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The Castle Hayne aquifer is an important source of fresh water for eastern North Carolina and is the most productive in the state, especially when considering that the underlying aquifers contain saltwater (Lyke and Coble, 1987).
Figure 1.) A cross section of the Castle Hayne-Aquia Aquifer (Lyke and Coble, 1987).
Figure 2.) A map that shows the extent of the Castle Hayne aquifer as well as the transmissivity (Trapp Jr. and Horn, 1997).
Precipitation
Figure 3.) A map showing the mean annual precipitation of North Carolina (“PRISM Group at Oregon State University”).
Eastern North Carolina, where the Castle Hayne aquifer is located, receives a range 60-70 inches to 45-50 inches according to the mean annual precipitation (“PRISM Group at Oregon State University”). The western portion of the state has higher averages, up to greater than 80 inches. The difference in averages is likely due to the differing topography, as the western portion of the state is mountainous, and the eastern portion is coastal.
Surface Water
Figure 4.) A map of the major river basins in North Carolina (Davis and Saia, 2022).
North Carolina has many major river basins, of which the Tar-Pamlico, the Cape Fear, the White Oak, and the Neuse dominate the eastern region of the state. Due to being a coastal region, these rivers flow into the sounds and then ocean (Davis and Saia, 2022).
Recharge
The Castle Hayne aquifer predominantly recharges in areas where it is essentially unconfined, such as where the confining beds are nonexistent or very thin (Sutton and Woods, 1994). Most of these areas are at perched swamps (Sutton and Woods, 1994). There is also a small amount of water that moves down from the water table aquifer to the deeper aquifers, which is one inch or less per year (Sutton and Woods, 1994). Water from the aquifer discharges into estuaries, streams, and the sea (Sutton and Woods, 1994).
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