GROUND WATER IN NORTH-CENTRAL TENNESSEE

GBOUND WATEB IN NOBTH-CENTBAL TENNESSEE
By ARTHUR M. PIPER
INTRODUCTION
PURPOSE AND SCOPE OF THE INVESTIGATION
The investigation upon which the present report is based is the first
unit of a proposed survey of the conditions of ground-water occurrence
throughout Tennessee. This survey seeks to inventory the principal
sources of ground water and, so far as possible, to establish such gen­
eral rules of occurrence as will measure the adequacy of those sources
to meet the growing needs of urban, rural, and industrial development.
Furthermore, it seeks to establish a proper basis for the detailed study
of problems of local development, although economy of time prevents
any full analysis of those problems.
This state-wide project was conceived by the division of geology of
the Tennessee Department of Education in 1927, and active investi­
gation was undertaken by the United States Geological Survey in
financial cooperation with the State organization. The writer was
assigned to the north-central portion of the State, a region which
centers about Nashville, and spent the four months from mid-July to
mid-October, 1927, in the field analyzing features of ground-water
occurrence in relation to the stratigraphy and other geologic factors.
Samples of water were collected from 101 representative wells and
springs as a guide to the chemical composition of the ground waters.
O. E. Meinzer, chief of the division of ground water of the United
States Geological Survey, made a reconnaissance of the region with
the writer during the last week of September and gave much construc­
tive criticism.
LOCATION AND EXTENT OF THE AREA
The region described in this report lies between meridians 86° and
88° west longitude and parallels 35° 40' and 36° 45' north latitude.
It embraces about 5,800 square miles in the north-central part of
Tennessee and includes the counties of Cheatham, Davidson, Dickson,
Houston, Humphreys, Montgomery, Robertson, Rutherford, Sfcewart,
Sumner, Williamson, and Wilson. The location of the region with
respect to the boundaries of the State and to the second unit of the
State-wide project (which was studied in 1928 by F. G. Wells) is
shown by Plate 1.
1