| Abstract: | The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Massachusetts Water Resources Commission and the Nantucket Conservation Foundation, continuously cored 514 m of sediment and volcanic rock in a stratigraphic and water-quality test near the geographic center of Nantucket Island. Stratified sediments were divided texturally into three zones: the upper zone (0-128 m) contains mostly coarse sand and gravel; the middle zone (128-349 m) contains mostly silty clay and a few beds of sand and silt; and the lower zone (349-457 m) contains soft, unconsolidated, clayey sand. Below the lower zone, a saprolite, composed mostly of clay, grades abruptly downward at 470 m into partially altered basalt that extends to the bottom of the hole at 514 m. Calculations based on the Ghyben-Herzberg principle predicted a zone of freshwater 120-150 m thick. This principle is the theory of hydrostatic equilibrium between freshwater and more dense seawater in a coastal aquifer; it states that for each meter of ground-water elevation above sea level, the freshwater lens will depress the saltwater interface about 40 m below sea level. Freshwater or low-salinity brackish water was found in sediments far below the depth predicted by the Ghyben-Herzberg principle. These interstitial waters are probably relict ground water emplaced during times of low sea level during the Pleistocene. (Woodard-USGS) |
| Genre: | USGS Numbered Series |
| ProdID: | 4400 |
| Citation Author: | Folger, David W.; Hathaway, J. C.; Christopher, R. A.; Valentine, P. C.; Poag, C. W. |
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| Citation Language: | ENGLISH |
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| Citation Phsyical Description: | iii, 28 p. :ill., maps ;26 cm. |
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| Citation Publisher: | U.S. Geological Survey, |
| Citation Series: | Circular |
| Citation Series Code: | CIR |
| Citation Series Number: | 773 |
| Citation Search Results Text: | Stratigraphic test well, Nantucket Island, Massachusetts; 1978; CIR; 773; Folger, David W.; Hathaway, J. C.; Christopher, R. A.; Valentine, P. C.; Poag, C. W. |
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| Citation Year: | 1978 |
| Type: | citation/reference |
| Text: | Stratigraphic test well, Nantucket Island, Massachusetts; 1978; CIR; 773; Folger, David W.; Hathaway, J. C.; Christopher, R. A.; Valentine, P. C.; Poag, C. W. |
| URL (THUMBNAIL): | http://pubs.usgs.gov/circ/1978/0773/report-thumb.jpg |
| URL (DOCUMENT): | http://pubs.usgs.gov/circ/1978/0773/report.pdf |
| Date Other: | Sat, 1 Jan 1994 00:00 -0600 |
| Publisher: | U.S. Geological Survey, |
