ABSTRACT:

This database was created as a resource for karst researchers looking for data on karst spring and wells in carbonate rock. Many databases are difficult to discover and we identified state databases as a potential resource that could encourage cross site collaboration and complement USGS databases. We requested information from state agencies related to water resources on the following: relevant agency, data types (discharge, water quality), sample types (wells, springs), mapping, and file types (including whether there is a REST interface that allows data scraping). We obtained information on 43 states plus Puerto Rico, which 17 states having no information (or referring people to the USGS database).

People who would like to contribute additional information or updates to the database can contact ltoran@temple.edu or contribute to: the Hydroshare document: Toran, L. (2024). Request for information on US Spring Databases, HydroShare, http://www.hydroshare.org/resource/0cf10e9808fa4c5b9e6a7852323e6b11

ABSTRACT:

These files were derived from the map that Michael Jones created for identifying data available from the USGS NWIS site related to karst resources.

NWIS_Springs_With_Conductance.xlsx This file was posted by Laura Toran. This file summarizes a search of the USGS NWIS database for springs that have conductivity logger data.

NWIS_Sites_With_Nitrate.xlsx This file was posted by Laura Toran. This file summarizes a search of the online GIS maps for NWIS sites in carbonate terrain that have nitrate data and includes history of the datasets (length of record). The file contains all of the other water chemistry data available when nitrate is available. The file was created by downloading the attribute table when nitrate was the selected parameter.

NWIS_Sites_Nitrate_DataCounts.xlsx This file was posted by Laura Toran. This file summarizes the NWIS_Sites_With_Nitrate.xlxs file by counting how many nitrate records are available at each site and plotting the data. Most sites have only 1 or 2 data points but there are sites with up to 151 data points. This file was created using a python script described below.

ArcGIS_NWISData_Sort2.ipynb is a Python Collab (runs on google drive) that takes the file NWIS_Sites_With_Nitrate and sort out how much data is in each site. Although the script runs on google drive, it can be adapted for a Jupyter Notebook. If you run on Google Collab, you don't need to download Python onto your computer.

/WATER_QUALITY_GIS/AVERAGES: This shapefile is a shapefile that contains an attribute table with the averages of selected water quality parameters by site. For example, the attribute table contains columns for water quality parameters such as Calcium, specific conductance, Magnesium, etc. The table has the averages at each site for each of the water quality parameters.

/WATER_QUALITY_GIS/WQ_COUNT: This shapefile is a shapefile that contains an attribute table with the number of samples that exist for selected water quality parameters by site. For example, use "Select by Attributes" to find sites that have Calcium measured over x number of times.

/WATER_QUALITY_GIS/States.shp: Shapefile of the US states

MATLAB: See MATLAB DESCRIPTIONS documentation in the MATLAB folder for more information

ABSTRACT:

This abstract contains links to public ArcGIS maps that include locations of carbonate springs and some of their characteristics. Information for accessing and navigating through the maps are included in a PowerPoint presentation IN THE FILE UPLOAD SECTION BELOW. Three separate data sets are included in the maps:

1. Geochemistry data from the US Water Quality Portal (WQP), which compiles geochemistry data from the USGS and other federal agencies.
2. Discharge data from WoKaS, a world wide spring discharge data set (Olarinoye et al., 2020).
3. Regional karst data from selected US state agencies.

Several base maps are included in the links. The US carbonate map describes and categorizes carbonates (e.g., depth from surface, overlying geology/ice, climate). The carbonate springs map categorizes springs as being urban, specifically within 1000 ft of a road, or rural. The basis for this categorization was that the heat island effect defines urban as within a 1000 ft of a road. There are other methods for defining urban versus rural to consider. Map links and details of the information they contain are listed below.

Map set 1: The WQP map provides three mapping options separated by the parameters available at each spring site. These maps summarize discrete water quality samples, but not data logger availability. Information at each spring provides links for where users can explore further data.

Option 1: WQP data with urban and rural springs labeled, with highlight of springs with or without NWIS data
https://www.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=2ce914ec01f14c20b58146f5d9702d8a

Options 2: WQP data by major ions and a few other solutes
https://www.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=5a114d2ce24c473ca07ef9625cd834b8

Option 3:WQP data by various carbon species
https://www.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=ae406f1bdcd14f78881905c5e0915b96

Map 2: The worldwide carbonate map in the WoKaS data set (citation below) includes a description of carbonate purity and distribution of urban and rural springs, for which discharge data are available:
https://www.arcgis.com/apps/mapviewer/index.html?webmap=5ab43fdb2b784acf8bef85b61d0ebcbe.

Reference: Olarinoye, T., Gleeson, T., Marx, V., Seeger, S., Adinehvand, R., Allocca, V., Andreo, B., Apaéstegui, J., Apolit, C., Arfib, B. and Auler, A., 2020. Global karst springs hydrograph dataset for research and management of the world’s fastest-flowing groundwater. Scientific Data, 7(1), pp.1-9.

Map 3: Karst and spring data from selected states:
This map includes sites that members of the RCN have suggested to our group.

https://uageos.maps.arcgis.com/apps/mapviewer/index.html?webmap=28ed22a14bb749e2b22ece82bf8a8177

This data set is incomplete (as of October 13, 2022 it includes Florida and Missouri). We are looking for more information. You can share data links to additional data by typing them into the hydroshare page created for our group. Then new sites will periodically be added to the map: https://www.hydroshare.org/resource/0cf10e9808fa4c5b9e6a7852323e6b11/

Acknowledgements: These maps were created by Michael Jones, University of Arkansas and Shishir Sarker, University of Kentucky with help from Laura Toran and Francesco Navarro, Temple University.

TIPS FOR NAVIGATING THE MAPS ARE IN THE POWERPOINT DOCUMENT IN THE FILE UPLOAD SECTION BELOW.