Premium
SUBSURFACE DISTRIBUTION OF NITRATES BELOW COMMERCIAL CATTLE FEEDLOTS, TEXAS HIGH PLAINS 1
Author(s) -
Miller William D.
Publication year - 1971
Publication title -
jawra journal of the american water resources association
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.957
H-Index - 105
eISSN - 1752-1688
pISSN - 1093-474X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1752-1688.1971.tb05014.x
Subject(s) - water table , surface runoff , aquifer , hydrology (agriculture) , groundwater , feedlot , infiltration (hvac) , water quality , environmental science , geology , coastal plain , geography , forestry , geotechnical engineering , ecology , paleontology , meteorology , biology
. Samples for water‐quality analyses were collected from beneath eighty commercial cattle feedlots in the Texas High Plains. Twenty‐two feedlots were drilled and/or cored to establish vertical gradients of dissolved solids. Sample and gamma logs, size analyses and vertical permeability of cores were determined from samples beneath these lots. Relationships of groundwater saturated thickness, depth to watertable, and age of lots to specificion distribution were evaluated. The study includes lots ranging in age from 35 years to new installations. Runoff collection‐systems on lots include playas, man‐made ponds, and dammed and undammed stream channels. Infiltration of feedlot liquid waste to the watertable below feedyards is insignificant in most localities in the Texas High Plains. Infiltration of “collected” feedlot runoff and subsequent concentration of dissolved ions in groundwater in the High Plains are dependent upon, among other things, (1) surface and subsurface geology, (2) depth to water, (3) thickness of the groundwater zone, and to (4) differences in lateral and vertical permeabilities of the Ogallala Formation, the major aquifer. Certainly, no regional subsurface pollution problem exists today nor is one foreseen from cattle feedlot runoff in the Texas High Plains.