Digital data sets that describe aquifer characteristics of the High Plains aquifer in western Oklahoma

This data set consists of digitized water-level elevation contours for the High Plains aquifer in western Oklahoma. This area encompasses the panhandle counties of Cimarron, Texas, and Beaver, and the western counties of Harper, Ellis, Woodward, Dewey, and Roger Mills. The High Plains aquifer underlies approximately 7,000 square miles of Oklahoma and is used extensively for irrigation. The High Plains aquifer is a water-table aquifer and consists predominately of the Tertiary-age Ogallala Formation and overlying Quaternary-age alluvial and terrace deposits. In some areas the aquifer is absent and the underlying Triassic, Jurassic, or Cretaceous-age rocks are exposed at the surface. These rocks are hydraulically connected with the aquifer in some areas.

The High Plains aquifer is composed of interbedded sand, siltstone, clay, gravel, thin limestones, and caliche. The proportion of various lithological materials changes rapidly from place to place, but poorly sorted sand and gravel predominate. The rocks are poorly to moderately well cemented by calcium carbonate.

The water-level elevations were measured in January, February, and March 1980 and ranged from about 4,650 feet above sea level in Cimarron County to about 2,000 feet above sea level in Woodward County. The water-level elevation contours were digitized from folded paper maps in a published report. The source maps were published at a scale of 1:250,000.