This report discusses the occurrence of ground water in relation to certain problems in highway construction and maintenance. These problems are: the subdrainage of roads; quicksand; the arrest of soil creep in road cuts; the construction of lower and larger culverts necessitated by the farm-drainage program; the prevention of failure of bridge abutments and retaining walls; and the watercement ratio of sub-water-table concrete. Although the highway problems and suggested solutions are of general interest, they are considered with special reference to the State of Delaware, in relation to the geology of that State. The new technique of soil stabilization by electroosmosis is reviewed in the hope that it might find application here in road work and pile setting. Field application by the Germans and Russians is reviewed.

Geology and hydrology of the Middletown-Odessa Area, Delaware.

Geology and hydrology of the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal Area, Delaware. There are 2 sheets in this series.

Geology and hydrology of the Wilmington, Delaware area. There are 4 sheets in this series.

Geology and Hydrology of the Newark, Delaware area. There are 2 sheets in this series.

This map shows the surficial geology of New Castle 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 sinkholes and flood-prone areas, to identify sand and gravel resources, and for supporting state, county, and local land-use and planning decisions.

This is a map of the crystalline bedrock units in the Piedmont of Delaware and adjacent Pennsylvania. The southern boundary of the mapped area is the updip limit of the Potomac Formation (Woodruff and Thompson, 1972, 1975). Soil, regolith, and surficial deposits of Quaternary age are not shown.

Subsurface geology of the Smyrna-Clayton area, Delaware

Crystalline bedrock geology of the Wilmington area, Delaware.

Crystalline bedrock geology of the Newark area, Delaware.

Geology map showing the sub-surface geology of the Middletown-Odessa Area, Delaware.

The vector and raster data sets contains the rock unit polygons for the surficial geology for DGS Geologic Map No. 10. This map is of the crystalline bedrock units in the Piedmont of Delaware and adjacent Pennsylvania.

This dataset contains the geologic polygons used for the creation of DGS Geologic Map 13. This dataset shows the surficial geology of New Castle County, Delaware, at a scale of 1:100,000.

Two Pleistocene channel-systems are recognized in New Castle County, (1) a system of straight channels located in the area north of the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal and (2) a braided system occupying the area south of the Canal.

Fluctuations of the flow regime of Pleistocene streams were frequent as evidenced by sedimentary structures and widespread distribution of gravels in the channel deposits.
During high stream flows most of the study area was submerged, while during low flows large interstream areas and islands emerged.

The transporting agents of the Pleistocene sediments were primarily melt-water streams originating below glaciers which at times advanced to within 100 miles north of New Castle County. Thus, the age of the deposits is thought to be glacial, but there is no indication as to which glacial stage they belong. However, the channels appear to have been formed contemporaneously by a major distributary system.

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 series of cores was obtained from a boring in the sediments of the Delaware River near the Delaware Memorial Bridge. The mineralogy, texture and palynology of these samples have been studied. The sedimentary and palynological records suggest that the Delaware River, while swollen with Wisconsin meltwaters, deepened its channel and that subsequent flooding of the mouth of the stream by rising sea waters initiated the deposition of estuarine silts in post-Wisconsin time.

Considerable quantities of natural gas are used in Delaware; however, there are no facilities for the storage of large quantities of gas within the state. All the gas is "piped in" and distributed by the local public utility companies. These companies are interested in the possibilities for the underground storage of natural gas, but there are no obvious underground reservoirs such as depleted oil or gas fields.