V),24(P1. VI),

29, 30, 31, 32, 36, 37, 39

fluctuations due to................ 7,24,29-52

bibliography of..................... 51-52

 percolation of, amount of.............. 38

effect of ............................ 44

observations on .................... 32-34

residual-mass curves of, figures showing ....................... 32,36,37,39

statistics of ........ ........... 40-41,45-47,50

stream flow and, relations of. 7-8,10,24,49-51 

See also Showers. 

Rainfall curves, relation of ground-water

curves and, figures showing.. 18 (PI.

Ill), 22 (PI. V),24 (PI.

VI), 29, 30, 31,32, 36, 39

Rathbun, F. D., work of............. 18 (PI. Ill),

20 (PI. IV), 22 (PI. V)

Red River, Ark., fluctuations in wells along. 63 

Residual mass rainfall curves, figures showing ....................... 32,36,37,39

Riegler, , on forest litter ............... 71

Rio Grande, relation between water table

and bed of...................... 62

Risler, , lysimeter experiments by..... 46

Rivers. See Streams.

Riviere, , on tidal fluctuations in spring

at Givre ........................ 68

Robert, E., on tidal fluctuations in Iceland

springs.......'.................. 68

Roberts, Isaac, on baromet-ic fluctuations

in well at Maghull.............. 54

. on tidal fluctuations in well at Maghull. 68-69 

Eothamsted, England, percolation experiments at..................... 32-34,48

percolation and rainfall curves at, figure showing.................... 32

Run-off, statistics of........................ 50

See also Stream flow; FlTod flow.

Salbach, B., on artesian well ~ in Elbe River. 62 

Salt water, expulsion of, from formations

of Long Island ................. 10

infiltration of, prevention of........... 64

Salzburg, Austria, annual Situations at.. 40 

annual rainfall and water-level curves

at, figure showirg .............. 29

observations at......................... 29

Saturation, zone of, depth of soil above, 

effect of, on ground-water fluctuations ........................ 34-37

Schrieber, Adolf, well of, otservations on.. 22-23 

Seagirt, N. J., tidal wells at................. 64,68

Secular fluctuations., amoun* of............. 40

diagrams showing...................... 32,39

occurrence of........................... 37-38

range of................................. 40

Sedimentation, changes in water table due

to............................... 63,69

Seepage, effects of .......................... 61-63

Shelford, W., on tidal fluctuations in Lincolnshire wells ................. 67-68

Sherlock, Kans., fluctuation dne to temperature change at................. 59

ground-water movement at............. 60-61

Showers, effect of, on wells........ 35-37,42H&, 51

effect of, on wells, diagrams showing... 24

(PI. VI),36,39

Sidney, secondary tidal oscillations at...... 76

Silt iu rivers, effect of, on ground water.... 61,70

Sinclair, W. F., on tidal fluctuations in Bombay wells....................... 68

Siphons, natural, hypothetical, question of. 53,70 

Slichter, C. S., aid of........................ 17-18

on fluctuations in ground water due to

stream flow..................... 62-63

on ground-water movementsin Kansas. 60 

on rise of ground water in Kansas...... 71

on'underflow on Long I^and.........:. 73

on-.well fluctuations ..................".. 54

on well fluctuations inN°w South Wales. » 76 

Soil, air in, pressure transmitted to ground

water by................. 7-8,24,42-43

depth of, effect of, on ground-water fluctuations......................... 34-37

temperature of, relatiors of well fluctuations and...................... 54-69

Solution, changes in water table due to.... '69-

Soyka, Isidor, figures by.................... 29

on annual fluctuations ................. 52

on fluctuations due to r*vers............ 63

Spear, W. E., figures by..................... 36,37

observations by...................... 27,35,60-

oa flood-flow............................ 10
INDEX. 83

Spear, W. E. Continued.

on fluctuations on Long Island......... 52

due to pumping..................... 73

Springs, intermitting, occurrence of........ 53,70

Still box, useof............................. 61

Storer, John, on tidal fluctuations in wells

in Yorkshire.................... 68

Stream flow, effect of pumping on.......... 73

estimation of percolation from.......... 49-50

ground water and, relations of..... 7-8,49-50

rainfall and, relations of......... 7-8,24,49-50

See also Flood flow. 

Streams, fluctuations in wells due to....... 59-63

fluctuations in wells due to, bibliography

of............................... 62-63

infiltration from........................ 61-62

silt in, effect of.......................... 61-62

fluctuations in springs due to....... 63

plastic deformation due to.......... 62

Streams, silted, relation of ground-water

level and ....................... 61-62

Subsurface dams, effect of, on ground-water

level............................ 72

Sudbury River, Mass., basin of, rainfall and

run-off in....................... 50

Sussex, England, annual fluctuations in

wells in......................... 41-

Swansea, secondary tidal oscillations at... 76 

Swezey, G. D., on,soil temperatures in Nebraska. ......................... 57

Switzerland, percolation experiments in.. 45-46 

Szegedin, Hungary, annual fluctuations in

well at ......................... 41

T.

Temperature changes, depth and, relation

Of............................... 57-58

effect of, on well.fluctuations. 8,24-25,51,54-59 

bibliography of..................... 59

figure showing ..................... 58

nontransmission of, figure showing. 56 

Tharoud, Germany, percolation experiments at........................ 46

Thomassey, Raymond, on seepage from

Mississippi River............... 63

Tides, effect of, on still box ................ 61

effect of, on well fluctuations.. 8,10-26,63-69 

bibliography of..................... 67-69

observations on .................... 10-26

Todd, J. E., on annual fluctuations ........ 52

on barometric fluctuations............. 54

on fluctuations in South Dakota wells

due to Missouri River .......... 63

Tolsky and Henry. See Henry and Tolsky. 

Topography, relationslof ground- watertable

and............................. 38

Trautwine, J. C., jr., on tidal fluctuations

in wells......................... 68

Tribus, L. L., on fluctuations in New Jersey

wells due to rainfall............ 52

on tidal fluctuations in Florida ........ 68-69

Trieste, Austria, annual fluctuations in

wells at....................... 40

Tybee Island, Georgia, tidal fluctuations in

well at.......................... 68

U. 

Underflow, loss by ......................... 50

United States, rainfall and ground-water

curves in, figures showing...... 30,31

Urusino station, New South Wales, well

fluctuations at............... 76

V.

Valley Stream, N. Y., observations or well

fluctuation at................... 10

See also Lynbrook and Hewlett. 

Van Nostrand, D. L., ondepth of mud near

Douglaston..................... 25

Veatch, A. C., on Arkansas and Louisiana

fluctuations due to streans.... 63

on Long Island blowing wells.......... 53

Vento, Cuba, spring fluctuations at, due to

Almenderes River.............. 63

Ventor, M. J., on tidal fluctuations in well

at............................... 69

Vermeule, C. C., on tidal fluctuations in

wells in New Jersey............ 69

Von Mollendorf, G., lyaimeter experiments

by.....................-.... 46

W.

Wales, tidal fluctuations in ................ 68

Ward, L. B., on pumping on Long Isli.nd.. 73 

Wells. See Annual fluctuations; Artesian 

wells; Bibliography; Capillarity; Cities; Dams; 'Deformation; Forests; Geysers; Geologic 

changes; Irrigation; Pumping; 

Rainfall; Secular fluctuations; 

Showers; Soil; Streams; Tides. 

Wells, blowing, occurrence and bibliography of .......................... 53

Wells, sea-coast, peculiarities of......... 64,67-68

Whitney, F. L., work of............. 18 (PI. Ill),

22 (PI. V), 24 (PI. VI), 26,28 (Pi. VIII) 

Wiener Neustadt, Austria, water level at, 

compared with that on Long 

Island.......................... 35

water level at, fluctuations of....... 38,41,51

fluctuations of, figure showin? .... 32,

(PI. IX) 

observations on.................. 34-36,38

percolation and, relations of....... 44

Wisconsin, barometric fluctuations ir wells

in............................... 53-57

Woldrich, J. N., on effect of rainfall on

ground water................... 29,52

Wolff, H. C., observations by ............... 59

Wollny, E., ly«H»eter experiments by...... 47

on forest litter.......................... 71

Wood, J. G., on tidal fluctuations .......... 69

Woolman, Lewis, on tidal fluctuations in

New Jersey wells............... 69

Yorkshire, England, percolation experiments in........................

Young, G. and J. Bird, on tidal fluctuations 

in Yorkshire wells..............

46

CLASSIFICATION OP THE PUBLICATIONS OF THE UNITED STATES GEOT*)GICAL

SURVEY.

[Water-Supply Paper No. 155.]

The serial publications of the United States Geological Survey consist of (1) Annual 

Reports, (2) Monographs, (3) Professional Papers, (4) Bulletins, (5) Mineral 

Resources, (6) Water-Supply and Irrigation Papers, (7) Topographic Atlas of United 

States folios and separate sheets thereof, (8) Geologic Atlas of the United States 

folios thereof. The classes numbered 2, 7, and 8 are sold at cost of publication; the 

others are distributed free. A circular giving complete lists may be had on application.

Most of the above publications may be obtained or consulted in the following ways:

1. A limited number are delivered to the Director of the Survey, from wbom they 

may be obtained, free of charge (except classes 2, 7, and 8), on application.

2. A certain number are delivered to Senators and Representatives in Corgress for 

distribution.

3. Other copies are deposited with the Superintendent of Documents, Washington, 

D. C., from whom they may be had at prices slightly above cost.

4. Copies of all Government publications are furnished to the principal public 

libraries in the large cities throughout the United States, where they may be consulted by those interested.

The Professional Papers, Bulletins, and Water-Supply Papers treat of a variety of 

subjects, and the total number issued is large. They have therefore been classified 

into the following series: A, Economic geology; B, Descriptive geology; C, Systematic geology and paleontology; D, Petrography and mineralogy; E, Chemistry and 

physics; E, Geography; G, Miscellaneous; H, Forestry; I, Irrigation; 3, Water storage; K, Pumping water; L, Quality of water; M, General hydrographic investigations; N, Water power; O, Underground waters; P, Hydrographic progress1 reports. 

This paper is the fifty-second in Series O, the complete list of which follows (PP=Professional Paper; B=Bulletin; WS=Water-Supply Paper):

SERIES O, UNDERGROUND WATERS.

WS 4. A reconnaissance in southeastern Washington, by I. C. Russell. 1897. 96 pp., 7 pli', (Out of

stock.) 

WS 6. Underground waters of southwestern Kansas, by Erasmus Haworth. 1897. 65 pp., 12 pis.

(Out of stock.) 

WS 7. Seepage waters of northern Utah, by Samuel Fortier. 1897. 50 pp., 3 pis. (Out of stock.) 

WS 12. Underground waters of southeastern Nebraska, by N. H. Darton. 1898. 56 pp., 21 pis. (Out

of stock.)

WS 21. Wells of northern Indiana, by Frank Leverett. 1899. 82 pp., 2 pis. (Out of stock.) 

WS 26. Wells of southern Indiana (continuation of No. 21), by Frank Leverett. 1899. 64pp. (Out

of stock.) 

WS 30. Water resources of the lower peninsula of Michigan, by A. C. Lane. 1899. 97 pp., 7 pis. (Out

of stock.)

WS 31. Lower Michigan mineral waters, by A. C. Lane. 1899. 97 pp., 4 pis. (Out of stock.) 

WS 34. Geology and water resources of a portion of southeastern South Dakota, by 3. E. Todd. 1900.

34 pp., 19 pis. 

WS 53. Geology and water resources of Nez Perces County, Idaho, Pt. I, by I. C. Russell. 1901. 86

pp., 10 pis. (Out of stock.) 

WS 54. Geology and water resources of Nez Perces County, Idaho, Pt. II, by I. C. Rus^ll. 1901.

87-141 pp. (Out of stock.)

» I
II SERIES LIST.

WS 55. Geology and water resources of a portion of Yakima County, Wash., by G. O. Smith. 1901.

68 pp., 7 pis. (Out of stock.) 

WS 57. Preliminary list of deep borings in the United States, Pt. I, by N. H. Barton. 1902. 60 pp.

(Out of stock.) 

WS 59. Development and application of water in southern California, Pt. I, by J. B. Lippincott. 1902.

95 pp., 11 pis. (Out of stock.) 

WS 60. Development and application of water in southern California, Pt. II, by J. B. Lippincott.

1902. 96-140 pp. (Out of stock.) 

WS 61. Preliminary list of deep borings in the United States, Pt. II, by N. H. Darton. 1902. 67 pp.

(Out of stock.)

WS 67. The motions of underground waters, by C. S. Slichter. 1902. 106 pp., 8 pis. (Out of stock.) 

B 199. Geology and water resources of the Snake River Plains of Idaho, by I. C. Russell. 1902. 192

pp., 25 pis.

WS 77. Water resources of Molokai, Hawaiian Islands, by Waldemar Lindgren. 1903. 62 pp., 4 pis. 

WS 78. Preliminary report on artesian basin in southwestern Idaho and southeastern Oregon, by I. C.

Russell. 1903. 53 pp., 2 pis. 

PP 17. Preliminary report on the geology and water resources of Nebraska west of the one hundred

and third meridian, by N. H. Darton. 1903. 69 pp., 43 pis. 

WS 90. Geology and water resources of a part of the lower James River Valley, South Dakota, by

J. E. Todd and C. M. Hall. 1904. 47 pp., 23 pis. 

WS 101. Underground waters of southern Louisiana, by G. D. Harris, with discussions of their uses for

water supplies and for rice irrigation, by M. L. Fuller. 1904. 98 pp., 11 pis.

WS 102. Contributions to the hydrology of eastern United States, 1903, by M. L. Fuller. 1904. 522 pp. 

WS 104. Underground waters of Gila Valley, Arizona, by W. T. Lee. 1904. 71 pp., 5 pis. 

WS 110. Contributions to the hydrology of eastern United States, 1904; M. L. Fuller, geologist in

.charge. 1904. 211 pp., 5 pis. 

PP 32. Geology and underground water resources of the central Great Plains, by N. H. Darton. 1904.

433 pp., 72 pis. (Out of stock.) 

WS 111. Preliminary report on underground waters of Washington, by Henry Landes. 1904. 85 pp.,

Ipl. 

WS 112. Underflow tests in the drainage basin of Los Angeles River, by Homer Hamlin. 1904.

56 pp., 7 pis. 

WS 114. Underground waters of eastern United States; M. L. Fuller, geologist in charge. 1904.

285 pp., 18 pis. 

WS 118. Geology and water resources of east-central Washington, by F. C. Calkins. 1905. 96 pp.,

4 pis. 

B 252. Preliminary report on the geology and water resources of central Oregon, by I. C. Russell.

1905. 138pp., 24 pis. 

WS 120. Bibliographic review and index of papers relating to underground wr.ters, published by the

United States Geological Survey, 1879-1904, by M. L. Fuller. 1905. 128 pp. 

WS 122. Relation of the law to underground waters, by D. W. Johnson. 1905. 55 pp. 

WS 123. Geology and underground water conditions of the Jornada del Muerto, New Mexico, by C. R.

Keyes. 1905. 42 pp., 9 pis.

WS 136. Underground waters of the Salt River Valley, by W. T. Lee. 1905. 191 pp., 24 pis. 

B 264. Record of deep-well drilling for 1904, by M. L. Fuller, E. F. Lines, and A. C. Veatch. 1905.

106pp. 

PP 44. Underground water resources of Long Island, New York, by A. C. Veatch and others. 1905.

394 pp., 34 pis. 

WS 137. Development of underground waters in the eastern coastal plain region of southern California,

by W. C. Mendenhall. 1905. 140 pp., 7 pis. - 

WS 138. Development of underground waters in the central coastal plain region of southern California,

by W. C. Mendenhall. 1905. 162 pp., 5 pis. 

WS 139. Development of underground waters in the western coastal plain region of southern California,

by W. C. Mendenhall. 1905. 105 pp., 7 pis. ' - 

WS 140. Field measurements of the rate of movement of underground waters, by C. S. Slichter. 1905.

122pp., 15 pis. 

WS 141. Observations on the ground waters of Rio Grande Valley, by C. S. Sweater. 1905. 83 pp.,

5 pis.

WS 142. Hydrology of San Bemardino Valley, California, by W. C. Mendenhall. 1905. 124 pp., 13 pis. 

WS 145. Contributions to the hydrology of eastern United States; M. L. Fulkr, geologist in charge.

1905. 220 pp., 6 pis.

WS 148. Geology and water resources of Oklahoma, by C. N. Gould. 1905. 178 pp., 22 pis. 

WS 149. Preliminary list of deep borings in the United States, second edition, with additions, by

N. H. Darton. 1905. 175 pp. 

PP 46. Geology and underground water resources of northern Louisiana and southern Arkansas, by

A. C. Veatch. 1906. 

WS 153. The underflow in Arkansas Valley in western Kansas, by C. S. Slichter. 19C6. 90 pp.
SERIES LIST. Ill

WS 154. The geology and water resources of the eastern portion of the Panhandle of Texas, by C. N.

Gould. 1906. 64 pp., 15 pis. . 

WS 155. Fluctuations of the water level in wells, with special reference to Long Island, New York,

by A. C. Veatch. 1906. 83 pp.

The following papers also relate to this subject: Underground waters of Arkansas Valley in eastern 

Colorado, by G. K. Gilbert, in Seventeentli Annual, Pt. II; Preliminary report on artesian waters of a 

portion of the Dakotas, by N. H. Darton, in Seventeenth Annual, Pt. II; Water resources of Illinois, 

by Frank Leverett, in Seventeenth Annual, Pt. II; Water resources of Indiana and Ohio, by Frank 

Leverett, in Eighteenth Annual, Pt. IV; New developments in well boring and irrigatipn in eastern 

South Dakota, by N. H. Darton, in Eighteenth Annual, Pt. IV; Rock waters of Ohio, by Edward 

Orton, in Nineteenth Annual, Pt. IV; Artesian-well prospects in the Atlantic coastal plain region, by 

N. H. Darton, Bulletin No. 138.

Correspondence should be addressed to

THE DIRECTOR,

UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY,

WASHINGTON, D. C. 

JUNE, 1906.

O