Geohydrology of the Milford, Delaware area.

Geohydrology of the Dover Aera, Delaware

This map shows the surficial geology of Kent County, Delaware at a scale of 1:100,000. Maps at this scale are useful for viewing the general geologic framework on a county-wide basis, determining the geology of watersheds, and recognizing the relationship of geology to regional or county-wide environmental or land-use issues. This map, when combined with the subsurface geologic information, provides a basis for locating water supplies, mapping ground-water recharge areas, and protecting ground and surface water. Geologic maps are also used to identify geologic hazards, such as flood-prone areas, to identify sand and gravel resources, and to support state, county, and local land-use and planning decisions.

This map is the first detailed surficial geologic map in southern Kent and northern Sussex counties. Other maps covering the same or adjacent areas have focused on subsurface geology (Benson and Pickett, 1986), hydrogeology (Talley, 1982), or surficial geology on a regional basis (Jordan, 1964; Owens and Denny, 1979; Ramsey and Schenck, 1990). The purpose of this map is to show the distribution of geologic units found at or near the present land surface. These units are composed of the geologic materials that support agriculture and development, are mined for sand and gravel resources, and are the surface-to-subsurface pathway for water.

Subsurface geology of the southern central portion of Kent County.

Subsurface geology of the Dover area, Delaware

The scanned raster and vector datasets contains the rock unit polygons for the surficial geology for DGS Geologic Map No. 8 (Milford-Mispillion River Quadrangles). This map is the first detailed surficial geologic map in southern Kent and northern Sussex counties.

This data set contains the rock unit polygons for the surficial geology in ESRI shapefile format for DGS Geologic Map No. 14 (Geologic Map of Kent County, Delaware). This map shows the surficial geology of Kent County, Delaware, at a scale of 1:100,000.

This report deals with fluctuations in nine observation wells during the period 1960 - 1966. These wells are part of a state-wide ground-water monitoring network and are located in areas of little or no pumping. Eight of the wells respond to water-table conditions; the ninth well appears to reflect artesian conditions.
Although precipitation throughout Delaware was generally below average during the period covered by this report, annual average water levels declined very little in the wells reported on here. There is some evidence, however, for a lowering of water-table levels by three to four feet during the period 1960 - 1962.

At present, Delaware has an abundance of water for the foreseeable future, but is already faced with water problems in some municipalities. These can only be resolved satisfactorily through complete evaluation of the State's water resources and the establishment of a coordinated program of water management.

Recent erosion along the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal has exposed an unusually rich Upper Cretaceous fossiliferous outcrop at the Biggs Farm, near the eastern end of the Canal. Some III species of mollusks representing 72 genera have been identified. Coelenterata, Porifera, Annelida, Brachiopoda, Crustacea, and a few fragmentary vertebrate remains have also been found. Five species are being described as new, and there are 54 new records for the Cretaceous of Delaware.

The preservation of the material suggests that the animals lived on a sandy bottom in water between 50 and 100 feet in depth, possibly near the mouth of a bay.

Inasmuch as there is a mixing of some species characteristic of the Matawan Group and other species characteristic of the Monmouth Group, it is believed that the fauna at this locality lies near the Matawan-Monmouth boundary, perhaps in the lower part of the Monmouth Group.

A thick aquifer of Eocene age underlies the Dover area, Delaware at depths ranging from 250 to 400 feet below the land surface. The aquifer is about 250 feet thick beneath the Dover Air Force Base and is composed of fairly uniform medium to fine glauconitic quartz sand. The static water level in a test well at the base was 18 feet below the land surface, or 5.7 feet above sea level, on April 17, 1957. The yield of the test well was about 300 gpm (gallons per minute), and the specific capacity at the end of a 12-hour pumping period was 8.3 gpm per foot of drawdown.