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Julian Soren

Publications and source records attributed to Julian Soren.

16 recordsLinked to original sources

Geologic and geohydrologic reconnaissance of Staten Island, New York

The public water supply for about 350,000 people on Staten Island (Richmond County)--a mainly suburban 60-sq mi borough of the City of New York is provided by the City from reservoirs in upstate New York. Since 1962, many individuals and businesses have used groundwater for supplemental supply as a result of the City 's ban on the use of public supply water for irrigation, swimming pools, and automobile washing during protracted droughts that depleted the reservoirs. Hundreds of wells were installed on the island during droughts of 1962-66 and 1983-85. Bedrock of Late Proterozoic to Jurassic age and unconsolidated deposits of the Upper Cretaceous and late Pleistocene age contain groundwater that is generally suitable for the city prohibited purposes. The groundwater of the island receives sufficient recharge to meet the current demands and could sustain considerably greater withdrawals. (USGS)

New York↗

Thickness and hydrogeology of aquifers and confining units below the upper glacial aquifer on Long Island, New York

Three extensive unconsolidated sand and gravel aquifers on Long Island lie between the island 's upper glacial aquifer and its southward-dipping crystalline bedrock surface. The island 's aquifers have been heavily pumped, mainly for public-water supply, but most of this pumpage since the 1960 's has come from below the upper glacial aquifer because the upper aquifer has been increasingly contaminated by substances introduced through the land surface. In 1984, an average of 370 million gal/day (gpd) was pumped from the groundwater reservoir, 80% (298 million gpd) of which was from aquifers below the upper glacial aquifer. The artesian Lloyd aquifer, confined between bedrock and the overlying Raritan clay, is the basal unit in Long Island 's groundwater reservoir. The Lloyd underlies nearly all of the island and has a maximum thickness of about 550 ft. It is a minor aquifer; public-supply pumpage from the Lloyd in 1984 averaged 18 million gpd. The Magothy aquifer overlies the Raritan clay beneath most of the island and attains a maximum thickness of 1,050 ft. The Magothy has been the principal source of public water supply since 1960's, and public-supply pumpage in 1984 averaged 278 million gpd. The Jameco aquifer occurs only in buried valleys that were cut into the Magothy deposits in the extreme western part of Long Island; thus, the aquifer has good lateral and vertical hydraulic continuity with the Magothy. The Jameco attains a maximum thickness of 200 ft. Jameco deposits have greater average hydraulic conductivity than the Magothy and are considered to form a broad, highly conductive local stringer in the upper part of the Magothy. The Jameco is a minor aquifer; in 1984, average public-supply pumpage was 2 million gpd. In the southern part of the island, the Magothy-Jameco system is artesian, overlain by the Gardiners Clay in the western part of the island, and by the Gardiners Clay and the Monmouth greensand in the eastern two thirds. North of the Gardiners-Monmouth limits, the Magothy is ' leaky ' vertically because the clay beds within it are discontinuous; there, its response to pumping stresses is similar to that of the unconfined overlying upper glacial aquifer, with which it is in hydraulic continuity to various degrees. (Author 's abstract)

Water-Resources Investigations Report↗

Aldicarb-pesticide contamination of ground water in eastern Suffolk County, Long Island, New York

Aldicarb, a toxic oxime-carbamate pesticide that was believed incapable of reaching ground water, was used in potato-farming areas of eastern Suffolk County, New York during 1975-80. In 1979, aldicarb was found in substantial concentrations in ground water throughout the area. The New York State Department of Health set a limit of 7 micrograms per liter for aldicarb in drinking water. Extensive ground-water sampling into 1980 showed widespread contamination ranging from small amounts to as much as 515 micrograms per liter. In 1980, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency banned the use of aldicarb on Long Island at the manufacturer 's request. A 1982 sampling study found aldicarb to have penetrated to about 40 feet below the water table in concentrations ranging from below detection limit to 239 micrograms per liter. Despite reputed toxicity, no instance of aldicarb poisoning on Long Island has been documented. The excessive aldicarb concentrations in the ground water of eastern Long Island may persist for decades; the duration has not been precisely determined and remains under investigation. (USGS)

Water-Resources Investigations Report↗

Reconnaissance of the ground-water resources of Kings and Queens counties, New York

Western Long Island 's ground-water resources are being considered for redevelopment as a supplemental source of public water supply. The ground-water reservoir in Kings and Queens Counties had supplied an average of more than 120 million gallons per day for industrial and public water supply from 1904 to 1947. However, deterioration of groundwater quality from induced encroachment of salty ground-water caused the total cessation of pumping for public supply in Kings County in 1947 and in western Queens County in 1974. This investigation was designed to make a preliminary evaluation of the present groundwater quality and to review hydrologic information pertinent to the formulation of an appropriate development plan. Detailed hydrogeologic mapping was done to define the geometry of the ground-water system. The history of ground-water development and the consequent responses of ground-water levels and quantity were summarized. A well network was established to monitor ground-water levels and ground-water quality in Kings and Queens Counties. The distribution of chloride and nitrate in ground-water was used to identify contamination from salt-water intrusion and surface sources. A limited source of potable ground-water is available in the Magothy-Jameco and Lloyd aquifers; however, an accurate estimate of the quantity of water available or a draft rate suitable for maintaining a useable ground-water quality is undetermined. (USGS)

Open-File Report↗

Subsurface geology and paleogeography of Queens County, Long Island, New York

Unconsolidated strata of clay, silt, sand, and gravel of Late Cretaceous and pre-Wisconsin Pleistocene ages lie between crystalline basement rocks (bedrock) of Precambrian ( ) age and unconsolidated deposits of late Pleistocene (Wisconsin) and Holocene ages in Queens County, Lond Island, N.Y. Data collected during a recent study of the hydrogeology of the county and updated records of earlier studies have been used to prepare contour maps that delineate the surfaces of the bedrock and the Upper Cretaceous and pre-Wisconsin Pleistocene deposits. The presence of diabase fragments apparently from the Hudson Palisades in a buried valley through the county suggests that the ancestral Hudson River was diverted into Queens County in Pleistocene time. The contour maps are useful to engineers, ground-water-supply managers, well drillers, and others concerned with subsurface geology in the area. A map showing the apleotopography and geology at the time of the ancestral Hudson River 's entrance into the county is useful in understanding the areal geomorphology. (Woodard-USGS)

Water-Resources Investigations Report↗

Hydrogeologic conditions in the town of Shelter Island, Suffolk County, Long Island, New York

Shelter Island, an area of about 11 square miles, in Suffolk County, N.Y., is situated between the north and south forks of eastern Long Island. The upper glacial aquifer is the sole source of freshwater supply for Shelter Island 's population, which currently ranges seasonally from 2,000 to 8,000. Fresh ground water seems to be limited to sand and gravel deposits in the aquifer, which is thin and can be readily infiltrated by surrounding saline ground water. The aquifer is underlain by confining clay formations that contain saline water, and the geologic formations below the clay probably contain saline water also. The fresh ground water is mostly soft and has low dissolved-solids concentrations; however, several wells near shorelines have yielded excessive amounts of chloride. Man-induced contamination of the aquifer is evident but not severe, as shown by somewhat elevated concentrations of nitrate nitrogen and methylene blue active substances (MBAS). Increased pumping will cause deterioration of the fresh ground-water supply by inducing saline-water infiltration and by adding greater volumes of septic-tank and cesspool effluents to the aquifer. Test drilling could help in water-supply management by determining the extent of the aquifer and of fresh ground-water storage, and observation wells could provide early detection of saline-water infiltration. (Woodard-USGS)

Water-Resources Investigations Report↗

Basement flooding and foundation damage from water-table rise in the East New York section of Brooklyn, Long Island, New York

A rising water table following cessation of public-supply pumping has been causing basement flooding and building-foundation damage in the East New York section of Brooklyn, Kings County, Long Island, N.Y., since 1975. The water table in the central part of the area rose from a low of about 12 feet (3.7 meters) below sea level in 1936 to about 8 to 10 feet (2.4 to 3 meters) above sea level in March 1976. Public-supply pumping in Brooklyn ceased in 1947 and ceased in 1974 in the adjacent Woodhaven section of Queens County. A further water-table rise of about 2 feet (0.6 meter) is anticipated in the next several years in the central part of the East New York area, and the ultimate water-table height could be as much as about 15 feet (4.6 meters) above sea level. Relief from the flooding by dewatering operations is complicated by problems with disposal of pumped-out ground water. (Woodard-USGS)

Water-Resources Investigations Report↗

Ground-water and geohydrologic conditions in Queens County, Long Island, New York

Queens County is a heavily populated borough of New York City, at the western end of Long Island, N. Y., in which large amounts of ground water are used, mostly for public supply. Ground water, pumped from local aquifers, by privately owned water-supply companies, supplied the water needs of about 750,000 of the nearly 2 million residents of the county in 1967; the balance was supplied by New York City from surface sources outside the county in upstate New York. The county's aquifers consist of sand and gravel of Late Cretaceous and of Pleistocene ages, and the aquifers comprise a wedge-shaped ground-water reservoir lying on a southeastward-sloping floor of Precambrian(?) bedrock. Beds of clay and silt generally confine water in the deeper parts of the reservoir; water in the deeper aquifers ranges from poorly confined to well confined. Wisconsin-age glacial deposits in the uppermost part of the reservoir contain ground water under water-table conditions. Ground water pumpage averaged about 60 mgd (million gallons per day) in Queens County from about 1900 to 1967. Much of the water was used in adjacent Kings County, another borough of New York City, prior to 1950. The large ground-water withdrawal has resulted in a wide-spread and still-growing cone of depression in the water table, reflecting a loss of about 61 billion gallons of fresh water from storage. Significant drawdown of the water table probably began with rapid urbanization of Queens County in the 1920's. The county has been extensively paved, and storm and sanitary sewers divert water, which formerly entered the ground, to tidewater north and south of the county. Natural recharge to the aquifers has been reduced to about one half of the preurban rate and is below the withdrawal rate. Ground-water levels have declined more than 40. feet from the earliest-known levels, in 1903, to 1967, and the water table is below sea level in much of the county. The aquifers are being contaminated by the movement of salty ground water toward the deepest parts of the cone of depression in central Queens County. Contamination of ground water is probably also occurring from leaking sewers and from pollutants leaking downward from the land surface. Thermal pollution of the ground water has occurred locally where ground water pumped for cooling uses is returned, with elevated temperatures, to the source aquifer through recharge wells. The quality of ground water in Queens County in 1967 was generally satisfactory for public-supply and most industrial uses. However, the rate and distribution of ground-water withdrawals in the county are leading to greater decline of the water table and to increasing contamination of the aquifers. No 'safe limit' on pumpage can be set for the county because limits on the effects of pumping have not been established. A safe limit, at the present stage of urbanization, could range from considerably less than the current average 60 mgd to considerably more over a wide-range of pumping effects and acceptable water quality. However, continued removal of fresh water from storage and deterioration of water quality reduces the value of the county's aquifers, not only for current supply, but also for additional supply to the county and other parts of New York City in times of drought or other emergency.

Water Supply Paper↗