Hydrogeologic Properties

The Antlers aquifer is one of the major bedrock aquifers in Oklahoma (Talon LPE, 2018). Figure 4 above is a cross-section of the Antlers outcrop. The Antlers formation is exposed along its northern boundary. The Aquifer itself is a mixture of sand, conglomerate, limestone, and clay. The northern boundary is younger sediment from the late cretaceous. The aquifer becomes progressively older as it moves southward. It is confined by 25 to 95 feet of limestone from north to south. The outcropping of regions of the aquifer are unconfined and are the major areas of recharge fro the aquifer (Morton, 1992). The saturation thickness of the aquifer ranges from 0-600 feet, from north to south in the confined sections (Hart and Davis, 1981).

Aquifers have varying properties to describe the groundwater storage and movement and Antlers is no exception. One property is how well water moves through an aquifer, called transmissivity or T. The transmissivity for Antlers is 1480 ft sq. per day (Hart and Davis, 1981). A second important property is the hydraulic conductivity, or K, of the aquifer. The K value for the Antlers aquifer ranges from 0.87 to 3.75 ft/day (Morton, 1992). Two additional properties of aquifers are storativity and specific yield. Storativity, or S, is the amount of water in or out of an aquifer per the surface area and per the change in head (depth). The storativity of Antlers aquifer is 0.0005 and is a unit-less measurement. The specific yield on the other hand is amount of water withdrawn from the aquifer per the change in the head. The specific yield of Antlers varies by well location, but the average yield is 6.8 gal/min/ft (Hart and Davis, 1981).