MINNESOTA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

V.W. Chandler, Interim Director

HYDROGEOLOGY OF THE PALEOZOIC BEDROCK

IN SOUTHEASTERN MINNESOTA

Anthony C. Runkel Robert G. Tipping

Minnesota Geological Survey Minnesota Geological Survey

E. Calvin Alexander, Jr. Jeffrey A. Green

Department of Geology and Geophysics, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources,
University of Minnesota Rochester

John H. Mossler Scott C. Alexander

Minnesota Geological Survey Department of Geology and Geophysics,
University of Minnesota

Report of Investigations 61
ISSN 0076-9177

Saint Paul — 2003

iii
HYDROGEOLOGY OF THE PALEOZOIC BEDROCK
IN SOUTHEASTERN MINNESOTA

iv
 This publication is accessible from the home page of the Minnesota Geological Survey
(http://www.geo.umn.edu/mgs) as a PDF file readable with Acrobat Reader 4.0.
Date of release: February, 2003

Recommended citation
Runkel, A.C., Tipping, R.G., Alexander, E.C., Jr., Green, J.A., Mossler, J.H., and Alexander, S.C., 2003,
Hydrogeology of the Paleozoic bedrock in southeastern Minnesota: Minnesota Geological Survey
Report of Investigations 61, 105 p., 2 pls.

Minnesota Geological Survey

2642 University Avenue West
Saint Paul, Minnesota 55114-1057

Telephone: 612-627-4780
Fax: 612-627-4778
E-mail address: mgs@tc.umn.edu
Web site: http://www.geo.umn.edu/mgs

©2003 by the Regents of the University of Minnesota

All rights reserved.

ISSN 0076-9177

The University of Minnesota is committed to the policy that all persons shall have equal access to its
programs, facilities, and employment without regard to race, color, creed, religion, national origin,
sex, age, marital status, disability, public assistance status, veteran status, or sexual orientation.

v
 CONTENTS
page

ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................................ 1
INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................ 3
STRATIGRAPHY AND STUDY AREA ........................................................................................... 3
DATA AND METHODS ..................................................................................................................... 3
Hydrostratigraphic analyses .................................................................................................. 3
Hydraulic analyses .................................................................................................................. 10
OVERVIEW OF HYDROSTRATIGRAPHIC, HYDRAULIC, AND
HYDROGEOLOGIC ATTRIBUTES ............................................................................................. 14
Hydrostratigraphy ................................................................................................................... 14
Matrix porosity and permeability ............................................................................ 14
Secondary porosity: fractures and dissolution features ........................................ 16
Hydraulic character ................................................................................................................. 22
Hydrogeologic framework ..................................................................................................... 26
HYDROGEOLOGIC ATTRIBUTES OF INDIVIDUAL
LITHOSTRATIGRAPHIC UNITS ................................................................................................ 28
MT. SIMON SANDSTONE ................................................................................................................ 28
Hydrostratigraphic attributes ................................................................................................ 28
Matrix porosity ........................................................................................................... 28
Secondary porosity ..................................................................................................... 28
Hydraulic attributes ................................................................................................................ 29
Hydrogeologic synthesis ........................................................................................................ 37
EAU CLAIRE FORMATION .............................................................................................................. 38
Hydrostratigraphic attributes ................................................................................................ 38
Matrix porosity ........................................................................................................... 38
Secondary porosity ..................................................................................................... 38
Hydraulic attributes ................................................................................................................ 40
Hydrogeologic synthesis ........................................................................................................ 41
IRONTON AND GALESVILLE SANDSTONES .......................................................................... 41
Hydrostratigraphic attributes ................................................................................................ 41
Matrix porosity ........................................................................................................... 41
Secondary porosity ..................................................................................................... 41
Hydraulic attributes ................................................................................................................ 41
Hydrogeologic synthesis ........................................................................................................ 44
FRANCONIA FORMATION ............................................................................................................. 45
Hydrostratigraphic attributes ................................................................................................ 45
Matrix porosity ........................................................................................................... 45
Secondary porosity ..................................................................................................... 46
Hydraulic attributes ................................................................................................................ 46
Hydrogeologic synthesis ........................................................................................................ 51

vi
ST. LAWRENCE FORMATION ......................................................................................................... 55
Hydrostratigraphic attributes ................................................................................................ 55
Matrix porosity ........................................................................................................... 55
Secondary porosity ..................................................................................................... 55
Hydraulic attributes ................................................................................................................ 56
Hydrogeologic synthesis ........................................................................................................ 57
JORDAN SANDSTONE ..................................................................................................................... 59
Hydrostratigraphic attributes ................................................................................................ 59
Matrix porosity ........................................................................................................... 59
Secondary porosity ..................................................................................................... 60
Hydraulic attributes ................................................................................................................ 60
Hydrogeologic synthesis ........................................................................................................ 63
PRAIRIE DU CHIEN GROUP ........................................................................................................... 65
Hydrostratigraphic attributes ................................................................................................ 65
Matrix porosity ........................................................................................................... 65
Secondary porosity ..................................................................................................... 65
Hydraulic attributes ................................................................................................................ 67
Hydrogeologic synthesis ........................................................................................................ 71
ST. PETER SANDSTONE ................................................................................................................... 77
Hydrostratigraphic attributes ................................................................................................ 77
Matrix porosity ........................................................................................................... 77
Secondary porosity ..................................................................................................... 79
Hydraulic attributes ................................................................................................................ 79
Hydrogeologic synthesis ........................................................................................................ 79
GLENWOOD FORMATION .............................................................................................................. 81
Hydrostratigraphic attributes ................................................................................................ 81
Matrix porosity ........................................................................................................... 81
Secondary porosity ..................................................................................................... 81
Hydraulic attributes ................................................................................................................ 81
Hydrogeologic synthesis ........................................................................................................ 81
PLATTEVILLE FORMATION ............................................................................................................ 81
Hydrostratigraphic attributes ................................................................................................ 81
Matrix porosity ........................................................................................................... 81
Secondary porosity ..................................................................................................... 81
Hydraulic attributes ................................................................................................................ 82
Hydrogeologic synthesis ........................................................................................................ 83
DECORAH SHALE .............................................................................................................................. 84
Hydrostratigraphic attributes ................................................................................................ 84
Matrix porosity ........................................................................................................... 84
Secondary porosity ..................................................................................................... 84
Hydraulic attributes ................................................................................................................ 86
Hydrogeologic synthesis ........................................................................................................ 86

vii
GALENA THROUGH CEDAR VALLEY GROUPS ...................................................................... 87
Hydrostratigraphic attributes ................................................................................................ 87
Matrix porosity ........................................................................................................... 87
Secondary porosity ..................................................................................................... 87
Hydraulic attributes ................................................................................................................ 89
Hydrogeologic synthesis ........................................................................................................ 92
DISCUSSION: CLASSIFICATION OF AQUIFERS AND CONFINING UNITS ................... 95
SUMMARY ............................................................................................................................................ 96
RECOMMENDATIONS ..................................................................................................................... 97
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .................................................................................................................... 98
REFERENCES ........................................................................................................................................ 98

Plates 1 and 2 are located in the back pocket of this report.

viii
 NOTE ON MEASUREMENTS USED IN
THIS REPORT
Although the metric system is preferred in
scientific writing, certain measurements are still
routinely made in English customary units; for
example, distances on land are measured in miles and
depths in drill holes are measured in feet. Preference
was given in this report to retaining the units in which
measurements were made. To assist readers,
conversion factors for some of the common units of
measure are provided below.

English units to metric units:

To convert from to multiply by
inch millimeter 25.40
inch centimeter 2.450
foot meter 0.3048
mile kilometer 1.6093

Metric units to English units:

To convert from to multiply by
millimeter inch 0.03937
centimeter inch 0.3937
meter foot 3.2808
kilometer mile 0.6214

ix
 HYDROGEOLOGY OF THE PALEOZOIC BEDROCK IN
SOUTHEASTERN MINNESOTA

Anthony C. Runkel, Robert G. Tipping, E. Calvin Alexander, Jr., Jeffrey A. Green,

John H. Mossler, and Scott C. Alexander

ABSTRACT
The Paleozoic bedrock of southeastern Minnesota contains some of the most heavily used
aquifers in Minnesota. In this report we characterize the hydrogeologic attributes of these
strata by compiling and interpreting a large volume of hydrostratigraphic and hydraulic data.
The result is a hydrogeologic framework for southeastern Minnesota that can be used to formulate
more effective ground-water management strategies, and in particular it improves our ability
to predict aquifer productivity and contaminant transport paths.
This report describes the hydrostratigraphic heterogeneity within individual Paleozoic
lithostratigraphic units in detail for the first time. Our hydrostratigraphic analysis is based
chiefly on plug tests of rock samples, outcrop and core observations of secondary pores, and
a number of borehole geophysical techniques. Collectively, this information allows us to define
"hydrostratigraphic units"—bodies of rock defined on the basis of their characteristic porosity
and permeability—without regard for traditional lithostratigraphic boundaries (Seaber, 1988).
Our hydrostratigraphic characterization provides a depiction of the spatial distribution of matrix
and secondary porosity in a spectrum of geologic settings across southeastern Minnesota. Of
particular importance is our effort to fully integrate the distribution and abundance of fractures
and dissolution cavities into the hydrostratigraphic characterization.
The Paleozoic bedrock of southeastern Minnesota can be divided into three principal matrix
hydrostratigraphic components: coarse clastic rock of high porosity and permeability; fine clastic
rock of low porosity and permeability; and carbonate rock, also of low porosity and permeability.
All three of these matrix components contain secondary pores such as systematic fractures,
dissolution features, and nonsystematic fractures, but they are most abundant in "shallow" bedrock
conditions—areas where Paleozoic strata are within about 200 feet of the bedrock surface.
In deeper bedrock conditions, secondary pores such as systematic and bedding-plane fractures
are known to occur, but their distribution and abundance is poorly understood. They appear
to be concentrated along a few discrete stratigraphic intervals, separated from one another by
strata with few secondary pores.
Hydraulic analyses of Paleozoic strata provide information on the manner in which ground
water travels through matrix and secondary pores, and is evaluated in this report based chiefly
on interpretation of pump tests, dye-trace studies, borehole flowmeter logs, water chemistry,
and potentiometric data within the context of our hydrostratigraphic framework. The ground-
water system appears to be relatively simple and predictable in conditions of deep burial by
younger bedrock. Under these conditions, coarse clastic strata are of relatively high hydraulic
conductivity, typically ranging from a few feet per day to a few tens of feet per day, presumably
reflecting flow through large, well-connected intergranular pore spaces. In contrast, the matrix
conductivity of the fine clastic and carbonate rock components is low enough in a vertical
direction (10-7 to 10-3 foot per day) that intervals dominated by these components can provide
hydraulic confinement. Intervals of carbonate rock containing abundant dissolution features
have hydraulic conductivity values commonly as high as hundreds of feet per day, and in locally
deep bedrock settings, have flow speeds so rapid that they are measured in miles per day along
discrete intervals where well-developed conduit systems are present.
The enhanced development of secondary pores in shallow bedrock conditions corresponds
to a measurable increase in hydraulic conductivity for the Paleozoic bedrock of southeastern
Minnesota. Individual layers composed of coarse clastic, fine clastic, or carbonate components
in relatively shallow bedrock conditions are very different hydrogeologically from the same
layers in relatively deep bedrock conditions because secondary porosity is vastly different.

1
In shallow settings they have higher bulk conductivity, greater range in conductivity, and are
likely to transmit the greatest volumes of ground water through conduit networks.
Our new hydrogeologic framework for southeastern Minnesota is based on hydraulic data
interpreted within the context of the hydrostratigraphic attributes. It differs considerably from
previously published frameworks in its classification of regionally extensive aquifers and confining
units, and because it places greater emphasis on the importance of flow through secondary
pores. Eleven regional aquifers separated by ten confining units are recognized in the bedrock
of southeastern Minnesota. The "major" confining units are regionally extensive, relatively
thick intervals of fine clastic and carbonate rock that have been demonstrated to be of sufficiently
low bulk vertical conductivity to provide confinement under particular conditions of hydraulic
stress, and where they are not breached by vertical fractures. The aquifers we define are the
bodies of rock dominated by coarse clastic strata or relatively thick intervals of carbonate rock
with abundant secondary pores that are known to yield moderate to large volumes of water in
deep bedrock settings. The coarse clastic aquifers typically have a bulk horizontal conductivity
between 5 and 60 feet per day in deep bedrock conditions. The carbonate rock aquifers are
much more variable in hydraulic conductivity, and typically consist internally of relatively
narrow intervals of high to very high conductivity (tens to thousands of feet per day) separated
by thick intervals of tight carbonate rock that is orders of magnitude lower in conductivity.
Our hydrogeologic framework also delineates three major "karst systems," based largely
on the work of Alexander and Lively (1995), Alexander and others (1996), and Green and
others (1997). A karst system is an integrated mass-transfer system in soluble rocks with a
permeability structure dominated by conduits dissolved from the rock and organized to facilitate
the circulation of fluid (Klimchouk and Ford, 2000). Southeastern Minnesota karst systems
are composed of carbonate-dominated strata where they lie in shallow bedrock conditions.
Each karst system is characterized by relatively abundant secondary pores that include large
cavities and dissolution-enlarged systematic and nonsystematic fractures, and rapid, direct
connections between surface and ground water. The karst aquifers are of particular importance
to ground-water management because the ground-water movement through conduits can be
rapid and difficult to predict.
Our synthesis of the hydrogeologic attributes of Paleozoic bedrock in southeastern Minnesota
highlights the need for a better understanding of ground-water flow through secondary pores.
Most models of ground-water flow in southeastern Minnesota do not adequately account for
the importance of flow through secondary pores in both the aquifers and confining units. In
shallow bedrock conditions, the ground-water system may be dominated by relatively rapid
movement of water through interconnected networks of secondary pores. The ability of confining
units to protect underlying aquifers in such settings has not been carefully evaluated. Furthermore,
flow paths and travel times in such conditions are less predictable than commonly depicted
in models formulated under the assumption that intergranular flow is dominant. Limited
hydrogeologic data for deep bedrock conditions are also not entirely compatible with simple,
intergranular flow interpretation. Regional-scale connectivity of secondary pores in deep bedrock
settings may provide an enhanced large-scale conductivity to the aquifers and confining beds
in southeastern Minnesota that has not been measured by the standard hydraulic tests performed
thus far. Researchers are encouraged to analyze both new and existing data in the context of
our new hydrogeologic framework to further its development by addressing these and other
problems.

INTRODUCTION
The Paleozoic bedrock of southeastern Minnesota (Figs. 1, 2) contains some of the most
heavily used aquifers in Minnesota. Over one-half of the wells in this part of the state draw
water from Paleozoic bedrock, and most municipalities rely entirely on these strata for their
potable water supply (County Well Index database maintained by the Minnesota Geological
Survey and Minnesota Department of Health). Despite their importance as a source of ground
water, the hydrogeologic attributes of these strata have not been comprehensively characterized
in a scientifically consistent manner that considers substantial variations in porosity and

2
permeability. In this report we provide such a
characterization based on the compilation of the results
of a number of studies conducted largely over the past
twenty years. The result is a hydrogeologic framework
for southeastern Minnesota that is important to
environmental managers and scientific investigations
because it increases the accuracy and usefulness of
ground-water protection plans, and improves our ability
to predict aquifer productivity and contaminant
transport.
In this report, hydrostratigraphic heterogeneity
within individual Paleozoic lithostratigraphic units is
described in detail for the first time. We define
"hydrostratigraphic units"—bodies of rock defined on
the basis of their characteristic porosity and
permeability—without regard for traditional
lithostratigraphic boundaries (Seaber, 1988). Our
hydrostratigraphic characterization provides a depiction
of the spatial distribution of matrix and secondary
porosity in a spectrum of geologic settings across
southeastern Minnesota. Of particular importance is
our effort to fully integrate the distribution and
abundance of fractures and dissolution cavities into the
hydrostratigraphic characterization. Our new
hydrogeologic framework for southeastern Minnesota
(Plates 1, 2; back pocket) is based on hydraulic data
such as potentiometric levels, water chemistry, and
pump tests, interpreted within the context of the
hydrostratigraphic attributes. It differs considerably
from previous frameworks in its classification of
regionally extensive aquifers and confining units, and
in the relatively great importance of flow through
secondary pores.
STRATIGRAPHY AND STUDY AREA
This report synthesizes the results of a large number
of studies that collectively provide a depiction of
hydrogeologic attributes of the entire Paleozoic
stratigraphic section in a variety of geologic settings
across southeastern Minnesota (Figs. 1, 2). The
thickness and distribution of individual Paleozoic
lithostratigraphic units in southeastern Minnesota (Fig.
2; Mossler, 1987, 1998) are shown on bedrock geologic
maps constructed by the Minnesota Geological Survey
at scales ranging from 1:24,000 to 1:250,000 (Sloan
and Austin, 1966; Olsen, 1982, 1988a; Mossler and
Book, 1984; Olsen and Bloomgren, 1989; Mossler,
1990, 1995a, b, 1998, 2001; Mossler and Bloomgren,
1990, 1992; Runkel, 1996a, b, 1998; Mossler and
Tipping, 2000). In addition, lithostratigraphic units are
delineated for individual water-well sites in the County
Well Index database available at the Minnesota
Geological Survey.
3
DATA AND METHODS
The investigative methods and data synthesized in
this report are grouped into one of two major categories:
hydrostratigraphic analyses and hydraulic analyses.
Hydrostratigraphic analyses provide information about
the distribution of porosity and permeability, chiefly
through plug tests of rock samples, outcrop and core
observations of secondary pores, and a number of
borehole geophysical techniques. Hydraulic analyses
of the Paleozoic strata provide information on the
manner in which ground water travels through pores,
and is evaluated in this report based chiefly on
interpretation of pump tests, dye-trace studies, borehole
flowmeter logs, water chemistry, and potentiometric data
within the context of our hydrostratigraphic framework.
These methods are described in greater detail below.
Hydrostratigraphic analyses
Core analysis—Paleozoic bedrock cores provide
information on the character and distribution of
hydrostratigraphic units at varying depths of burial
beneath the bedrock surface. Porosity and
permeability in these cores are described in four
manners (Fig. 3, for example):
1. Plug porosity is the measurement of pore space
that can be filled with air or water in a rock.
Porosity is measured in a laboratory using a small
sample of core, typically a one-inch diameter
cylinder called a "plug." The porosity value is
the percentage of the plug volume that is pore
space. Values of porosity typically range from
5 to 30 percent.
2. Plug permeability is a measurement of the ability
of a rock to transmit fluid. It is measured in a
laboratory using a small sample of core, such
as a plug sample. Permeability values provide
quantitative calculation of the ability to transmit
water through intergranular pore spaces. Vertical
permeability measures the ability to transmit
fluid in a direction perpendicular to bedding,
whereas horizontal permeability reflects the
ability to transmit fluid in a direction parallel
to bedding. Reservoir geologists consider values
less than 5 millidarcies (md) to be very low,
representative of "tight" strata. Values greater
than 100 md are considered relatively high
(Levorsen, 1967).
The bulk of our plug-scale porosity and
permeability data were synthesized from
unpublished reports by the Minnesota Gas
Company (Minnegasco), which in the 1970s
conducted a subsurface study to assess the
feasibility of underground natural gas storage in
 MINNESOTA

Enlarged
area

WISCONSIN

IOWA

MILLE LACS ILLINOIS

KANABEC PINE Cedar Valley and Wapsipinicon Groups

BENTON Lithograph City Formation, Coralville Formation, and
Hinkle and Eagle Center Members of the Little Cedar
Mi

S t . Cr Formation
ss i

STEARNS
oi x

Chickasaw Member of Little Cedar Formation

ss

45°30' i SHERBURNE ISANTI

Ri
pp

ver

R A Bassett Member of Little Cedar Formation and Pinicon

i

i v er CHISAGO
ANOKA Ridge and Spillville Formations
Anoka County Site Maquoketa and Dubuque Formations and Galena Group
(unique number 165573)
Decorah Shale, St. Peter Sandstone, and Platteville and
Washington County Site
MEEKER WRIGHT (unique number 227031) Glenwood Formations
WASHINGTON
RAMSEY

New Brighton Decorah Shale, mapped where possible

45° HENNEPIN
ATES Lakeland Prairie du Chien Group
Minneapolis &
St. Louis Park Cambrian—Mt. Simon, Ironton–Galesville, and Jordan
MCLEOD Sandstones, and St. Lawrence, Franconia, and Eau
CARVER
Cottage Grove Claire Formations
Savage
Hastings Bedrock of Precambrian and Cretaceous age
DAKOTA
SCOTT Prior Lake
Redwing
SIBLEY Comprehensive investigations
44°30'
r
i ve

Miss Cores
Northfield iss
s o ta R

GOODHUE i pp
LESEUR RICE i Borehole geophysical studies, including
NICOLLET
Ri

flowmeter logs
ve r

Faribault
Minne
WATONWAN BROWN

WABASHA
Waseca–
Waterville
Oronoco

BLUE EARTH WASECA STEELE DODGE OLMSTED WINONA

44°
Rochester Winona

H-1
FREEBORN MOWER Spring Valley
MARTIN FARIBAULT FILLMORE HOUSTON
Austin
Bricelyn B'
B A'
43°30'

94° 92°
MITCHELL, IOWA

FLOYD, IOWA

93°

4
 Paleozoic bedrock of southeastern Minnesota.
The raw data collected as part of that work are
stored at the Minnesota Geological Survey and
cited as "Minnegasco Underground Gas Storage
Project," or MUGSP (1980).
3. Visual porosity logs of core establish the
stratigraphic position and relative degree of
development of cavities and open fractures,
which can be the principal ground-water conduits
in bedrock. Such logs account for the pore
spaces that are larger than those measured in
most plug samples (plug samples are typically
collected from intervals without visible fractures
and cavities). Values of nearly 100 percent
correspond to well developed bedding-plane
fractures/dissolution features in core. Lesser
values of porosity represent the percent of core
that consists of open cavities based on a visual
estimate (Fig. 3, for example). Although
permeability is a feature that cannot be visually
estimated, ground-water conduits with relatively
high hydraulic conductivity should be expected
to have a high visual porosity if they are
intersected by core.
Visual porosity in cores was estimated in
such a manner that the logs probably under-
represent the abundance of secondary pores,
especially large cavities. Intervals of core loss
and breaks between cores, which may correspond
to such features, were recorded as secondary
pores only if the core ends showed clear evidence
of dissolution or mineralization, indicating the
presence of a cavity. Furthermore, the abundance
of vertical, systematic fractures in the deep
subsurface (described later in this report), which
may be hydraulically important features at some
scale, is probably underestimated because
individual vertical cores and boreholes have a
small probability of intersecting such features.
4. Vertical fracture abundance is a visual estimate
of the number of subvertical fractures per foot
of core. These are mostly "mesoscopic" fractures
(Price and Cosgrove, 1990)—irregular, sinuous
fractures that typically cannot be traced more
than a few inches. The apertures are largely
healed or open only a fraction of a millimeter,
and their hydraulic significance is not known.
However, such fractures can be preferential
pathways for relatively slow-moving ground
water in strata that are otherwise of negligible
permeability (Watts, 1983; Lorenz and Finley,
1991). Additionally, these narrow fractures may
be preferentially opened compared to non-
fractured rock when subjected to stress-release
and weathering in near-surface conditions.
Therefore the stratigraphic position of
mesoscopic fractures in deep core may
correspond to intervals where secondary pores
are preferentially developed in near-surface
bedrock conditions.

Figure 1. Map of southeastern Minnesota showing the distribution of Paleozoic lithostratigraphic units where
they occur as the uppermost bedrock and locations of cores, borehole flowmeter studies, and sites of comprehensive
hydrogeologic studies referenced in this report. The comprehensive hydrogeologic studies utilize a number of
techniques and include formally published aquifer characterization of the Eau Claire through lower St. Lawrence
Formations as part of the Aquifer Thermal Energy Storage Project (ATES Project; Miller and Delin, 1993),
and of the Galena through Cedar Valley Groups in Floyd and Mitchell Counties, northern Iowa (Libra and
Hallberg, 1985; Witzke and Bunker, 1985). Informally published site remediation investigations include work
focused on the Ironton–Galesville Sandstone and Franconia Formation near Lakeland, Minnesota (Braun Intertec,
1992; Delta Environmental Consultants, Inc., 1992); the Jordan Sandstone and Prairie du Chien Group at an
abandoned landfill near Oronoco (Alexander, 1990; Donahue and Associates, Inc., 1991; RMT, Inc., 1992),
and in the Arden Hills–New Brighton area (Camp, Dresser and McKee, 1991); the Platteville Formation in St.
Louis Park (for example ENSR International, 1991) and northeast Minneapolis (for example Barr Engineering,
1991); and the Galena Group and Dubuque and Maquoketa Formations at the Spring Valley Amoco terminal
(Delta Environmental Consultants, Inc., 1995). The Ironton–Galesville Sandstone and Franconia Formation
were also studied at a proposed expansion of an ash disposal site near Red Wing (Wenck and Associates, Inc.,
1997). The heavy lines outline the seven-county Twin Cities Metropolitan area, and the locations of cross-
sections on Plates 1 and 2 also appear.

5
 Thickness (in feet)
Natural gamma log
Group,

Series

Label
Era Formation, Lithology Increasing count
Member 0 100
API-G units
Shakopee
Opsh

Up to 50
Lithograph Formation
City Dcuu

Lower Ordovician (505–478 m.y.)

Formation

57-61
Coralville

Prairie du Chien Group

Cedar Valley Group
Formation
Middle Devonian (387–374 m.y.)

Dcum

320-340
Hinkle &

25-35
Eagle
Little Cedar Formation

Center Mbrs

15-43
Chickasaw
Member Dclc

Oneota
Opod
Dolomite

40-70
Bassett
Member

Dclp
Pinicon

20-47
Ridge
Wapsipinicon Group

Formation

Coon Valley
Member
Spillville
Dspl 21-84
Formation

65-70
Jordan
Sandstone
36-85

Maquoketa
Omaq
Formation
PALEOZOIC

110-120
St. Lawrence
Cstl
23-40

Dubuque Formation
Odub
Formation G
G

G
G
PALEOZOIC

Reduced
75-85

Stewartville G
Ogsv
Upper Ordovician (458–444 m.y.)

Formation scale
G G 50%
Reno
Franconia Formation
Galena Group

and
Tomah G

155-160
Members
Cfrn G
G
Prosser
40-50

Limestone Ogpr G

G
Upper Cambrian (523–505 m.y.)

G
Birkmose
Member G
Cummings- G
70-75

G
ville Ogcm
Formation Ironton and

40-45
Galesville Cigl
Sandstones
Fe Fe
G
45-50

Decorah
Shale Odcr

G G
5-6 20-30

Platteville
Formation Opvl
Glenwood Ph G G
Ph
Formation Ogwd Ph
G G
Fe Fe
G
Eau Claire G G
Cecr
200

Formation
70-80

St. Peter Ostp

Sandstone

Continued above right

Figure 2. Standard bedrock stratigraphic column

showing Paleozoic lithostratigraphic units of
southeastern Minnesota and typical gamma log.
200 or less

Modified from Mossler (1987, 1998). Mt. Simon

Cmts
Sandstone
Hydrostratigraphic components are depicted in Plates
1 and 2. Figure explanation is on the following page.

6
 EXPLANATION

Limestone Cavities (commonly filled Worm bored

with coarse calcite)
Pebbles (gravel in
Dolostone
Chert unconsolidated units)

Sandy K-bentonite bed (altered Flat-pebble conglomerate

volcanic ash bed
Sandstone Cross-bedded (festoon)
Very fine- to fine-grained Oolites
Cross-bedded (planar to
Fine- to medium-grained G Glauconite tangential)
Fe Iron stain Ripple cross-laminations
Medium- to coarse-grained
Ph Phosphate pellets Dolomitic
Shaly Algal mats Calcareous

Siltstone Algal domes; stromatolites Contact marks a major erosional

surface
Fossiliferous; fossils (symbols not
Shale used in limestone or dolostone Facies change
units)

Field observations—A number of outcrop-based
stratigraphic and sedimentologic investigations
conducted over the past 50 years delineate facies
that are now known to differ considerably from one
another in intergranular porosity and permeability
(for example Berg, 1954; Nelson, 1956; Setterholm
and others, 1991; Runkel, 1996a, b, 1999, 2000;
Runkel and Tipping, 1998; Runkel and others,
1999). Those investigations, supplemented with
field work conducted as part of recent Minnesota
Geological Survey mapping in southeastern
Minnesota (for example Mossler and Book, 1984;
Mossler, 1990, 1995a, b, 1998, 2001; Mossler and
Bloomgren, 1990, 1992; Runkel, 1996a, b, 1998;
Mossler and Tipping, 2000), allow us to delineate
individual hydrostratigraphic units within mapped
lithostratigraphic units across the outcrop belt of
Paleozoic bedrock where cores are generally scarce.
Additionally, outcrops provide an opportunity to
examine secondary pores in Paleozoic bedrock, and
their interaction with surface waters. The
abundance, size, and stratigraphic distribution of
fractures and dissolution features were described
for much of the Paleozoic section in representative
large outcrops, quarries, and road cuts along the
Mississippi River and its tributaries. An interval
of strata in which secondary porosity is
preferentially developed in outcrop (Fig. 4) can be
an important ground-water conduit in saturated
subsurface conditions (for example Gianniny and
others, 1996). The distribution of springs and
sinkholes (for example Alexander and others, 1996;
Witthuhn and Alexander, 1996) also provides
insight into stratigraphic control of hydraulically
important fractures and dissolution cavities in near-
surface bedrock settings.
Borehole logs—Natural gamma logs have been used
extensively by Minnesota Geological Survey
scientists to distinguish hydrostratigraphic
components that differ from one another in
intergranular porosity and permeability (for
example Setterholm and others, 1991; Runkel,
1996b). A slimline probe measures gamma rays
naturally emitted by rocks as it is slowly raised
in a borehole. In the Paleozoic strata of
southeastern Minnesota, fine-grained siliciclastic
rocks with low intergranular permeability contain
potassium in sufficient abundance to emit relatively
high levels of gamma rays, and therefore cause
strong positive deflection on gamma logs (Fig. 2).
Coarse-grained siliciclastic rocks with higher
permeability have low potassium content and
therefore correspond to low readings on the gamma
logs. Carbonate strata most commonly have
readings between those of fine and coarse
siliciclastic rocks.
Borehole video, borehole televiewer (BHTV),
and caliper logs provide information similar to that
of rock cores in that they are used to document
the size, shape, and stratigraphic position of
fractures and dissolution features. Such logs are
available at several state agencies, including the
Minnesota Department of Health, Minnesota
Pollution Control Agency, and the Minnesota
Geological Survey.
Borehole cuttings—High-quality sets of cuttings were
used in conjunction with outcrop study to
demonstrate a correspondence between gamma log

7
 sampled plug
Plug vertical
permeability

Position of
Fractures
porosity

porosity
per foot
Visual

Plug
0 100% 0 5 0 40% 10-6 100 md

Mesoscopic
fracture

Figure 3. Example of a presentation of plug porosity and

permeability values, and logs of visible porosity for an
1 foot
8-foot core of fine clastic and carbonate rock in the St.
Lawrence Formation collected from the Waseca–Waterville
area. Lines are drawn from dissolution features in the
core to corresponding tick marks on the visual porosity
log.

8
 Fracture

Figure 4. Large, interconnected dissolution cavities parallel to bedding in the carbonate strata along the Shakopee
Formation–Oneota Dolomite contact at a quarry near Red Wing in Goodhue County. Note the vertical fracture
with a large aperture in the quarry wall on the left side of the photo. Water commonly travels rapidly downward
through such fractures and subsequently travels laterally along bedding-plane parallel conduits such as the
interconnected dissolution cavities shown here (marked by arrows). The short vertical line below the cavities
is approximately 5 feet tall.

signatures and hydrostratigraphic units (for example
Setterholm and others, 1991). This correspondence
was successfully used to delineate subsurface
hydro-stratigraphic units in the Rochester area
(Runkel, 1996b) and in Houston and Goodhue
Counties (Runkel, 1996a, 1998). Cuttings alone
typically cannot be used to determine the precise
thickness of hydrostratigraphic units because the
sample stream from the drilling process has inherent
inaccuracies related to poor collection methods and
recirculation problems.
Hydraulic analyses
Pump and slug tests—A large database of hydraulic
conductivity values is based on a compilation of
pump and slug tests conducted on Paleozoic
bedrock in southeastern Minnesota and adjacent
states. They can be grouped into three principal
categories based on the quality of the test and
amount of associated supplementary information
on borehole construction, testing procedures, and
geologic setting.
1. Discrete interval tests—Hydraulic data available
from comprehensive hydrogeologic reports that
describe controlled pump tests as well as detailed
stratigraphic and well-construction information
are considered to be of the highest quality used
in this report. They can be used to calculate the
hydraulic conductivity of individual
hydrostratigraphic units with confidence.
Frequently cited examples of these kinds of
studies include discrete-interval packer testing
of Cambrian siliciclastic strata by Nicholas and
others (1987) and Miller and Delin (1993), and
of Ordovician and Devonian age, carbonate
dominated strata by Libra and Hallberg (1985),
Nicholas and others (1987), Graese and others
(1988), Donahue and Associates, Inc. (1991), and
Delta Environmental Consultants, Inc. (1995).
2. Specific capacity tests—Specific capacity data
obtained from water well construction reports
in the County Well Index database were used
to calculate hydraulic conductivity following an
approach described by Bradbury and Rothschild
(1985). Specific capacity values are corrected
for the effects of partial penetration, well loss,
and borehole diameter. The hydraulic
conductivity values calculated in this manner are

9
 believed to be a more accurate measure of aquifer
performance than specific capacity values alone.
Hydraulic conductivity has been calculated
for 8,626 wells that draw water from the Paleozoic
strata of southeastern Minnesota. Runkel (2000)
demonstrated that a large database of such values
can be used to recognize relative differences in
aquifer performance that are consistent with the
results of higher quality, controlled pump tests
and therefore can provide information about
geologic controls on aquifer performance. Except
where otherwise noted, our database excludes
wells constructed to draw water from more than
one of the eleven aquifers defined in this report.
These data are summarized in this report chiefly
as scatter plots, and as box plots that show median
values and statistically acceptable ranges.
Conductivity values calculated from specific
capacity tests may be less indicative of hydraulic
performance than high quality, discrete-interval
pump and slug test data because pumping rates
and drawdown measurements are typically
collected in a less rigorous fashion, and because
the tests are usually of short duration.
Additionally, the database from which these
hydraulic conductivity values have been
calculated consists of tests of water wells
constructed expressly for the purpose of extracting
economic quantities of water. The values of
conductivity are therefore chiefly representative
of the most productive intervals of Paleozoic strata
in a given geologic setting, and do not include
a large sample of values representative of strata
with relatively low conductivity.
3. Standard aquifer tests—A large number of
hydraulic conductivity values for individual
hydrostratigraphic units are based on aquifer tests
conducted by private consultants and by staff
from state and federal agencies that include the
U.S. Geological Survey, the Division of Waters
of the Minnesota Department of Natural
Resources, the Minnesota Department of Health,
and the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.
These are cited as "standard aquifer tests" in this
report to distinguish them from specific capacity
tests and discrete interval tests accompanied by
higher quality ancillary information described
above. Standard aquifer pump test results are
typically not accompanied by reports in which
the raw pump test data nor pumping procedures
are provided, and detailed hydrostratigraphic
context is not available for the wells in this
database. However, we have used drilling
10
records and natural gamma logs (where available)
to roughly determine the hydrostratigraphic
components exposed in the open-hole interval
for each of the wells in the database.
Our evaluation of the results of these aquifer
tests indicates that they commonly yield hydraulic
conductivity values that are higher than those
calculated on the basis of discrete interval and
specific capacity tests of the same
hydrostratigraphic material. A possible
explanation is that standard aquifer tests in
southeastern Minnesota have most commonly
been performed on large diameter industrial and
municipal wells that are developed to increase
productivity through methods such as blasting.
Large, high capacity wells such as these may be
better connected to secondary pore networks
compared to narrower diameter, undeveloped
boreholes subjected to packer tests, and to small
diameter domestic wells that compose the
majority of our specific capacity database.
Borehole geophysical and video logs—Vertical ground-
water flow within a borehole in saturated
stratigraphic intervals can be detected by
electromagnetic and heat pulse flowmeters.
Flowmeter logs collected under ambient conditions
are used to recognize the hydraulically dominant
intervals of matrix and secondary pores in an
individual borehole, and the confining unit(s) that
separates them (Fig. 5). Some boreholes are also
flowmeter logged during stressed conditions created
by pumping from, or injecting water into, a
borehole. Flowmeter logs collected under stressed
conditions allow the hydraulic properties of discrete
intervals to be quantified when compared to
ambient flowmeter measurements and accompanied
by ancillary information such as the change in
potentiometric level of the borehole. These
techniques are explained in greater detail in Paillet
and others (2000).
A borehole video camera and a multi-parameter
probe that measures temperature, pH, and chloride
provide information similar to that of flowmeters,
but in a more qualitative and inconsistent fashion.
Video logs can be used to identify seeps and
cascading water along discrete intervals in open
boreholes above the static water level. Water
entering or exiting a borehole along discrete
conduits in saturated conditions can be recognized
on video logs by the movement of well sediment
held in suspension and by shifts in temperature,
pH, and chloride content measured by the multi-
parameter probe.
Dye tracing—Dye-trace investigations have been
successful in providing quantitative measures of
ground-water flow speeds, and the degree of vertical
connectivity across adjacent hydrostratigraphic units
in near-surface bedrock conditions where flow
along secondary pores is of particular importance
(for example Wheeler, 1993; Alexander and others,
1996). Flow speeds are typically expressed as
nominal flow rates, in feet per day or miles per
day, and are lower limits on the true flow velocities.
Water chemistry—Chemical constituents such as
tritium, nitrates, and chlorides have commonly been
used to determine flow paths and hydraulic
connection between water-bearing bodies of rock.
A large volume of ground-water chemistry data for
southeastern Minnesota are scattered among several
state agencies and private consultants, and in a
number of publications. In this report we focus
on ground-water chemistry data collected and
interpreted as part of site-specific studies in which
the geologic setting, well construction, and
hydrostratigraphic attributes are well understood.
Potentiometric data—This report incorporates
potentiometric data compiled from the results of
site-specific studies that include the information
necessary to interpret the data within our
hydrostratigraphic framework. We also cite
published county and larger-scale potentiometric
maps that provide water level information that can
be used in the context of our hydrostratigraphic
framework. We use a difference in static water
levels (heads) above and below a low permeability
hydro-stratigraphic unit as one line of evidence that
the unit provides confinement.
Previous hydrogeologic investigations in
southeastern Minnesota have struggled with the
question of what constitutes a significant difference
in head for the purpose of recognizing discrete
hydrogeologic units. For example, is a five-foot
difference significant at the scale of a site-specific
study? Is it significant at a county or regional scale?
Historically, hydrogeologic units have been defined
regionally, using potentiometric data from water
wells, with elevations determined using 7.5-minute
topographic maps. Under these conditions, a five-
foot head difference is smaller than the error
associated with a well elevation. Using these
methods, individual hydrogeologic units cannot be
distinguished. Unfortunately, regionally defined
hydro-geologic units have been applied to site-
specific studies, where a five-foot head difference
is important in distinguishing ground-water flow
11
paths.
Head differences across a confining unit occur
under conditions of stress: either natural due to
ground-water flow patterns, or induced by pumping.
Certain conditions of stress can cause aquifers
separated by a confining unit to have similar heads
even though they are not hydraulically well-
connected. For example, aquifers that are recharged
and discharge near the same elevation may not show
large head differences between zones of recharge
and discharge. In this way, confining characteristics
of individual hydrostratigraphic units are not
revealed using potentiometric data alone. We infer
that a hydrostratigraphic unit that provides
confinement at an individual site has the ability to
provide confinement elsewhere, because by
definition it has more or less consistent properties
of porosity and permeability across its extent.
Whether or not its confining properties are breached
by fractures is a question that potentiometric data
can help answer on a site-by-site basis.
OVERVIEW OF
HYDROSTRATIGRAPHIC, HYDRAULIC,
AND HYDROGEOLOGIC ATTRIBUTES
Hydrostratigraphy
Matrix porosity and permeability
The Paleozoic strata of southeastern Minnesota can
be generally divided into three distinct
hydrostratigraphic components based entirely on matrix
characteristics (Runkel and Tipping, 1998; Runkel,
1999). The components are: coarse clastic, fine clastic,
and carbonate rock (Fig. 6; Plates 1, 2). The values
for matrix porosity and permeability of these three
components where they occur in settings with relatively
minor development of secondary porosity (fractures and
dissolution features) have been determined at the
smallest scale through laboratory testing of plug samples
(Norvitch and others, 1973; MUGSP, 1980; Setterholm
and others, 1991; Walton and others, 1991; Wenck and
Associates, Inc., 1997).
The coarse clastic component is a poorly cemented,
moderately to well-sorted, fine- to coarse-grained
sandstone composed of about 98 percent quartz. Plug-
sample tests indicate it has a high porosity and vertical
permeability, commonly more than 20 percent and 1,000
md, respectively, due to relatively large, well-connected
intergranular pore spaces. Horizontal permeability
typically is equal to, or as much as an order of
magnitude greater than vertical permeability.
The fine clastic component consists of very fine-
 A. B. C.
Logged Logged Logged
borehole borehole borehole

Flowmeter Flowmeter Flowmeter

_ 0 + _ 0 +
_ 0 +

water enters
hole, travels
Interpretation down
line

water exits
hole

Trolling flow, Stationary flow,

D. Logged E. ambient conditions ambient conditions Ambient conditions:
borehole (gallons per minute) (gallons per minute) explanation of flow
0 1 2 0 1 2
Flowmeter 400
_ 0 +

12
Consistent upflow along upper part of open hole
Casing bottom and into casing (water exits higher in casing)
200
water exits
hole
Water exits abruptly at two thin intervals of
secondary pores separated by confining unit
Interpretation
Consistent, relatively strong upflow past confining unit
250 line

Water enters abruptly at three thin intervals of

secondary pores. Entrances are separated by
water enters confining units.
hole, travels 300
up

350
Consistent upflow past confining unit

400
Static water level Confining unit

Aquifer
Cased hole 450 Water enters through intergranular pores and travels
uphole

Open hole

No measurable flow
500
F. Trolling flow, Stationary flow,
ambient conditions ambient conditions Ambient conditions:
(gallons per minute) (gallons per minute) explanation of flow
-6 -4 -2 0 -6 -4 -2 0
400
No measurable flow in casing, nor in upper part of open
Casing bottom hole

Interpretation
line
450
Water enters abruptly at five thin intervals of
secondary pores and travels downhole.
Entrances are separated by confining units.

500

Consistent, relatively strong downflow past confining unit

550

Water exits gradually through intergranular pores

600

Consistent weak downflow past confining unit

Water exits abruptly
No measurable flow

Stressed conditions: location and

G. Trolling flow, percent of borehole transmissivity
during injection Stationary flow Ambient conditions: of dominant permeable intervals
(gallons per minute) (gallons per minute) explanation of flow during injection
-10 -5 0 -15 -10 -5 0 5
500
Casing bottom Interpretation
lines
Ambient
flow No measurable flow in casing, nor in upper part of Injected water travels downhole along casing and
open hole upper part of open borehole with no loss
550

Partial loss of injected flow: exits through

Water exits at fracture fractures—18% of transmissivity
Consistent upflow past confining unit Consistent downflow of remaining injected water
600

Water enters through intergranular pores and travels Loss of remaining injected water: exits through
uphole intergranular pores—82% of transmissivity
Injection
650 flow
No measurable flow No measurable flow

Figure 5. Flowmeter logs are a depiction of vertical water movement in a borehole: positive values on the
logs correspond to flow up a borehole, negative values correspond to flow down a borehole, and zero represents
no measurable flow. Ambient borehole flow in a vertical direction is driven by vertical hydraulic gradient.
Trolling flowmeter logs are a continuous record of flow measured by a slimline electromagnetic probe as it is
raised at 10 feet per minute up the borehole. Stationary logs show a series of flow measurements taken at
various depths in the borehole with the probe stopped, or "stationary." These two kinds of flowmeter logs are
used in conjunction with geophysical logs that measure physical rock properties (such as gamma, caliper, video,
and BHTV logs) to interpret flow conditions in the borehole, shown graphically as an "interpretation line" on
the stationary logs.
A. Schematic hydrogeologic setting and corresponding stationary flowmeter log. Flowmeter logging records
no vertical borehole flow because the open borehole exposes only a single aquifer with no vertical gradient.
Figure 5 explanation continued on page 14
Figure 5 explanation continued from page 13

13
B. Schematic hydrogeologic setting and corresponding stationary flowmeter log. Flowmeter logging records
no vertical flow in the borehole, even though the hole fully penetrates a confining unit, because the aquifers
above and below the confining unit have similar heads.
C. and D. Schematic hydrogeologic settings and corresponding stationary flowmeter logs. Flowmeter logs
show vertical flow that occurs in boreholes that intersect two (intergranular) aquifers with heads that differ
from one another.
E., F., and G. Flowmeter logs collected in southeastern Minnesota and used in this report. Changes in magnitude
of vertical flow along the interpretation line mark permeable intervals through which water enters (inflow) or
exits (outflow) the borehole. Abrupt changes in magnitude of vertical flow correspond to relatively thin intervals
of hydraulically active secondary pores, most commonly bedding-plane fractures; gradual changes correspond
to intervals where intergranular flow is dominant. The beds that separate these hydraulically active intervals
are of relatively low permeability and can be considered confining units at the scale of the immediate vicinity
of the borehole. The confining units that directly separate an entrance from an exit maintain differential heads
above and below them, which drives ambient borehole flow. Confining units that separate successive entrances
or exits along a borehole may or may not separate heads that differ from one another. G. also provides an
example of flowmeter logging under stressed conditions. The borehole was injected with water at a rate of 9
gallons per minute. The relative transmissivity of the two permeable intervals that accommodate the injected
water is quantified to the right of the column following the procedure described by Paillet and others (2000).

grained sandstone, siltstone, and shale in thin to medium
beds that are strongly to moderately cemented. This
component has very low to low relative permeability,
several orders of magnitude less than that of the coarse
clastic component described above. Plug tests indicate
a vertical permeability that typically ranges from 10-6
to 10-2 md. Horizontal permeability is commonly about
two orders of magnitude greater than vertical.
The carbonate rock component consists of very
fine- to fine-grained dolostone and limestone with
variable amounts of silt, sand, and shale as interbeds
or admixed in the carbonate matrix. Matrix porosity
and vertical permeability values are typically less than
15 percent and 10-1 md, respectively. Limited tests of
horizontal permeability indicate that it is commonly
about two orders of magnitude greater than vertical
permeability in laminated carbonate rocks. Horizontal
permeability is probably roughly equal to vertical
permeability in plug samples of structureless carbonate
rocks such as those common in the Oneota Dolomite.
Secondary porosity: fractures and
dissolution features
The hydrostratigraphic character of the three
components described above is affected by lateral and
vertical variability in the abundance and
interconnectivity of fractures and dissolution features
(Plates 1, 2). Calculated values for porosity and
permeability within each of these components can vary
substantially depending on the scale of the tested rock
sample, and the degree of development of fractures and
dissolution features. Permeability is very high where
such features are well developed and interconnected,
and very low, even on a large scale, where minimally
developed (for example Liesch, 1973; Libra and
Hallberg, 1985; Graese and others, 1988; Gianniny and
others, 1996; Eaton and others, 2000).
Core logging, borehole videos, geophysical logs,
dye-trace investigations, and field observations of
exposed bedrock in southeastern Minnesota presented
in this report, and studies of generally similar
sedimentary bedrock in other parts of North America
(for example Ferguson, 1967; Nichols, 1980; Wyrick
and Borchers, 1981; Graese and others, 1988) suggest
that bedrock conditions can be separated into two
general categories based on the nature of secondary
porosity: "shallow" bedrock conditions, and "deep"
bedrock conditions (Fig. 7; Plates 1, 2). Shallow
bedrock conditions differ from deep conditions because
they have a relatively high density of large, well-
connected fractures and dissolution cavities.
Shallow bedrock conditions are characterized by
relatively strong development of three kinds of
secondary pores (Fig. 8). Systematic fractures are flat-
sided openings oriented perpendicular to bedding. They
are also referred to as "joints," and are typically the
most prominent fractures in large outcrops—commonly

14
A. B. C.

Figure 6. Examples of the three principle matrix

D. hydrostratigraphic components in core.
A. Coarse clastic component from the Mt. Simon
Sandstone consisting of medium- to coarse-grained, friable
sandstone.
B. Fine clastic component in the Eau Claire Formation.
Consists of very fine-grained sandstone and siltstone with
thin shale laminations.
C. Fine clastic component in the Franconia Formation.
Consists largely of shale (dark beds) with interbedded very
fine-grained sandstone and siltstone.
D. Carbonate rock in the Platteville Formation. The core
on the right has thin, irregular interbeds of shale. Cores
are from Ramsey County (ATES Project, cores AC-1 and
BC-1).

15
evident at distances of hundreds of feet as straight,
vertical openings with a more or less consistent spacing.
The walls of systematic fractures typically have strike
orientations that fall within one or two tightly clustered
sets (Olsen, 1988b; Ruhl, 1995; Runkel, 1996a).
Nonsystematic fractures are more randomly distributed
and more variable in their orientation and shape. They
include openings that parallel bedding planes as well
as irregular, curved, or conchoidal fractures that intersect
bedding obliquely. Both systematic and nonsystematic
fractures are common in all three matrix
hydrostratigraphic components where they occur in
shallow bedrock conditions. Dissolution features are
a secondary pore developed through the dissolution of
carbonate rock. Dissolution can enlarge the apertures
of nonsystematic and systematic fractures, and can also
create cavities that have no apparent relationship to
fractures. In shallow bedrock conditions, the
permeability of the coarse clastic, fine clastic, and
carbonate rock components may be several orders of
magnitude higher than that of deep conditions at scales
greater than that of plugs because of the greater
development of these three kinds of secondary pores
(for example Donahue and Associates, Inc., 1991;
Gianniny and others, 1996; Wenck and Associates, Inc.,
1997).
Our understanding of secondary porosity in deep
bedrock conditions relies mostly on examination of
cores (Fig. 9, for example) and borehole video and
caliper logs collected from southeastern Minnesota
(Donahue and Associates, Inc., 1991; Walton and others,
1991; Delta Environmental Consultants, Inc., 1995;
Runkel, 1999; Runkel and others 1999; this study) and
on recent studies of analogous Paleozoic bedrock
settings in Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois, and Michigan
(Witzke and Bunker, 1984; Graese and others, 1988;
Hurley and Swager, 1991; Gianniny and others, 1996;
Eaton and others, 2000). Collectively, this information
suggests that deep bedrock conditions differ
fundamentally from shallow conditions in that secondary
pores are diminished in abundance, size, and degree
of interconnectivity, principally because dissolution
features and nonsystematic fractures are less common.
Our limited borehole data in southeastern Minnesota
indicate that open nonsystematic fractures and
macroscopic dissolution cavities are apparently
uncommon to absent in the fine clastic and coarse clastic
components. Where present, discrete bedding-plane
fractures are separated by tens of feet of strata with
no evident secondary pores, and some individual cores
and boreholes have no recognizable bedding-plane
fractures across hundreds of feet of strata. Carbonate
rock in deep settings varies in its development of
secondary porosity (Fig. 9). Some carbonate intervals,
16
such as the lower two-thirds of the Oneota Dolomite,
the Platteville Formation, and Galena Group, have
relatively few open fractures and macroscopic cavities
compared to their character in shallow bedrock
conditions (Graese and others, 1988; Delta
Environmental Consultants, Inc., 1995; Tipping and
Runkel, 2001; this report). In contrast, core and
borehole video logs analyzed in this report (and by
Tipping and Runkel, 2001) demonstrate that other
carbonate intervals in deep bedrock settings, such as
much of the Shakopee Formation, parts of the St.
Lawrence Formation, the uppermost Oneota Dolomite,
and a thin, carbonate-rich interval in the lower part of
the Franconia Formation, have a relatively high density
of dissolution features, including large cavities (greater
than 4 inches), and dissolution-enlarged, mesoscopic
fractures oriented in directions both perpendicular and
parallel to bedding.
It is not known whether interconnected networks
of open systematic fractures are common or rare in deep
bedrock conditions of southeastern Minnesota, in part
because subsurface information is almost entirely
limited to vertical boreholes that have a small
probability of intersecting such features. Because
systematic fractures are probably the result of regional-
scale stresses (Price and Cosgrove, 1990), their presence
in outcrop indicates that they are likely present in
individual layers of strata even at depths hundreds of
feet below the bedrock surface. They are most likely
to occur locally in well-indurated layers such as those
dominated by carbonate rock and cemented siliciclastics
(Price and Cosgrove, 1990; Helgeson and Aydin, 1991;
Hurley and Swager, 1991; Narr and Suppe, 1991). They
are theoretically less likely to occur in friable sandstones
and poorly indurated shales, although exceptions are
well-documented (for example Ryder, 1996). Borehole
video logs of a few wells open to deep bedrock
conditions in the Twin Cities Metropolitan area reveal
the presence of vertical systematic fractures with
apertures of several inches in coarse clastic strata of
the Jordan Sandstone and the fine clastic strata of the
Eau Claire Formation (Minnesota Department of Health
borehole video library; for example unique well
numbers 200519, 206169, and 205821). These water
wells were developed to increase productivity and it
is possible that the apertures of these fractures were
widened when the borehole was blasted with dynamite
and bailed. Nevertheless, their presence demonstrates
that Paleozoic strata do contain systematic planes of
weakness in deep bedrock settings. The abundance,
dimension, aperture size, and interconnectivity of these
fractures are entirely unknown, but are presumably
diminished compared to systematic fractures in shallow
bedrock settings.
A.

~100 feet
EXPLANATION

Coarse clastic component Non-systematic fractures

(some dissolution enlarged)

Fine clastic component

Surficial deposits

Carbonate component

B.

Figure 7. Typical development of stress-relief fractures in layered Paleozoic bedrock. Note that nonsystematic
stress-relief fractures decrease in abundance at greater distances from the bedrock surface.
A. Diagrammatic sketch based on studies of Paleozoic bedrock in eastern North America (Ferguson, 1967),
modified with observations from southeastern Minnesota discussed in this report.
B. Quarry exposing carbonate rock of the Shakopee Formation and Oneota Dolomite near Mankato in Blue
Earth County. Nonsystematic fractures are abundant in the upper part of the bedrock exposed in the quarry.
Only widely spaced, systematic fractures are evident in the lower part of the quarry. The depth to which
nonsystematic and systematic fractures extend continuously beneath the bedrock surface will vary from place
to place in southeastern Minnesota.

17
A. Figure 8. Characteristic secondary pores
in shallow bedrock conditions.
A. Systematic fracture in interbedded fine
clastic and carbonate rock component of
the St. Lawrence Formation at Barn Bluff
in Red Wing, Goodhue County. Note the
vertical systematic fracture with large
aperture (hammer for scale is circled) and
flat surfaces of the outcrop characteristic
of systematic fractures.
B. Systematic fractures in the coarse
clastic component of the Jordan Sandstone
near Whitewater State Park, northeastern
Winona County.
C. Carbonate rock of the Oneota
Dolomite in Stillwater, Washington
County. Nonsystematic fractures occur
parallel to bedding and as irregular,
B. subvertical fractures typically confined to
individual beds. Systematic fractures are
relatively straight, and have wide
apertures that cut vertically across the
entire outcrop. Many of the fractures have
some evidence of enlargement by
dissolution. Staff is 5 feet tall.
D. Nonsystematic, stress-relief fractures
in interbedded fine clastic and carbonate
rock of the St. Lawrence Formation at
Barn Bluff in Red Wing, Goodhue County
(hammer for scale).
E. Similar fractures in fine clastic rock
(chiefly shale) of the Decorah Shale at
Lilydale Regional Park in Ramsey County.
C.
F. Large dissolution cavities (marked by
arrows) developed in carbonate rock in
the upper part of the Oneota Dolomite in
eastern Wabasha County. These cavities
typically are preferentially developed
along discrete beds. The large cavity in
the center of the photograph is about 2
feet in height.
G. Small dissolution cavities in a
carbonate bed within the upper Oneota
Dolomite near Mankato, Blue Earth
County.

18
D.

E.

F. G.

19
 A. B. C.

D. E.

20
Figure 9. Variable development of secondary pores in carbonate rock from deep bedrock
conditions.
A. Interval with relatively few, small cavities in the Oneota Dolomite from Ramsey County
(ATES Project, core AC-1).
B. Larger, more abundant cavities in the Shakopee Formation from the same site (core BC-1).
C. Irregular cavities and dissolution-enlarged fractures in the Shakopee Formation from core
H-1 in Freeborn County.
D. and E. Cavities in the St. Lawrence Formation from the Waseca–Waterville area (core Prehn
3).
 The greater development of secondary porosity in
shallow bedrock conditions compared to deep conditions
is the result of several processes. Uplift, unloading of
younger bedrock, and weathering in shallow conditions
opens the apertures of systematic planes of weakness
in addition to producing the ubiquitous nonsystematic
bedding-plane and curvilinear fractures (Ferguson, 1967;
Wyrick and Borchers, 1981; Price and Cosgrove, 1990)
characteristic of all bedrock outcrops in southeastern
Minnesota. These latter features are commonly referred
to as "stress-relief fractures" in reference to their
common origin during the removal of overlying
material. Vertical and horizontal stresses that
accompany glacial advances and retreats across
Paleozoic bedrock in southeastern Minnesota can
contribute to the production of these features (for
example Moerner, 1978; Liszkowski, 1993). In addition,
dissolution of carbonate rock is typically more
pronounced in relatively near-surface settings compared
to conditions of relatively deep burial. The depth to
which these processes collectively produce
hydrogeologically significant secondary porosity will
vary from place to place depending on several factors.
For example, a system of interconnected systematic
fractures in layered bedrock typically terminates
downward at or near the uppermost friable sandstone,
relatively ductile shale, or along a discontinuity such
as a bedding-plane fracture (Price and Cosgrove, 1990;
Helgeson and Aydin, 1991; Narr and Suppe, 1991).
Dissolution of carbonate rock typically diminishes with
depth (Goldstrand and Shevenell, 1997; Shevenell and
Goldstrand, 1997), especially below the uppermost
impermeable layer of siliciclastic bedrock that can serve
as a confining bed.
There is no precise or consistent depth at which
the boundary between "shallow" and "deep" bedrock
conditions occurs. A study of the Prairie du Chien and
Jordan aquifers by Runkel and others (1999) placed the
lower boundary of shallow bedrock conditions at 100
feet below the bedrock surface everywhere in the
Minneapolis–St. Paul metropolitan area because
examination of borehole videos, core, and outcrops
indicated that open fractures and dissolution features
are relatively uncommon below that depth. Runkel
(1999, 2000) conducted a larger-scale investigation,
which included most of the Paleozoic stratigraphy across
a nine-county area of southeastern Minnesota, and
proposed a 200-foot-deep boundary between deep and
shallow bedrock conditions as a regional-scale
generalization (Plates 1, 2). Such an interpretation is
consistent with studies outside of Minnesota that
similarly depict a relatively well-connected, high-density
system of secondary pores in the uppermost 100 to 200
feet of layered sedimentary bedrock (Ferguson, 1967;
21
Wyrick and Borchers, 1981; Williams and others, 1984;
Graese and others, 1988; Hatcher and others, 1992;
Soloman and others, 1992; Sasowsky and White, 1994;
Michalski and Britton, 1997; Morin and others, 1997).
A synthesis of engineering data from five dam sites in
North America by Snow (1968) suggested that fracture
porosity decreases an order of magnitude from the land
surface to a depth of 200 feet regardless of the dominant
lithology at the individual sites. Investigations of the
Cambrian Maynardville Limestone in Tennessee
demonstrated that secondary pores were more prevalent
in the uppermost approximately 110 feet of bedrock
and extremely rare below a depth of about 240 feet,
except in specific facies with a high susceptibility to
dissolution, such as evaporites (Goldstrand and
Shevenell, 1997; Shevenell and Goldstrand, 1997).
The term "shallow bedrock conditions" in this
report refers to the upper 200 feet of Paleozoic bedrock
regardless of the thickness and composition of overlying
unconsolidated materials. This 200-foot boundary is
chosen with the understanding that the change from
what we have characterized as shallow bedrock
conditions to deep bedrock conditions is in reality
transitional, and will vary in depth from place to place.
Hydraulic character
The geologic controls on hydraulic conductivity of
Paleozoic bedrock is evaluated in this report by
comparing values of conductivity calculated for
individual wells and scientific boreholes to the
hydrostratigraphic setting of their open-hole interval
(Fig. 10, for example). Additionally, for selected parts
of southeastern Minnesota, plots showing the spatial
distribution of hydraulic conductivity for individual
hydrostratigraphic units were compared to maps of
bedrock topography, bedrock geology, structure, and
isopachs to assess the effects of features such as bedrock
valleys and the influence of faults and folds to aquifer
performance.
Our evaluation indicates that calculated hydraulic
conductivity at an individual borehole largely reflects
the hydrostratigraphic character of its open-hole interval.
For example, borehole measurements of hydraulic
conductivity within individual lithostratigraphic units
in deep bedrock settings largely reflect the permeability
and thickness of its matrix hydrostratigraphic
component(s), and the degree of development of
secondary pores (Fig. 10, for example). Rocks
dominated by a fine clastic or carbonate rock component
with few secondary pores have relatively low hydraulic
conductivity and serve as confining units in deep
bedrock settings (for example Libra and Hallberg, 1985;
Nicholas and others, 1987; Graese and others, 1988;
Miller and Delin, 1993). Horizontal hydraulic
conductivity of the fine clastic component based on
discrete interval packer tests commonly ranges from
as low as 10 -7 foot per day for units composed almost
entirely of shale (Freeze and Cherry, 1979; Graese and
others, 1988; Eaton and others, 2000), to 10-2 to 10-1
foot per day for interbedded, very fine-grained sandstone
and shale (for example Miller and Delin, 1993). Vertical
conductivity in the fine clastic component is estimated
to be about two orders of magnitude less than horizontal
(MUGSP, 1980; Miller, 1984; Kanivetsky, 1989;
Setterholm and others, 1991; Miller and Delin, 1993).
Packer tests of discrete intervals of unfractured, dense
Paleozoic carbonate rock in Wisconsin, Illinois, and
Iowa have typically indicated horizontal conductivities
of about 10-4 foot per day or less (Graese and others,
1988; Gianniny and others, 1996). In contrast, the
coarse clastic component, and intervals of carbonate
rock containing abundant dissolution features, have
relatively high hydraulic conductivity values in deep
bedrock settings. Discrete interval packer tests, specific
capacity data, and standard aquifer tests of wells open
only to the coarse clastic component typically range
from a few feet per day to as much as 60 feet per day
(for example Nicholas and others, 1987; Young, 1992;
Miller and Delin, 1993; Runkel and others, 1999). The
carbonate rock component can have conductivity values
commonly as high as hundreds of feet per day, and dye
traces through locally deep bedrock settings demonstrate
flow speeds as rapid as miles per day along discrete
intervals where well-developed conduit systems are
present (Libra and Hallberg, 1985; Wheeler, 1993;
Alexander and Lively, 1995; Paillet and others, 2000;
Tipping and Runkel, 2001).
The inverse relationship between the degree in the
development of secondary porosity and depth of burial
beneath bedrock (Plates 1, 2) is reflected by hydraulic
performance. The enhanced development of secondary
pores in shallow bedrock conditions corresponds to a
measurable increase in hydraulic conductivity for the
Paleozoic bedrock of southeastern Minnesota. The
scatter and box plots (Fig. 11) of 8,626 conductivity
values calculated from specific capacity tests compared
against the depth of the open-hole interval below the
bedrock surface show increased conductivity
corresponding to decreased burial beneath younger
bedrock. Similar comparisons of hydraulic properties
to depth of burial beneath the bedrock surface are made
for each individual Paleozoic lithostratigraphic unit in
subsequent sections of this report, and they demonstrate
that individual matrix hydrostratigraphic units in
southeastern Minnesota, including those dominated by
coarse clastic and fine clastic strata, have a much higher
average conductivity, and a greater range in conductivity
where they occur in shallow bedrock conditions
compared to where the same units occur in deep bedrock
22
conditions. Additionally, ongoing borehole flowmeter
investigations (for example Paillet and others, 2000;
Tipping and Runkel, 2001) indicate that ambient flow
rates in boreholes exposed only to deep bedrock
conditions are typically subdued compared to the much
higher and more variable flow rates in boreholes open
to shallow bedrock conditions. This relationship likely
reflects the higher permeability due to enhanced
secondary porosity, and the greater stresses of near-
surface recharge and discharge in shallow bedrock
conditions.
A number of studies of sedimentary bedrock in
North America likewise show a positive correlation
between hydraulic performance and proximity to the
bedrock surface. Bedding-plane fractures that provide
preferential flow paths in siliciclastic strata have been
demonstrated to decrease in frequency and in hydraulic
conductivity with depth (Michalski and Britton, 1997;
Morin and others, 1997). Packer tests of Ordovician
and Silurian carbonate rock and shale in northern Illinois
demonstrated that the highest conductivities were
consistently within the uppermost 100 feet of the
bedrock surface (Kempton and others, 1987). The same
study indicated that bedrock strata within the uppermost
40 feet of the bedrock surface are on average 100 times
more permeable than the rocks below (Kempton and
others, 1987; Curry and others, 1988). A regionally
extensive "confining unit" composed of Paleozoic shale
and limestone in Illinois and adjacent states has a
hydraulic conductivity of 10-7 to 10-5 foot per day where
deeply buried by younger bedrock, and 10-3 to 12 feet
per day closer to the bedrock surface (Eberts and
George, 2000). A study of the karstic Maynardville
Limestone in Tennessee demonstrated that "quick flow"
conduits of the highest conductivity were rare below
110 feet and absent 240 feet below the bedrock surface,
where only slow flow through matrix pores was recorded
(Goldstrand and Shevenell, 1997; Shevenell and
Goldstrand, 1997). The Galena Group in northeastern
Iowa has similar attributes: where relatively deeply
buried by younger bedrock that includes a shaly
confining unit, the Galena Group is characterized by
diffuse flow along relatively unmodified, narrow
fractures. In conditions of shallow burial, particularly
where it occurs as the uppermost bedrock, it is
characterized by cavernous pores and more rapid conduit
flow (Rowden and Libra, 1990; Keeler, 1997). The
greater abundance, interconnectivity, and aperture of
fractures, and increased susceptibility of dissolution
accounts for the relatively high magnitude and
variability in conductivity in shallow bedrock conditions
at each of the sites described above.
The results of our study revealed our limited
understanding of the relative hydraulic importance of
 Depth in feet below
hydrostratigraphic

Fractures per foot

Plug permeability

Plug permeability
bedrock surface

horizontal (md)
vertical (in md)
Visual porosity

Plug porosity

conductivity
(feet per day)
Packer test
component

hydraulic

intervals
Matrix

Packer
Gamma log
Increasing counts
0 100% 0 40% 10-6 100 10-6 100 0 5 0 8

St. Lawrence
Formation

450
Mazomanie Member

500
Franconia Formation

550

Shaly
Ironton–Galesville

sand-
stone
Sandstone

650
Eau Claire
Formation

700

Coarse clastic Fine clastic Carbonate

component component component Plug sample

Figure 10. Hydrostratigraphic and hydraulic attributes for the Eau Claire through St. Lawrence Formations
in a deep bedrock setting at the ATES Project site in Ramsey County. Plug tests of porosity and permeability
characterize the small-scale matrix hydrostratigraphic attributes. Visual examination of core provides information
on the distribution and character of macroscopic secondary pores. Discrete interval packer tests measure the
hydraulic performance of the hydrostratigraphic components. Note that plug-scale permeability values positively
correlate with hydraulic conductivity where secondary pores are absent or rare. Fine clastic and carbonate
rock components that test at relatively low permeability have a correspondingly low conductivity except in the
lower part of the St. Lawrence Formation where dissolution cavities are present. Based on data in Walton and
others (1991), Miller and Delin (1993), and core logging as part of this investigation.

23
secondary pores at scales larger than that measured by
an individual borehole pump test, especially in deep
bedrock conditions of southeastern Minnesota. A
number of studies summarized in this report have
demonstrated that stratigraphically controlled networks
of dissolution cavities can be important hydraulic
conduits along discrete intervals of carbonate rock in
deep bedrock settings. The abundance and hydraulic
importance in deep bedrock settings of secondary pores
such as networks of systematic and bedding-plane
fractures, and other enhanced permeability features in
clastic rocks, is less defined. Borehole flowmeter tests
of clastic strata in deep bedrock conditions (described
later in this report) document the dominance of
intergranular flow in some individual boreholes and,
conversely, of flow along bedding-plane fractures in
other boreholes. Our limited subsurface data
demonstrate that hydraulically active secondary pores
therefore clearly exist in deep bedrock conditions, and
such features may be significant in the transport of water
through the aquifer at larger horizontal scales.
Indirect evidence such as water chemistry and
potentiometric levels indicates that any such fracture
networks are poorly connected vertically across units
dominated by fine clastic and carbonate strata. Those
low-permeability components have been demonstrated
to provide vertical hydraulic separation in deep bedrock
settings. Furthermore, discrete interval packer tests of
individual boreholes (Fig. 10, for example) open to
siliciclastic strata in deep bedrock conditions generally
show a positive correlation between hydraulic
conductivity and intergranular porosity and permeability.
The results of less rigorous, "standard" aquifer tests
and of thousands of specific capacity tests in
southeastern Minnesota largely show the same positive
correlation between conductivity and intergranular
porosity and permeability. Such results are compatible
with either single or multiple porosity interpretations.
On the other hand, the pump test results from a
small percentage of boreholes open to deep bedrock
conditions do not reflect intergranular permeability
alone, which suggests that a larger-scale conductivity
accommodated by secondary pores exists. For example,
the specific capacity database for some units dominated
by the coarse clastic component such as the Mt. Simon,
Ironton–Galesville, and Jordan Sandstones includes a
small percentage of statistically outlying conductivity
values that are higher than expected if intergranular
permeability was the only control on well yield. Aquifer
tests of large diameter wells, particularly those that have
been developed by blasting, include the greatest
percentage of relatively high conductivity values. These
values of hydraulic conductivity possibly correspond
to the small percentage of wells in deep bedrock
24
conditions that intersect networks of hydraulically
significant secondary pores such as bedding-plane and
systematic fractures. The majority of wells do not
intersect such fracture networks, and pump tests of those
wells do not clearly reflect the enhanced permeability
provided by this larger-scale pore system. These
observations are not compatible with simple, single
porosity, intergranular flow interpretations but are
compatible with multi-porosity interpretations.
Hydrogeologic framework
Our hydrogeologic framework (Plates 1, 2) is based
on hydraulic data interpreted within the context of the
hydrostratigraphic attributes of the Paleozoic
stratigraphic section, described in detail in the
subsequent sections of this report. The framework we
present is more complex than those depicted in previous
publications because many of the individual
lithostratigraphic units that were formerly considered
single hydrogeologic units across their entire extent are
in this report subdivided at a regional scale into two
or more aquifers and confining units.
In deep bedrock conditions, the Paleozoic strata
of southeastern Minnesota include at least eleven
aquifers, chiefly hydrostratigraphic units dominated by
coarse clastic rock or intervals of carbonate rock with
relatively abundant secondary pores. These aquifers
are separated by ten regional confining units composed
of fine clastic strata or carbonate rock with few
interconnected secondary pores. In shallow bedrock
conditions, each of the individual hydrostratigraphically
defined units, including those that provide confinement
in deep bedrock settings, are of much greater bulk
conductivity, and could be considered aquifers because
each has been demonstrated to yield economic quantities
of water. The ability of the confining units to provide
hydraulic separation in such conditions is diminished
and greatly variable on a local scale because of the
relatively enhanced development of secondary porosity.
Our hydrogeologic framework also delineates three
major "karst systems" (Plates 1, 2), based largely on
the work of Alexander and Lively (1995), Alexander
and others (1996), and Green and others (1997). A karst
system is an integrated mass-transfer system in soluble
rocks with a permeability structure dominated by
conduits dissolved from the rock and organized to
facilitate the circulation of fluid (Klimchouk and Ford,
2000). Southeastern Minnesota karst systems composed
of carbonate-dominated strata where they lie in shallow
bedrock conditions in ascending stratigraphic order
include the Prairie du Chien, Galena–Spillville, and
Cedar Valley karst systems. Each karst system is
characterized by relatively abundant secondary pores
including large cavities, and dissolution enlarged
A. B.
1400 400

1200 350
Conductivity in feet per day

Conductivity in feet per day

300
1000

250
800
200
600
150
400
100

200
50

0 0
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800

Distance in feet between the bedrock surface and the open-hole top Distance in feet between the bedrock surface and the open-hole top

C. DEEP BEDROCK CONDITIONS D. SHALLOW BEDROCK CONDITIONS

100 100

80 80

60 60
Range
Range

40 40

20 20

0 0
1,434 samples 7,192 samples

Figure 11. Hydraulic conductivity data for 8,626 wells open only to Paleozoic bedrock in southeastern Minnesota.
Calculated from specific capacity tests in the County Well Index database. Box plots (C and D) provide an
easily observable manner to view the distribution of hydraulic conductivity values. Each box in this and subsequent
conductivity figures encloses 50 percent of the values with the median value of the variable displayed as a
line. The top and bottom of the box mark the limits of 25 percent of the variable population. The lines extending
from the top and bottom of each box mark the minimum and maximum values that fall within an acceptable
range. Any value outside of this range, called an outlier, is displayed as an individual point. Note, outliers
are used in the calculations for the box plot, as well as in calculations of mean values in subsequent figures.
A. and B. Scatter plots showing the relationship between the depth of the open-hole interval below the bedrock
surface and hydraulic conductivity. Shallower wells tend to have higher conductivity. The two plots show the
same set of data at different scales.
C. Box plot of hydraulic conductivity values for deep bedrock conditions. Plot does not show 43 outlying
values greater than 100 feet per day.
D. Box plot of hydraulic conductivity values for shallow bedrock conditions. Plot does not show 682 outlying
values greater than 100 feet per day.

25
systematic and nonsystematic fractures, and rapid, direct
connections between the surface and ground water (Fig.
12). These features may be expressed at the land surface
by caves, numerous springs, and many sinkholes in areas
with only a thin cover of unconsolidated material, but
the same aquifer properties often exist in areas with
few if any obvious surface karst features. In the
subsurface the hydraulic properties of karst systems are
very heterogeneous, with large conduits that allow water
to travel as rapidly as miles per day draining matrix
blocks of very low conductivity that store water moving
much slower. The karst aquifers, also called "triple
porosity aquifers" (Worthington, 1999), are important
to ground-water management because the ground-water
movement through conduits can be extremely rapid and
difficult to predict. Catastrophic introduction and rapid
travel of contaminants are well-documented in
southeastern Minnesota (Alexander and Book, 1984;
Alexander and others, 1993; Wheeler, 1993).
HYDROGEOLOGIC ATTRIBUTES OF
INDIVIDUAL LITHOSTRATIGRAPHIC
UNITS
The hydrostratigraphic and hydraulic attributes of
each of the major lithostratigraphic units of southeastern
Minnesota are described in detail in the remainder of
this report. We present our results organized in a
manner in accordance with the standard
lithostratigraphic nomenclature of southeastern
Minnesota because these lithostratigraphic units are
entrenched in our literature, databases, maps, and
vocabulary. In addition, only lithostratigraphic units
are delineated for individual water-well sites in the
County Well Index database. Presented in this manner,
our characterization can be used in combination with
the County Well Index database and bedrock geologic
maps as a guide to predict internal hydrostratigraphic
and hydraulic variability within individual
lithostratigraphic units at regional as well as site-specific
scales.
The characterization of the hydrogeologic attributes
of individual lithostratigraphic units begins with a
description of the character and distribution of the three
principal matrix hydrostratigraphic components and a
discussion of the development of secondary porosity
in deep and shallow bedrock conditions, features that
are shown on Plates 1 and 2. This is followed by a
synopsis of hydraulic properties, compiled on Figures
13 and 14. Lastly, a discussion combines the
hydrostratigraphic and hydraulic information in an
integrated synthesis of the hydrogeologic character of
each lithostratigraphic unit, including delineation of
individual aquifers and confining units.
26
Hydraulic conductivity and flow speeds measured
for individual lithostratigraphic units are divided into
subsets of values where measurable differences in
hydraulic conductivity and productivity correspond to
internal variations in hydrostratigraphic character. For
example, hydraulic properties of each lithostratigraphic
unit are described separately for deep and shallow
bedrock conditions. Conductivity values for shallow
bedrock conditions are based on pump and flowmeter
tests of wells that are open at least in part to within
200 feet of the bedrock surface, and attributes of deep
bedrock conditions are based on tests for wells where
the uppermost 200 feet of bedrock is cased off.
The degree to which individual units are
characterized varies greatly. The Prairie du Chien
Group, Jordan Sandstone, and Franconia Formation have
been the subject of a large number of detailed
investigations in a wide range of geologic settings in
southeastern Minnesota, and as a result we summarize
significant recent advances in our understanding of the
hydrogeologic attributes of those units. Other intervals,
such as the Mt. Simon Sandstone and Galena Group,
are known to vary internally in hydraulic properties and
therefore to consist of multiple hydrostratigraphic units,
but they have not been subjected to rigorous
hydrostratigraphic and hydraulic study in Minnesota.
These units are characterized in a more cursory fashion,
and we draw heavily upon investigations of these strata
conducted outside of Minnesota.
MT. SIMON SANDSTONE
Hydrostratigraphic attributes
Matrix porosity
The Mt. Simon Sandstone is broadly divisible into
two parts based on intergranular attributes (Figs. 15,
16). The lower Mt. Simon Sandstone across most of
southeastern Minnesota consists chiefly of a coarse
clastic component that is moderately to poorly
cemented. Plug test permeability is commonly greater
than 1,000 md in both vertical and horizontal directions
(MUGSP, 1980). Fine clastic interbeds are a subordinate
component in the lower Mt. Simon Sandstone; they are
most abundant in Fillmore, Houston, and Winona
Counties in southeastern Minnesota
The upper part of the Mt. Simon Sandstone across
most of southeastern Minnesota is hydrostratigraphically
more complex (Figs. 15, 16). It consists of
approximately equal parts coarse clastic and fine clastic
strata intercalated in beds from a few feet to as much
as 30 feet thick. Plug tests from individual boreholes
demonstrate that vertical permeability ranges over ten
orders of magnitude: coarse clastic intervals are
commonly over 1,000 md, whereas fine clastic intervals
commonly have values from 10 -6 to 10 -3 md. Some
individual plug samples are strongly anisotropic, with
a horizontal permeability 1,000 times greater than
vertical.
Secondary porosity
Deep bedrock conditions—Our knowledge of
secondary porosity in the Mt. Simon Sandstone in deep
bedrock settings is extremely limited. Conventional
wisdom maintains that as a friable, mostly high porosity
unit covered by layers of younger bedrock of contrasting
material properties, interconnected networks of open
systematic fractures may not be developed to an
appreciable degree (Price and Cosgrove, 1990; Helgeson
and Aydin, 1991; Narr and Suppe, 1991). An unproved
assumption by previous investigators is that
interconnected networks of fractures and dissolution
features are rare to absent in the Mt. Simon Sandstone
in deep bedrock settings and therefore porosity and
permeability are determined chiefly by intergranular
attributes.
Shallow bedrock conditions—The Mt. Simon
Sandstone occurs in a relatively shallow bedrock setting
along the Mississippi River and the lower reaches of
its tributaries in southeastern Minnesota (Mossler and

Stream
sinks
Blind valley Sinkholes

Seepage

Surface
stream

Fractures
Caves

Sump

Spring
EXPLANATION
Non-systematic fractures
Coarse clastic component (some dissolution enlarged)

Systematic fractures (some

Fine clastic component dissolution enlarged)

Dissolution features—cavities
Carbonate component and enlarged bedding-plane fractures

Surficial deposits Water

Figure 12. Typical attributes of a karst system in southeastern Minnesota. Such systems are developed most
commonly in carbonate rock in shallow bedrock conditions. Any fracture or cavity may contain ground water
in this karst system.

27
Book, 1984; Mossler, 1990, 2001; Mossler and
Bloomgren, 1990; Runkel, 1996a, 1998). However, it
is deeply buried by unconsolidated Quaternary sediment
in these areas and has not been studied using subsurface
techniques that provide information on secondary pores.
The Mt. Simon Sandstone has open, systematic and
nonsystematic fractures where it is well exposed in large
outcrops in west-central Wisconsin, such as in the cities
of Eau Claire and Chippewa Falls. Although Minnesota
lacks large outcrops that can be confidently assigned
to the Mt. Simon Sandstone, the characteristics of the
formation in Wisconsin suggest that open fractures are
present in the Mt. Simon Sandstone where it occurs
in shallow bedrock conditions in southeastern
Minnesota.
Hydraulic attributes
Deep bedrock conditions—A large number of
discrete interval and standard aquifer tests of the Mt.
Simon Sandstone where it occurs in deep bedrock
conditions (Fig. 13) in Illinois, southern Wisconsin, and
southeastern Minnesota have a range in hydraulic
conductivity from 0.38 to 21 feet per day (Nicholas
and others, 1987; Young, 1992; Carlson and Taylor,
1999). The lowest values are calculated from tests of
wells where the Mt. Simon Sandstone is buried by
several hundred to thousands of feet of younger bedrock.
Studies in Illinois have demonstrated that in such
settings the intergranular permeability in the sandstone
is reduced compared to shallower conditions of burial
as a result of the enhanced development of pore-filling
cement and compaction (Hoholick and others, 1984).
The highest values of hydraulic conductivity, those
greater than 12 feet per day, are calculated from tests
of wells within a few miles of the Mississippi River,
where the Mt. Simon Sandstone occurs much closer
to the bedrock surface.
The hydrostratigraphically complex upper Mt.
Simon Sandstone has not been individually tested to
determine its conductivity in Minnesota. Nicholas and
others (1987) calculated a bulk horizontal hydraulic
conductivity of 1.3 feet per day for the upper part of
the Mt. Simon Sandstone in Illinois, where it contains
alternating beds of coarse clastic and fine clastic strata
(Fig. 15), similar to Minnesota. This bulk conductivity
value most likely is a measure of the individual, high
permeability coarse clastic beds in the upper part of
the formation. In contrast, individual beds of the fine
clastic component in the upper Mt. Simon Sandstone
will have a horizontal hydraulic conductivity of about
10 -3 to 10 -1 foot per day, and a vertical hydraulic
conductivity between 10 -5 and 10 -3 foot per day based
on tests of strata with similar matrix porosity and
permeability in other Paleozoic formations in
28
southeastern Minnesota (for example Miller and Delin,
1993).
Hydraulic conductivity values based on specific
capacity tests for 25 wells open to the Mt. Simon
Sandstone in deep conditions of burial are depicted in
Figure 17. The values typically range from less than
one to as much as 50 feet per day, and average
conductivity is 39.5 feet per day. Exclusion of two
outlying values greater than 240 feet per day from the
database results in a calculated average conductivity
of 21 feet per day, a value more consistent with the
higher-quality pump tests described above, and with
conductivity values calculated for other deeply buried
Paleozoic aquifers dominated by intergranular flow
through the coarse clastic component in southeastern
Minnesota (described later in this report). The two
outlying values of greater than 240 feet per day were
calculated from tests of wells that were developed by
blasting or decompression techniques, and if accurate
they may reflect a significant contribution of yield from
a network of hydraulic fractures.
Shallow bedrock conditions—Hydraulic
conductivity values calculated from specific capacity
tests for 165 wells open to the upper and lower parts
of the Mt. Simon Sandstone under shallow bedrock
conditions have a range from less than 1 to 70 feet per
day. Average hydraulic conductivity is 29.3 feet per
day (Fig. 17). The greater range in conductivity
compared to deep bedrock conditions probably reflects
a higher percentage of wells in which significant
contribution occurs through networks of fractures.
Hydrogeologic synthesis
The Mt. Simon Sandstone is hydro-stratigraphically
complex because it contains two intercalated
components, the coarse clastic and fine clastic
components, that differ markedly from one another in
permeability (Figs. 15, 16). Similar hydrostratigraphic
properties have been described for the Mt. Simon
Sandstone in Illinois and Wisconsin, where
hydrogeologic investigations have demonstrated that the
intercalations of fine clastic material serve as a confining
unit(s) in deep bedrock settings (Nicholas and others,
1987; Carlson and Taylor, 1999). Packer tests in the
Illinois study demonstrated that even though the upper
Mt. Simon Sandstone contains coarse clastic intervals
that provide moderately high bulk horizontal
conductivity, fine clastic interbeds have low enough
vertical conductivity to function as a confining unit(s)
that separates an upper from a lower Mt. Simon aquifer
(Fig. 15). Potentiometric heads in the two aquifers
differed from one another by over 50 feet, and water
in the lower aquifer is different from the upper in
fundamental water chemistry, particularly in its order
of magnitude higher concentration of chloride and
sodium (Nicholas and others, 1987). Preliminary results
of an ongoing investigation of the Mt. Simon Sandstone
in southeastern Wisconsin using borehole, flowmeter,
temperature, and water chemistry data have similarly
indicated the presence of a "middle" confining unit that
divides the formation into two distinct aquifers (K.
Bradbury, unpub. data, 2001).
Unpublished investigations of the Mt. Simon
Sandstone in the three-county Waseca–Waterville area
of southeastern Minnesota (Fig. 1) indicated that fine
clastic interbeds in the middle to upper Mt. Simon
Sandstone may serve as confining units (MUGSP, 1980),
as they do in Illinois and Wisconsin (Fig. 15). There
are at least two fine clastic intervals of Mt. Simon
Sandstone in that area that are of sufficient thickness
and low permeability to function as hydraulic caps that
could potentially confine natural gas stored in the coarse
clastic material beneath them. These intervals,
designated Cap Rock A and Cap Rock B as part of the
MUGSP, suggest that the Mt. Simon Sandstone in the
Waseca–Waterville area may be divisible into a lower,
middle, and upper aquifer. The lower and middle
aquifers are dominated by high-conductivity coarse
clastic strata, whereas the upper Mt. Simon aquifer
consists of alternating thin to medium beds of coarse
and fine clastic material. Ground-water chemistry from
two boreholes indicated that water from the lower Mt.
Simon aquifer has measurably greater dissolved solids,
including chloride concentration that is as much as 6
times higher than that of water in the middle and upper
Mt. Simon aquifers (MUGSP, 1980).
The common practice of depicting the entire Mt.
Simon Sandstone as a single aquifer in Minnesota
should be reevaluated because the formation may be
internally compartmentalized into two or more
hydrogeologic units (Fig. 15, for example). Although
coarse clastic beds across its entire stratigraphic extent
can yield economic quantities of water, the fine clastic
beds, which are most common in its upper one-half,
are commonly as thick and of similar matrix
hydrostratigraphic properties as younger Paleozoic
layers demonstrated to act as confining beds in
southeastern Minnesota, such as those intercalated with
coarse clastic layers in the lower St. Peter Sandstone
in the Twin Cities Metropolitan area (Kanivetsky and
Cleland, 1992). Studies of ground-water chemistry in
the Mt. Simon Sandstone should in particular be
conducted with consideration of multiple aquifers,
particularly because water contributed from the
Precambrian "basement" may be confined largely to the
lowermost part of the formation.
29
EAU CLAIRE FORMATION
Hydrostratigraphic attributes
Matrix porosity
The Eau Claire Formation is composed chiefly of
the fine clastic component, with vertical permeabilities
that typically range from 10-5 to 10-3 md (Figs. 16, 18).
It varies little in its matrix character across most of
southeastern Minnesota, containing only relatively thin
(typically less than 10 feet) coarse clastic interbeds in
its upper part in Wabasha, Winona, and Houston
Counties (Runkel, 1996a). One exception is in Faribault
and adjacent counties where the Eau Claire Formation
reaches its greatest thickness, and includes a
hydrostratigraphically distinct "greensand" facies
dominated by fine- to medium-grained glauconitic
sandstone as thick as 100 feet (Fig. 18; Mossler, 1992).
This coarse clastic component has plug-scale
permeabilities that are orders of magnitude higher than
the bulk of the Eau Claire Formation elsewhere in
southeastern Minnesota.
Secondary porosity
Deep bedrock conditions—Our knowledge of
secondary porosity in deep bedrock conditions is
limited. Intergranular permeability is widely believed
to be the chief control on hydraulic behavior in deep
bedrock settings. Logged cores and a few borehole
videos corroborate that secondary pores are rare in the
Eau Claire Formation (Figs. 16, 18), occurring mostly
as small dissolution cavities in dolostone beds that
compose a relatively minor part of the Eau Claire
Formation across southeastern Minnesota. A borehole
video of Brooklyn Park municipal well 4 (Minnesota
Department of Health borehole video library, unique
number 203265) revealed the presence of a systematic
fracture with an inch-scale aperture over 300 feet below
the bedrock surface in the Eau Claire Formation. The
well had been blasted and bailed to increase
productivity—procedures that may have increased the
aperture of the fracture.
Shallow bedrock conditions—In shallow bedrock
conditions, the Eau Claire Formation has features typical
of fine clastic rock that has been subjected to stress
relief and weathering. Nonsystematic fractures are
common in outcrops of the Eau Claire Formation in
Minnesota and adjacent parts of Wisconsin, including
irregular, sub-vertical fractures a few inches in width
and bedding-plane fractures that can be traced tens of
feet laterally. Large quarries of Eau Claire Formation
rock in west-central Wisconsin commonly have
systematic fractures with apertures as wide as several
 DEEP BEDROCK CONDTIONS SHALLOW BEDROCK CONDITIONS

Dcuu Pumped at 30 gpm Pumped at 17 gpm Dcuu

with no drawdown (1) with no drawdown (1) Kh 92 ft/day (1)

Dcum Kh 26 ft/day (1) Dcum

Kh 5.3 ft/day (1)
Kh 13.4 ft/day (1)

Dclc Dclc

Kh 25 ft/day (1) Kh >190 ft/day (1)

Kh 0.8 ft/day (1)

Kh 67 ft/day (2)
Dclp Dclp

Kh >174 ft/day (1)

Kh 5.3 ft/day (1)

Kh 0.5 ft/day (1)
Dspl Dspl
Kh 39 ft/day (3)

30
Omaq Omaq
Kh <10-4 to 10-3 ft/day (4) Kh maximum of 1 to 2 ft/day (6)
Kh 10-3 to 28 ft/day (4, 5) Kh 8.9 x 10-4 to 3 x 10-2 ft/day (6)
Odub Odub

Horizontal flow speeds 0.23

miles/yr to 1.8 miles/day (6)
Kh <10-2 ft/day (7)
Vertical flow speed ~260 ft
Kh 64.6 ft/day (2)
Kh 6.5 ft/day (2) Kh mostly 10-3 to 10-2 ft/day in less than 7 months (6) Kh 3 to 11 ft/day (6)
Ogal except discrete thin intervals Kh 10-3 to 300 ft/day (8) Ogal
Maximum of 2 to 7 ft/day
1.4 to 14 ft/day (4)
some substantially lower
(pumped dry) (6)

Odcr Kh <10-6 ft/day (9) Kh 60.1 ft/day (2) Odcr

Kh <10-2 ft/day (7) Kh <10-1 to > hundreds of ft/day (10)

Opvl Kh 72 ft/day (2) Opvl
Kh 10-3 to 10-2 ft/day with thin intervals to 10-1 ft/day (4) Travel times of up to 1 mile/day (11)
Ogwd Kv 10-6 ft/day (9) Ogwd

Kh 38.7 ft/day (2)

Kh 1.8 ft/day (7)
Ostp
Kv 10-3 ft/day (12)
Kh 8.4 ft/day (4)
Kh 20 to 30 ft/day (14)
Kh 15.9 ft/day (2) Ostp
Kh 24 to 30 ft/day (15)
Kh 1.3 to 3.7 ft/day (13)
Kh ~20 ft/day (16)

Opsh
Flow speed 6.5 miles/day (17)
Kh 837 ft/day (20a)
Opod

jdn
Kh 10-2 ft/day (25)
Kv 10-4 ft/day (25)
Kh 14.0 ft/day (2)

stl Kh 10-2 to 6.7 ft/day (27)
Kv 10-4 ft/day (28)
31
Kh 1.4 to 7.5 ft/day (27)
Kv 0.14 to 0.75 ft/day (27)

frn
Kh ≤ 10-2 ft/day (27)
Kv ≤ 10-4 ft/day (27)
Kh 5 ft/day (27)
Kv 0.5 ft/day (27)

igl
Kh 1.6 to 7.9 ft/day (27)
Kv 0.16 to 0.79 ft/day (27)
Kh 10-2 ft/day (27)

ecr Kv 10-4 ft/day (27)
Kh 10-3 to 10-2 ft/day (35)
Coarse clastic Kh 1.3 ft/day (7)
Fine clastic Kh 10-2 ft/day; kv 10-4 ft/day (25)

mts
Kh 1.5 ft/day (7)
10 ft intervals Kh range
from 1.6 to 65 ft/day (19)
Kh 9 ft/day (18)
Kh 45 ft/day (22)
Up to 800 ft/day travel (19) Opsh
Discrete <3 ft intervals Kh 163 ft/day (23)
Kh range from 2.2 to Kv 1.75 ft/day (23)
Kh 0.1 ft/day (21)
Kh 33.5 ft/day (2) Kh 60.8 1,023 ft/day (20)
ft/day (2)
(likely yielded by Bulk Kh ranges from
discrete intervals 5.3 to 18 ft/day (20)
of high conductivity
separated by intervals
with low conductivity) Opod
Kh 7.5 x 10-3 ft/day (23)
Kv 1.5 x 10-4 ft/day (23)
Kv 10-4 ft/day (24)
Kh 17.4 ft/day (2) Kh 43.2 ft/day (2)
Kh 0.1 to 100 ft/day (22)
jdn
Kh 8.0 to 24 ft/day (26) Kh approx. 30 to >500 ft/day (22)
Kh 9.3 and 20 ft/day (29)
stl
Kh 46 ft/day (2)
Kh 32.3 ft/day where Mazomanie
Member is thin to absent (2)
Kh 5.9 ft/day where Mazomanie
Member is thin to absent (2) Kh 31.7 ft/day where Mazomanie
Member is thick (2) Kh 10-2 to 85 ft/day (31)
frn
Kh 27.8 ft/day where Mazomanie
Member is thick (2) Kh 3 ft/day with discrete intervals Kh 10-1 ft/day (32)
avg. 220 ft/day (30)
Kh 10.8 ft/day (2)
Kh 3 ft/day (18) Kh 26.8 ft/day (2)
Kh 10 ft/day (18) Kh 10 to 100 ft/day (35)
igl
Kh 11 ft/day (33) Kh avg. 20 ft/day (35)
Kh 2.9 to 31 ft/day (34)
Kh 36.7 ft/day (2)
ecr
Kh 39.5 ft/day (2)
Kh 17 ft/day (36) Kh 29.3 ft/day (2)
mts
Kh 1.5 to 5 ft/day (37)
Kh 0.38 to 21 ft/day (38)
Figure 13
Explanation to Figure 13 is on pages 32 and 33.
 EXPLANATION

Coarse clastic component Non-systematic fractures Kh—Horizontal hydraulic conductivity

Fine clastic component
Carbonate component
(some dissolution enlarged)
Kv—Vertical hydraulic conductivity
Systematic fractures (some
ft/day—Feet per day
dissolution enlarged)
gpm—Gallons per minute
Dissolution features—cavities
and enlarged bedding-plane
fractures

Figure 13. Figure appears on pages 30 and 31. Generalized stratigraphic column of Paleozoic strata in
southeastern Minnesota showing matrix hydrostratigraphic components, typical development of secondary porosity,
and hydraulic data compiled for this report. Figure is not to scale. Hydraulic data for these figures (numbers
in parentheses) are from the following (see Fig. 1 for the location of listed counties):
1. Discrete interval packer testing in northern Iowa (Floyd and Mitchell Counties) by Libra and Hallberg
(1985).
2. Average value of conductivity calculated based on specific capacity tests in the County Well Index
database.
3. Standard aquifer pump test of the LeRoy municipal well (unique number 127280) by J. Green of the
Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, Mower County.
4. Discrete interval packer tests in Illinois by Kempton and others (1987), Curry and others (1988), and
Graese and others (1988).
5. Discrete interval packer tests in Wisconsin by Eaton and others (2000).
6. Discrete interval packer tests and dye-trace studies at the Spring Valley Amoco terminal by Delta
Environmental Consultants, Inc. (1995, 1998), Fillmore County.
7. Discrete interval packer tests in Illinois by Nicholas and others (1987).
8. Discrete interval slug tests in Wisconsin by Stocks (1998).
9. Based on laboratory analysis of plug tests and typical results of pump tests of similar strata (Freeze
and Cherry, 1979).
10. Standard aquifer pump tests at Reilly Tar and Chemical site in St. Louis Park, Hennepin County, reported
by ERT (1987) and ENSR International (1991); at General Mills Solvent Disposal site in northeast Minneapolis,
Hennepin County, by Barr Engineering (1991); and at Minnehaha Park tunnel in Hennepin County by Liesch
(1973). These and other site investigations with similar results are summarized in Hoffman and Alexander
(1998).
11. Dye-trace investigations in western Wisconsin (Hoffman and Alexander, 1998) and at Camp Coldwater
Spring, Hennepin County (Alexander and others, 2001).
12. Standard aquifer pump tests and modeling in the seven-county Twin Cities Metropolitan area by
Schoenberg (1991).
13. Seven boreholes packer tested in southern Wisconsin (Young, 1992).
14. Standard aquifer tests of several wells at the Reilly Tar and Chemical site in St. Louis Park, Hennepin
County. Includes tests of St. Louis Park municipal well number 3, and monitor well W410 (Barr Engineering,
1976; and an anonymous report in the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency site files).
15. Standard aquifer tests of four wells in Ramsey and Hennepin Counties reported in Norvitch and Walton
(1979). Conductivity was calculated using an aquifer thickness of 100 feet.
16. Standard aquifer test at the Nutting Site in Faribault, Rice County (Barr Engineering, 1986).
17. Fillmore County dye-trace study by Wheeler (1993).
18. Standard aquifer pump test of Spring Grove municipal well #4 (unique number 433257), Houston
County (Eder and Associates, 1997).
19. Discrete interval tests and dye-trace studies at Oronoco Landfill, Olmsted County, by Donahue and
Associates, Inc. (1991) and RMT, Inc. (1992).
20. Borehole flowmeter logging and pumping at wells in:

32
 A. Faribault (unique number 625327), Rice County.
B. Rochester (unique number 485610), Olmsted County.
21. Standard aquifer pump test of a well at Chatfield Fish and Game Club in Fillmore County (unique
number 227394).
22. Twenty-six standard aquifer pump tests conducted in southeastern Minnesota. Tests of 12 boreholes
located in the seven-county Twin Cities Metropolitan area are reported by Runkel and others (1999). Tests
of 14 boreholes outside of the metropolitan area are from unpublished data compiled by the U.S. Geological
Survey and include the following: Rochester Municipal wells 23 (unique number 220660), 27 (unique number
224212), 28 (unique number 180567), 29 (unique number 161425), 30 (unique number 239761), 31 (unique
number 434041), 32 (unique number 506819), and 34 (unique number 463536), Rochester public schools
wells for Ridgeway (unique number 235583), Burr Oak (unique number 220615), and Golden Hill (unique
number 220679), all in Olmsted County, and Rice County wells at Carleton College (unique number 171005),
Dundas (unique number 132294), and St. Olaf College (no number).
23. Standard aquifer pump tests at the New Brighton and Arden Hills Twin Cities Army Ammunition Plant
site, Ramsey County, by Camp, Dresser and McKee (1991).
24. Standard aquifer pump test by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and Minnesota Department
of Health at Plainview in Wabasha County.
25. Based on discrete interval packer tests of similar strata of other parts of the Paleozoic section in Ramsey
County by Miller and Delin (1993).
26. Three boreholes packer tested in southwest Wisconsin (Young, 1992).
27. Discrete interval packer test in Ramsey County by Miller and Delin (1993).
28. Discrete interval packer tests and thermal profiling at the ATES Project site in Ramsey County by
Kanivetsky (1989).
29. Two boreholes packer tested in southwest Wisconsin (Young, 1992).
30. Borehole flowmeter and discrete interval slug tests in southeastern Wisconsin (Swanson, 2001). Strata
tested include interbeds of the Mazomanie Member.
31. Slug testing of monitor wells at a proposed ash disposal site at Red Wing in Goodhue County by
Wenck and Associates, Inc. (1997).
32. Standard aquifer pump tests at Lakeland, Washington County by Braun Intertec (1992).
33. Standard aquifer pump test of Peterson Fish Hatchery (unique number 467232), Fillmore County.
34. Nine wells packer tested in Illinois and southern Wisconsin, reported by Young (1992).
35. Discrete interval slug tests in southeastern Wisconsin (Bradbury, 2001).
36. Standard aquifer pump test of Goodview municipal well 3 (unique number 449410), Winona County.
37. Packer tests in Wisconsin by Carlson and Taylor (1999).
38. Seventeen wells packer tested in southern Wisconsin and Illinois, reported by Young (1992).

Key to lithostratigraphic units:

mts—Mt. Simon Sandstone

frn—Franconia Formation
Opod—Prairie du Chien Group–
Oneota Dolomite
Ogwd—Glenwood Formation
Ogal—Galena Group
Dspl—Spillville Formation
Dcum—Coralville Formation and
Hinkle and Eagle Center
Members of the Little Cedar
Formation

ecr—Eau Claire Formation

stl—St. Lawrence Formation
Opsh—Prairie du Chien Group–
Shakopee Formation
Opvl—Platteville Formation
Odub—Dubuque Formation
Dclp—Pinicon Ridge Formation and
Bassett Member of the
Little Cedar Formation
Dcuu—Lithograph City Formation

igl—Ironton–Galesville Sandstone

jdn—Jordan Sandstone
Ostp—St. Peter Sandstone
Odcr—Decorah Shale
Omaq—Maquoketa Formation
Dclc—Chickasaw Member of the
Little Cedar Formation

33
 DEEP BEDROCK CONDITIONS SHALLOW BEDROCK CONDITIONS
100 100

80 80

60 60

Range
Range

40 40

20 20

0 0

mts
igl
frn1
frn2
stl
jdn Opdc Ostp Ogal Dspl
mts
ecr
igl
frn1
frn2
stl
jdn Opdc Ostp Opvl Odcr Ogal Dcom

DEEP BEDROCK CONDITIONS SHALLOW BEDROCK CONDITIONS

600 600

500 500

400 400
Range

Range

300 300

200 200

100 100

0 0

mts
igl
frn1
frn2
stl
jdn Opdc Ostp Ogal Dspl
mts
ecr
igl
frn1
frn2
stl
jdn Opdc Ostp Opvl Odcr Ogal Dcom

Figure 14. Comparison of conductivity values (in feet per day) calculated from specific capacity data. The
datasets for deep and shallow bedrock conditons are each plotted at two different scales. In deep bedrock conditions,
the formations with the highest conductivity are those that contain coarse clastic strata, or are composed of
carbonate rock with dissolution cavities. The former include the Mt. Simon, Ironton–Galesville, Jordan, and
St. Peter Sandstones, and the Franconia Formation only where the Mazomanie Member is present. The formations
that are composed of carbonate rock with dissolution cavities include the St. Lawrence Formation and the Prairie
du Chien Group. In shallow bedrock conditions, conductivity is much more variable, and each of the
lithostratigraphic units can have moderate to high conductivities, regardless of matrix characteristics. Therefore
all are used as an economic source of ground water.
The database from which these conductivity values have been calculated consists of tests of water wells
constructed expressly for the purpose of extracting economic quantities of water. The values of conductivity
are therefore chiefly representative of the most productive intervals of Paleozoic strata in a given geologic setting,
and do not include a large sample of values representative of intervals of strata with relatively low conductivity.
Lithostratigraphic units:

mts—Mt. Simon Sandstone
ecr—Eau Claire Formation
igl—Ironton–Galesville Sandstone

frn 1—Franconia Formation where the Mazomanie Member is thin to absent

frn 2—Franconia Formation where the Mazomanie Member forms a substantial component of the formation

stl—St. Lawrence Formation
jdn—Jordan Sandstone Opdc—Prairie du Chien Group
Ostp—St. Peter Sandstone Opvl—Platteville Formation Odcr—Decorah Shale
Ogal—Galena Group Dspl—Spillville Formation Dcom—All strata above the Galena Group

34
 A.
A A'
St. Paul Vermillion Lonsdale Waseca–Waterville Owatonna Hollandale Rushford
Eau Claire 200190 226617 235526 213644 and 213646 219022 223082 467232
Formation Eau Claire
Formation

Upper (transition)
Upper Mt.Simon aquifer
Mt. Simon
Upper
Sandstone Cap Rock A Mt. Simon
Sandstone
Middle
Mt. Simon
aquifer

Cap Rock B
Lower
Mt. Simon
Sandstone Lower
Mt. Simon nt"

500 feet
brian "base aquifer eme
cam

m
n "bas

e
Increasing counts Pr e nt bria
" cam
Pre Lower
Mt. Simon
B. Illinois Sandstone
Eau Claire
Formation

35
Coarse clastic component Upper
Mt. Simon
Fine clastic component aquifer

Mt. Simon
confining
A unit

Figure 15. A. Hydrostratigraphic attributes of the Mt. Simon

Sandstone and representative natural gamma logs across part
Lower
of southeastern Minnesota. Note that although the Mt. Simon Mt. Simon
A' Sandstone consists chiefly of coarse clastic strata, it also aquifer
contains substantially thick intervals dominated by the fine
clastic component, particularly in its upper part. Such
interbeds were determined to be of low conductivity and have
200 feet

the ability to provide confinement in the Waseca–Waterville

area. Unique numbers are listed above the boreholes.
Increasing counts
B. Natural gamma log and hydrogeologic units defined for
the hydrostratigraphically similar Mt. Simon Sandstone in
Illinois (Nicholas and others, 1987).
 hydrostratigraphic
Lithostratigraphic

bedrock surface

permeability
Depth below

Fractures
component

Porosity
porosity

per foot

Vertical
Visual
Matrix
unit
Gamma log 0 100% 0 5 0 40% 10-6 100 md

Increasing counts

Oneota Dolomite 200'

Prehn #3 Pratt #3
250'
Jordan Sandstone

300'

Coarse clastic component

St. Lawrence Formation

350' Fine clastic component

Carbonate component

400'
Interval of no core recovery

450'
Franconia F ormation

Figure 16. Distribution of porosity and

permeability of the Mt. Simon Sandstone
500'
through Oneota Dolomite in deep bedrock
conditions in the Waseca–Waterville area.
Matrix porosity and permeability is low except
in the coarse clastic component. Secondary
550'
porosity is minimally developed except for
Lloyd Williams #4 Prehn #3

dissolution cavities developed in specific

Eau Claire Ironton–Galesville

horizons of carbonate rock in the St. Lawrence

Sandstone

and Steinhaus #1

Formation and Oneota Dolomite, and in

600'
carbonate-rich intraclasts in the Franconia
Formation. The Oneota Dolomite cavities were
developed about 150 to 200 feet below the
Formation

bedrock surface, in the transition between

650'
shallow and deep bedrock conditions. Plug
samples were collected at approximately one-
foot intervals. Gray shading on the porosity
and permeability logs are estimated values
Mt. Simon Sandstone

700'
corresponding to intervals of no core recovery,
Mt. Simon
Cap Rock A chiefly where coarse clastic beds were present,
and are based on plug tests of nearby cores and
from Setterholm and others (1991). Cores Pratt
750'
3, Prehn 3, Lloyd Williams 4, and Steinhaus
1.

36
A.
300
Figure 17. Hydraulic conductivity data for the Mt.
Simon Sandstone calculated from specific capacity
250 tests. See Figure 11 for an explanation of box plots.
Conductivity in feet per day

A. Scatter plot showing the relationship between

200 the depth of the open-hole interval below the bedrock
surface and hydraulic conductivity. Shallower wells
150 tend to have higher conductivity.
B. Box plot of hydraulic conductivity values for
100 deep bedrock conditions. Two outlying values
greater than 200 feet per day are not shown.
50 C. Box plot of hydraulic conductivity values for
shallow bedrock conditions. One outlying value of
0 990 feet per day is not shown.
0 200 400 600 800 1000
Distance in feet between the bedrock surface and the open-hole top

B. DEEP BEDROCK CONDITIONS C. SHALLOW BEDROCK CONDITIONS

200 200

150 150
Range
Range

100 100

50 50

0 0
25 samples 165 samples
Average 39.5 feet per day Average 29.3 feet per day

inches in the fine clastic component.
Hydraulic attributes
Deep bedrock conditions—Discrete interval pump
tests of the fine clastic component in the Eau Claire
Formation in deep bedrock conditions measured a
horizontal hydraulic conductivity value of less than 10-
2
foot per day (Miller and Delin, 1993). Fine clastic
strata of the Eau Claire Formation in southeastern
Wisconsin yielded similar values of horizontal
conductivity based on slug tests, about 10-3 to 10-2 foot
per day (Bradbury, 2001; Swanson, 2001). Vertical
conductivity has been estimated at 10-4 foot per day
(Fig. 10; Miller and Delin, 1993), which is consistent
with the low intergranular permeability and anisotropy
measured in plug samples. Coarse clastic beds in the
upper part of the formation have not been individually
tested, but can be expected to have a hydraulic
conductivity of as much as a few tens of feet per day
based on tests of similar coarse clastic strata in deep
bedrock conditions.
Only seven wells in the County Well Index database
draw water from the Eau Claire Formation in deep
bedrock conditions. These wells are open to the upper
part of the formation in Winona, Houston, and Wabasha
Counties, where the formation is known to contain
coarse clastic interbeds. Well records did not contain
the information necessary to calculate hydraulic
conductivity.
Shallow bedrock conditions—Scientifically rigorous
hydraulic tests of the Eau Claire Formation under
shallow bedrock conditions have not been conducted,
but detailed, site-specific studies of

37
hydrostratigraphically similar parts of the Franconia
Formation (described later in this report) suggest that
the Eau Claire Formation in shallow bedrock settings
probably has a great range in hydraulic conductivity,
from 10-2 foot to a few tens of feet per day.
Hydraulic conductivity calculated from specific
capacity tests of 249 wells open to the Eau Claire
Formation in shallow bedrock settings typically range
from less than one to as much 100 feet per day, and
average 36.7 feet per day (Fig. 19). These values are
within the typical range for coarse clastic units that have
a much greater matrix permeability than the Eau Claire
Formation, such as the Jordan aquifer, and therefore
support the hypothesis that fracture porosity in the Eau
Claire Formation can at least locally result in moderately
high bulk hydraulic conductivity.
Hydrogeologic synthesis
Previous work based on potentiometric data plotted
at both local and regional scales has clearly
demonstrated that all or part of the Eau Claire Formation
has the ability to function as a confining unit in deep
bedrock conditions (for example Delin and Woodward,
1984; Miller, 1984), even though intercalations of the
coarse clastic component in its upper part may be
utilized as local aquifers in saturated conditions (Runkel,
1996a). The "greensand" facies in Faribault and
adjacent counties could yield moderate quantities of
water in deep bedrock conditions, based on relatively
high values of plug permeability, but it has not been
hydraulically tested as a discrete hydrogeologic unit.
The hydrogeologic character of the Eau Claire
Formation in shallow bedrock conditions may be much
more complex than in deep conditions as a result of
flow along fractures. Visible seeps occur along bedding-
plane fractures in bluffside exposures of the Eau Claire
Formation in Wabasha County along U.S. Highway 61,
2.5 miles south of its intersection with U.S. Highway
60. In addition, the Eau Claire Formation is used as
a source of water for over 400 wells in the County Well
Index database, demonstrating that it can yield moderate
to even large quantities of water, and be properly
classified as an aquifer, in shallow bedrock conditions.
The majority of these wells (335) are located in the
northern part of the Twin Cities Metropolitan area and
along the St. Croix and Mississippi Rivers from Chisago
County south to the Iowa border, where the Eau Claire
Formation is the uppermost bedrock. Given the low
intergranular permeability of most of the Eau Claire
Formation, water in these wells is probably drawn
chiefly through fracture networks. The relative
effectiveness and scale at which the Eau Claire
Formation can provide confinement of the underlying
38
Mt. Simon Sandstone in such a setting is in need of
further investigation.
IRONTON AND GALESVILLE
SANDSTONES
Hydrostratigraphic attributes
Matrix porosity
The Ironton and Galesville Sandstones have
historically been combined as a single map unit because
both are dominated by the coarse clastic component
(Figs. 10, 16, 18). However, this unit can be divided,
at least locally, into two subcomponents: a "clean"
coarse clastic component and a shaly coarse clastic
component (Runkel, 1996a). The latter component
contains an appreciable amount of silt and shale as thin
interbeds, and as matrix between sand grains. It
typically occurs in the upper one-half of the Ironton–
Galesville Sandstone, an interval corresponding to the
uppermost Galesville and lowermost Ironton
lithostratigraphic units.
The clean and shaly coarse clastic components have
not been studied in the detail necessary to quantitatively
compare their permeability. Plug samples of the clean
coarse clastic component commonly have a permeability
of 10 2 to 10 3 md in both a horizontal and vertical
direction (Figs. 10, 16, 18). The shaly component may
have a much lower permeability, especially in a vertical
direction, because of the presence of clay and silt-sized
particles filling pore spaces between sand grains and
as thin laminations.
Secondary porosity
Deep bedrock conditions—Our knowledge of
secondary porosity in deep bedrock conditions is
extremely limited. Inasmuch as the Ironton–Galesville
Sandstone is a friable, high porosity layer of strata
covered by younger bedrock of contrasting material
properties, networks of interconnected, open vertical
fractures are believed to be poorly developed at best
(Price and Cosgrove, 1990; Helgeson and Aydin, 1991;
Narr and Suppe, 1991). Thin (a few inches or less)
bedding-plane fractures can be seen on video logs of
some boreholes (for example unique number 255768,
Minnesota Department of Health Borehole Video
Library), but their abundance and lateral extent is not
known. An unproven assumption by previous
investigators is that fractures and dissolution features
are uncommon in the Ironton–Galesville Sandstone in
deep bedrock settings and therefore porosity and
permeability is determined chiefly by intergranular
attributes.
Shallow bedrock conditions—The
 hydrostratigraphic
Lithostratigraphic

bedrock surface

permeability
Depth below

Fractures
component

Porosity
porosity

per foot

Vertical
Visual
Gamma log

Matrix
unit
Increasing counts
0 100% 0 5 0 40% 10-6 100 md

Oneota
Dolomite

Jordan Sandstone
500'

550'

Coarse clastic component

Fine clastic component

St. Lawrence Formation

600'
Carbonate component

Interval of no core recovery

650'
Franconia Formation

700'
Figure 18. Distribution of porosity and
permeability of the Mt. Simon Sandstone
through Oneota Dolomite in deep bedrock
750'
conditions at Bricelyn. Matrix porosity
and permeability is low except in the
coarse clastic component. Secondary
porosity is minimally developed except
Ironton–Galesville

800'
for dissolution cavities developed in
Sandstone

specific beds of carbonate rock in the St.

Lawrence and lower Franconia
Formations, the Oneota Dolomite, and in
850' carbonate-rich intraclasts in the upper part
of the Franconia Formation. Plug samples
were collected at approximately one foot
intervals. Gray shading on the porosity
and permeability logs are estimated values
"Greensand facies"

900'
corresponding to intervals of no core
Schroeder #5 Schroeder #1

recovery, chiefly where coarse clastic

beds were present, and are based on plug
Eau Claire Formation

950' tests of nearby cores and from Setterholm

and others (1991). Cores Schroeder 1 and
Schroeder 5.

1000'

1050'
Sandstone
Mt. Simon

1100'

39
 hydrostratigraphic character of the Ironton–Galesville
Sandstone in shallow bedrock conditions has not been
studied in detail. Systematic and nonsystematic
fractures with apertures as wide as a few inches are
common in the only laterally extensive exposures in
Minnesota—a series of road cuts on the west side of
U.S. Highway 61 between the cities of Wabasha and
La Crescent.
Hydraulic attributes
Deep bedrock conditions—Discrete interval and
standard aquifer pump tests in southeastern Minnesota
and nearby parts of southwestern Wisconsin yielded a
relatively narrow range of hydraulic conductivity values
from a few feet per day to as high as 15 feet per day
(Young, 1992; Miller and Delin, 1993). Discrete
interval packer tests of nine boreholes in southeastern
Wisconsin and Illinois are consistent with those values
with the exception of one value of 31 feet per day (Figs.
10, 13). Vertical hydraulic conductivity values are
estimated to be about one-tenth of horizontal values
(Miller and Delin, 1993). Discrete interval packer tests
by Miller and Delin (1993) at the Aquifer Thermal
Energy Storage Project (ATES) site in St. Paul (Fig.
1) indicated that an interval dominated by the clean
coarse clastic component has a horizontal hydraulic
conductivity value about 58 percent greater than an
interval dominated by the shaly coarse clastic
A.
400
350
Conductivity in feet per day
300
250
200
150
100
50
0 250 samples
0 50 100 150 200
Distance in feet between the bedrock surface and the open-hole top
Figure 19. Hydraulic conductivity data for the Eau Claire Formation calculated from specific capacity tests.
See Figure 11 for an explanation of box plots.
A. Scatter plot showing the relationship between the depth of the open-hole interval below the bedrock surface
and hydraulic conductivity. Shallower wells tend to have higher conductivity.
B. Box plot of hydraulic conductivity values for shallow bedrock conditions.
40
component (Fig. 10).
Borehole flowmeter investigations of the Ironton–
Galesville Sandstone near Savage, Hastings, and Prior
Lake (Fig. 1) demonstrate that the coarse clastic strata
have a relatively high intergranular permeability
compared to adjacent fine clastic strata of the Eau Claire
and Franconia Formations (Fig. 20; Paillet and others,
2000; this study). At each of these sites, ambient and
induced borehole flow was not concentrated in thin,
discrete intervals within the Ironton–Galesville
Sandstone, but instead was evenly distributed across
the coarse clastic component, a characteristic consistent
with flow chiefly through intergranular pore spaces.
Hydraulic conductivity values calculated from
specific capacity tests of the Ironton–Galesville
Sandstone are shown in Figure 21. In deep bedrock
conditions, values typically range from 1.5 to 28 feet
per day, with an average of 10.8 feet per day. These
calculations are consistent with those determined
through higher-quality pump tests and typical in
magnitude for fine- to coarse-grained sandstone
aquifers.
Shallow bedrock conditions—Controlled pump test
data for the Ironton–Galesville Sandstone in shallow
bedrock conditions of Minnesota are not available.
Bradbury (2001) and Swanson (2001) reported the
results of discrete interval slug tests and borehole
B.
400
350
300
250
Range
200
150
100
50
0
Average 36.7 feet per day
flowmeter logs of the Ironton–Galesville Sandstone in
shallow conditions of southeastern Wisconsin,
demonstrating a range in conductivity from 10 to 100
feet per day, with a geometric mean of 20 feet per day.
They identified two discrete intervals of preferential
flow within the Ironton–Galesville Sandstone.
Hydraulic conductivity values calculated from
specific capacity tests of wells constructed in shallow
bedrock conditions of southeastern Minnesota range
from less than one to 60 feet per day, with an average
value of 26.8 feet per day (Fig. 21). The relatively high
average conductivity and large number of outlying
values greater than 60 feet per day likely reflect some
component of fracture flow.
Hydrogeologic synthesis
The Ironton–Galesville Sandstone can be treated
as a single aquifer in which water moves chiefly through
large, well connected intergranular pore spaces in deep
bedrock settings. The relative proportion of the shaly
coarse clastic component to the clean coarse clastic
component may have a measurable control on aquifer
productivity, much as the relative abundance of distinct
hydrostratigraphic components within the Jordan
Sandstone are known to control its productivity across
southeastern Minnesota (Runkel, 1996b; Runkel and
others, 1999; this report). The relative proportion of
these two components in the Ironton–Galesville
Sandstone can be estimated, with some difficulty,
through gamma logs and cuttings at individual well sites.
The presence of abundant fractures no doubt plays
an important role in the hydraulic behavior of the
Ironton–Galesville Sandstone in shallow bedrock
conditions, although fracture flow in this unit has not
been studied in detail in Minnesota. Preferential flow
paths along narrow intervals of the Ironton–Galesville
Sandstone in Wisconsin (Bradbury, 2001; Swanson,
2001) may reflect the presence of hydraulically
significant bedding-plane fractures that can dominate
flow systems of siliciclastic aquifers where they occur
in shallow bedrock conditions (Michalski and Britton,
1997; Morin and others, 1997).
FRANCONIA FORMATION
Hydrostratigraphic attributes
Matrix porosity
The intergranular attributes of the Franconia
Formation are better documented than those of any other
Paleozoic lithostratigraphic unit because porosity and
permeability have been calculated for hundreds of plugs
sampled from cores collected as far north as St. Paul
and as far south as Faribault County (Figs. 10, 16, 18;
MUGSP, 1980; Miller and Delin, 1993). Matrix
41
porosity in outcrops along the Mississippi River has
also been studied (Runkel and Tipping, 1998).
Collectively, this work demonstrates that the bulk of
the Franconia Formation across southeastern Minnesota
is composed of the fine clastic component, with
subordinate beds of carbonate strata. As such the
Franconia Formation is similar in grain size,
stratification, and degree of cementation to the dominant
component of the Eau Claire Formation. Plug samples
of fine clastic and carbonate rock components in the
Franconia Formation have a vertical permeability that
typically ranges from 10-6 to 10-2 md, similar to values
calculated for the Eau Claire Formation.
Coarse clastic beds of relatively high permeability
are common in the upper part of the Franconia
Formation, and are of sufficient thickness in the northern
and eastern Twin Cities Metropolitan area to be defined
as a mappable member, the Mazomanie Member (Fig.
22). Stratigraphic cross-sections and isopachs of the
Mazomanie Member indicate that it forms a substantial
part of the Franconia Formation (greater than 20 percent
of the formation) in parts of Anoka, Chisago, Hennepin,
Isanti, Ramsey, Sherburne, Washington, and Wright
Counties. Outside of this eight-county area, thin to
medium coarse clastic beds are a relatively minor
component of the Franconia Formation, most commonly
present in its uppermost part, and in strata that are
transitional with the underlying Ironton Sandstone.
Such interbeds tested as high as 340 md in a vertical
direction (Runkel, unpub. data, 1998).
Secondary porosity
Deep bedrock conditions—Most of what is known
about secondary porosity in fine clastic strata in
southeastern Minnesota is based on comprehensive, site
specific investigations of the Franconia Formation
conducted over the past ten years (Delta Environmental
Consultants, Inc., 1992; Miller and Delin, 1993; Wenck
and Associates, Inc., 1997; core logging for this report).
In deep bedrock conditions, secondary porosity is
believed to be relatively uncommon based on
examination of core and borehole video and geophysical
logs (Figs. 10, 16, 18). Bedding-plane fractures in the
upper and lower parts of the formation are documented,
however (Fig. 20). Additionally, subvertical mesoscopic
fractures occur in some intervals but are rare, and
typically are open less than one millimeter or are closed.
Dissolution cavities are common in carbonate intraclasts
and in a relatively thin, carbonate-dominated interval
in the lower part of the formation.
Shallow bedrock conditions—The Franconia
Formation in shallow bedrock conditions is well
documented because of an ash disposal site evaluation
near Red Wing (Wenck and Associates, Inc., 1997), and
a similar but less comprehensive study near Lakeland
(Delta Environmental Consultants, Inc., 1992). Wenck
and Associates, Inc. (1997) used borehole video logs,
cores, and surface exposures at the proposed ash
disposal site near Red Wing to demonstrate that the
Franconia Formation is characterized by a dense
network of nonsystematic vertical and horizontal
fractures in shallow bedrock conditions. In one monitor
well at this site (unique number 575374), the Franconia
Formation had 10 horizontal and 2 vertical fractures
that were of sufficient width to be recognized on a
borehole video log along a 131-foot section of open
hole. A test pit at the bedrock surface revealed 11
subvertical fractures, ranging from 36 to 110 inches
in length, over a surface area of only 162 square feet.
Outcrops along the Mississippi River and its tributaries
from Red Wing south to the Iowa border have vertical
and horizontal fractures developed to a comparable or
greater degree than that documented at the proposed
ash disposal site. Borehole caliper logs collected in
Anoka and Washington Counties similarly show the
presence of fractures in the lower Franconia Formation
(Fig. 23). These features are a classic manifestation
of stress-relief unloading and weathering in thinly
bedded, moderately cemented, sedimentary rocks and
should be expected in abundance anywhere the
Franconia Formation is within tens of feet of the
bedrock surface, particularly along valley walls.
Hydraulic attributes
Deep bedrock conditions—Values of horizontal
hydraulic conductivity in the fine clastic component
of the Franconia Formation in deep bedrock conditions
range from 10-3 to 10-2 foot per day (Fig. 10) based on
discrete interval packer tests conducted by Miller and
Delin (1993). Vertical hydraulic conductivity is roughly
two orders of magnitude less than horizontal hydraulic
conductivity. Several 20-foot intervals of Franconia
Formation tested by Miller and Delin (1993) yielded
no discharge and must have significantly lower hydraulic
conductivity values. Coarse clastic beds of the

Figure 20. Borehole geophysical logs of the Eau Claire through St. Lawrence Formations from sites in Savage,
Prior Lake, and Hastings. All three logs demonstrate that the Ironton and Galesville Sandstones together have
the properties of an aquifer, whereas the overlying lower to middle Franconia Formation strata serve as a confining
unit. Bedding-plane fractures in the upper Franconia and the St. Lawrence Formations are hydraulically active,
even though strata between the fractures may serve as confining units. See Figure 1 for locations of these
sites, and Figure 5 for an explanation of flowmeter logs.
A. Flowmeter data were collected while trolling up at 10 feet per minute during injection, and also with the
tool stationary at various depths under ambient and 9 gallons per minute injection conditions. The percent of
borehole outflow through the open-hole interval of the well during injection is noted to the right of the flowmeter
logs. Note that the bulk of the outflow is through the coarse clastic component of the Ironton–Galesville
Sandstone. The flowmeter log has a relatively even signature across that interval, consistent with outflow through
intergranular pore spaces. The fine clastic component accounts for only 18 percent of the outflow, from a
single discrete horizon in the lower part of the Franconia Formation. Savage, unique number 593579; modified
from Paillet and others (2000).
B. Trolling (at 10 feet per minute) and stationary flowmeter logs indicate that bedding-plane fractures in the
lowermost St. Lawrence and upper part of the Franconia Formations yield water that travels down the borehole
at a mimimum rate of about 7 gallons per minute under ambient conditions. This downflow exits the hole
gradually, in intergranular fashion, in the Ironton–Galesville Sandstone. The intervening middle to lower Franconia
Formation serves as a confining unit. Prior Lake, unique number 672729.
C. On page 44. Trolling (at 10 feet per minute) and stationary flowmeter logs indicate that the Ironton–Galesville
Sandstone yields water that travels up the borehole at a minimum rate of about 1 gallon per minute under
ambient conditions. Additional borehole upflow is added through bedding-plane fractures at the St Lawrence–
Franconia Formation contact and in the lower part of the St. Lawrence Formation. Water exits the borehole
through bedding-plane fractures in the upper St. Lawrence Formation, and through a hole in the casing at 84
feet (not shown on this figure). The lower to middle Franconia Formation, and the middle part of the St. Lawrence
Formation serve as confining units at this site. Hastings, unique number 255768.

42
A.
Depth in feet below Matrix Trolling flow,
the land surface and hydrostratigraphic Gamma log Caliper during injection Stationary flow
bedrock surface (italics) component (counts per second) (inches) Televiewer (gallons per minute) (gallons per minute)
0 100 200 0 4 8 -10 -5 0 -15 -10 -5 0 5
400

St. Lawrence
Formation
Interpretation

No data
450

300
Franconia Formation

500
Casing bottom

Ambient
flow Location and percent
of borehole transmissivity
550 of dominant permeable
intervals
400
18%
Ironton–Galesville

600
Sandstone

82%

Injection
650 flow

Eau Claire
Formation

B.
Depth in feet below Matrix Trolling flow, Stationary flow,
the land surface and hydrostratigraphic Gamma log Caliper ambient conditions ambient conditions
bedrock surface (italics) component (API units) (inches) (gallons per minute) (gallons per minute)
0 100 200 4.7 5.3 -6 -4 -2 0 -6 -4 -2 0
400
Formation
Lawrence

Casing bottom
St.

300
Interpretation
450
Franconia Formation

500

400

550
Ironton–Galesville
Sandstone

600

500
Eau Claire
Formation
650

Coarse clastic component

Fine clastic component

Carbonate component

Figure 20 continued on page 44.

43
C. Depth in feet below Matrix Trolling flow, Stationary flow,
the land surface and hydrostratigraphic Gamma log Caliper ambient conditions ambient conditions
bedrock surface (italics) component (API units) (inches) (gallons per minute) (gallons per minute)
0 100 200 6 9 12 0 1 2 0 1 2
400

Sandstone
Jordan
Casing bottom
200
200
St. Lawrence
Formation

Interpretation
250

300
300
Franconia Formation

350

400
400
Ironton–Galesville
Sandstone

450

Eau Claire
Formation
500
500

Explanation to Figure 20C on page 42.

Mazomanie Member in the upper part of the Franconia
Formation, which are about 40 feet thick at the site,
have a moderately high horizontal conductivity of about
1.4 to 7.5 feet per day, and a bulk conductivity of about
2 feet per day.
Hydraulic conductivity calculated from specific
capacity data for the Franconia Formation (Fig. 24)
under deep bedrock conditions reflects its intergranular
hydrostratigraphic variability. In the northern and
eastern Twin Cities Metropolitan area, where the
Mazomanie Member forms a substantial part of the
Franconia Formation (Fig. 22), conductivity typically
ranges from less than one to about 65 feet per day, and
averages 27.8 feet per day. These values are analogous
to those calculated for the Jordan Sandstone, which is
similarly dominated by the coarse clastic component.
In contrast, outside of the northern and eastern
metropolitan areas, where the Mazomanie Member is
thin or absent, the Franconia Formation typically ranges
in conductivity from less than one to 10 feet per day,
with an average value of 5.9 feet per day.
The comprehensive borehole geophysical study of
an observation well near Savage (Paillet and others,
2000) yielded information about the relationship
between hydrostratigraphic character and ground-water
hydraulics in the lower part of the Franconia Formation
and subjacent Ironton–Galesville Sandstone (Fig. 20).
Flowmeter logs across 150 feet of open hole that
exposes the upper Eau Claire through lower Franconia
Formations indicated that all the borehole outflow
during injection occurred through intergranular pore
spaces in the Ironton–Galesville Sandstone and to a
much lesser degree through a four-foot interval within
the lowermost part of the Franconia Formation. In
contrast, the open-hole intervals that intersect fine clastic
strata, which are the dominant component of both the
Eau Claire and Franconia Formations, were of
insufficient conductivity to accommodate measurable
outflow of injected water.
Shallow bedrock conditions—Hydraulic
conductivity values under shallow bedrock conditions

44
A.
250
Figure 21. Hydraulic conductivity data for the
Ironton–Galesville Sandstone calculated from
200 specific capacity tests. See Figure 11 for an
Conductivity in feet per day

explanation of box plots.

A. Scatter plot showing the relationship
150
between the depth of the open-hole interval
below the bedrock surface and hydraulic
100 conductivity. Shallower wells tend to have
higher conductivity.
B. Box plot of hydraulic conductivity values
50
for deep bedrock conditions.
C. Box plot of hydraulic conductivity values
0 for shallow bedrock conditions.
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700
Distance in feet between the bedrock surface and the open-hole top

B. DEEP BEDROCK CONDITIONS C. SHALLOW BEDROCK CONDITIONS

250 250

200 200

150 150
Range
Range

100 100

50 50

0 0
26 samples 332 samples
Average 10.8 feet per day Average 26.8 feet per day

are variable because of the effect of flow along discrete
fractures. At the ash disposal site near Red Wing,
hydraulic conductivity values of the fine clastic
component ranged over four orders of magnitude,
from 10 -2 to 85 feet per day (Wenck and Associates,
Inc., 1997). Such a large range in values reflects
the variable size and degree of connectivity of
fractures across the site. The hydraulic conductivity
of the lower one-half of the Franconia Formation
where it occurs as the uppermost bedrock in
Lakeland in southern Washington County (Fig. 1)
was measured at between 0.14 and 0.21 foot per day
(Delta Environmental Consultants, Inc., 1992).
Flowmeter logging of an injected well in Anoka County
(Fig. 24) indicated that a single fracture had a
conductivity of 90 feet per day, but the overlying 35
feet of fine clastic Franconia Formation were of
insufficient conductivity to accommodate measurable
outflow of the injected water.
The Franconia Formation has recently been studied
in southeastern Wisconsin where it shows a similar large
range in hydraulic conductivity in shallow bedrock
conditions (Swanson, 2001). It is composed of
interbedded fine and coarse clastic strata in that area,
and the bulk of the formation has an average
conductivity of about 3 feet per day. Ground water
flows preferentially along thin (less than 5 feet) bedding-
plane parallel intervals that average 220 feet per day
in conductivity. These intervals appear to be laterally
continuous across an entire watershed that exceeds 10
square miles (Swanson, 2001).
Hydraulic conductivity of the Franconia Formation
calculated from specific capacity tests in southeastern
Minnesota also reflects the importance of fracture
porosity in shallow bedrock conditions (Fig. 24),
especially in areas where the Mazomanie Member is

45
thin or absent and wells are open chiefly to fine clastic
strata. Outside of the northern and eastern Twin Cities
Metropolitan areas, the Franconia Formation typically
ranges in conductivity from less than one to 40 feet
per day, with an average value of 32.3 feet per day,
roughly five times greater than its conductivity in
conditions where it is deeply buried by younger bedrock.
Within the counties where the Mazomanie Member
forms a substantial part of the formation, conductivity
typically ranges from less than one to 75 feet per day,
with an average value of 31.7 feet per day.
Hydrogeologic synthesis
The Franconia Formation has previously been
characterized as a single, more or less homogeneous
hydrogeologic unit across all of southeastern Minnesota:
either as a moderately productive aquifer in good
hydraulic connection with the underlying Ironton–
Galesville aquifer (for example Kanivetsky, 1978), or
as a confining unit combined with the overlying St.
Lawrence Formation (for example Delin and Woodward,
1984). Our characterization of the Franconia Formation,
which interprets hydraulic data within the context of
its hydrostratigraphic properties, demonstrates that it
is very heterogeneous in its hydrogeologic properties.
It therefore is best divided into two distinct
hydrogeologic units: the upper part of the Franconia
aquifer is a widely-used aquifer that yields water
through high permeability coarse clastic strata and along
bedding-plane fractures across much of the Twin Cities
Metropolitan area. In contrast the middle to lower
Franconia Formation in the metropolitan area, and the
entire formation to the south, is analogous to other low
permeability fine clastic units described in this report,
serving as a regionally extensive confining unit above
the Ironton–Galesville aquifer.
In deep bedrock conditions, the hydrostratigraphic
and hydraulic character of the bulk of the Franconia
Formation is similar to that of the Eau Claire Formation.
The plug analyses (Figs. 10, 16, 18), packer tests, and
borehole flowmeter logs described above collectively
demonstrate that from a regional perspective, the bulk
of both the Eau Claire and Franconia Formations are
composed of low conductivity, fine clastic rock that has
the ability to serve as a confining unit (MUGSP, 1980;
Miller, 1984; Miller and Delin, 1993; Paillet and others,
2000; core logging for this report). In contrast, the
Mazomanie Member, which from a regional perspective
forms a subordinate component of the Franconia
Formation (Fig. 22), is a high-conductivity
hydrostratigraphic body that is best considered a
discrete, local aquifer within the regional Franconia
confining unit. It is largely composed of the coarse
clastic component, with hydraulic properties roughly
46
analogous to those of the Jordan, St. Peter, and Ironton–
Galesville Sandstones.
Flowmeter logging of the Franconia Formation and
adjacent units in deep bedrock conditions at Prior Lake
(Fig. 20B) measured dynamic, strong, ambient flow that
substantiates the ability of its middle to lower part to
function as a confining unit, and also demonstrated that
bedding-plane fractures in its upper few tens of feet
can be hydraulically active. Bedding-plane fractures
in the Franconia Formation (and possibly the lowermost
St. Lawrence Formation) collectively yield a minimum
of seven gallons per minute of water to the borehole
under ambient conditions. This water travels down the
borehole, exiting gradually across the Ironton–Galesville
Sandstone. The relatively strong ambient flow that
bypasses the middle and lower Franconia Formation,
without significant contribution or subtraction of flow,
is evidence that this part of the formation is of
sufficiently low vertical conductivity to serve as a
confining unit. Borehole tests of a number of wells
open to the Franconia Formation in the western Twin
Cities metropolitan area (conducted as this report was
completed) in both shallow and deep bedrock conditions
have yielded similar results.
In shallow bedrock conditions, the Franconia
Formation is much more hydrogeologically complex.
At the proposed ash disposal site near Red Wing, ground
water moves in intergranular fashion as well as through
discrete hydraulic fractures (Wenck and Associates, Inc.,
1997). Borehole videos at the site reveal water that
seeps through intergranular spaces in thin beds of fine-
to medium-grained sandstone, particularly in the upper
Franconia Formation. Water can also be observed
flowing at a much higher rate along fractures developed
in fine clastic strata. For example, water cascades from
a horizontal fracture 100 feet below the ground surface
in one borehole. The importance of fracture flow is
also reflected by the wide-ranging and locally high
values of hydraulic conductivity. Three of the five
intervals of Franconia Formation rock tested at the ash
disposal site had hydraulic conductivities at least two
orders of magnitude higher than the same fine clastic
component tested in a borehole with no open fractures
(Miller and Delin, 1993). Recently collected flowmeter
logs of injected boreholes open to the fine clastic strata
of the Franconia Formation in Anoka and Washington
Counties show similar conditions whereby the
intergranular permeability is of insufficient conductivity
to accommodate measurable outflow of injected water.
Narrow fractures of a few inches, or coarse clastic
interbeds of the underlying Ironton–Galesville
Sandstone dominate the open-hole hydraulics (Fig. 23).
Potentiometric data indicate that the fine clastic
 A.

Figure 22. Matrix hydrostratigraphic attributes of the Franconia Formation across southeastern Minnesota
showing the distribution of coarse clastic and fine clastic components. Figure is based on measured
A' sections by Berg (1954) along the St. Croix and Mississippi Rivers, and on natural gamma logs and
150
100 Thickness in feet of cuttings in the subsurface to the west.
75 Mazomanie Member
50 A. Location of the cross-section and contoured thickness of the Mazomanie Member.
25 B. Cross-section showing that the bulk of the formation consists of fine clastic strata of low permeability
and hydraulic conductivity. Coarse clastic strata, referred to as the Mazomanie Member, are common
only in its middle to upper parts in the Twin Cities Metropolitan area.
C. Representative gamma logs that were among dozens used in conjunction with cuttings to map the
distribution of the Mazomanie Member.
A
0 30 miles

47
B. MOWER COUNTY TWIN CITIES METROPOLITAN AREA
Site of ATES
A project A'
St. Lawrence Formation

100 Mazomanie Member

50
Franconia
Formation
0
feet

Ironton–Galesville
Sandstone
Coarse clastic Fine clastic Carbonate
component component component

C.
221179 226610 185810 225611 556149 St. Lawrence Formation

Franconia
Formation

Increasing counts Ironton–Galesville

Sandstone
 A.
Depth in feet below Matrix Trolling flow—
the land surface and hydrostratigraphic Gamma log Caliper during injection Stationary flow
bedrock surface (italics) component (API units) (inches) (gallons per minute) (gallons per minute)
0 150 300 4 5 -3 -2 -1 0 1 -2 -1 0

260 Interpretation
Casing lines
bottom
40

Injection
flow
280

Location and hydraulic

60 Ambient conductivity of dominant
flow permeable interval

Franconia Formation
300
90 feet
per day
80

320

B.
Depth in feet below Matrix Trolling flow—
the land surface and hydrostratigraphic Gamma log Caliper during injection Stationary flow

48
bedrock surface (italics) component (API units) (inches) (gallons per minute) (gallons per minute)
0 150 300 4.5 5.5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 -4 -3 -2 -1 0
0
300 Casing
bottom

Interpretation
lines
Injection
Location and percent of
20 transmissivity of dominant
320 flow
permeable interval

Franconia Formation
Ambient 23%
flow
40
340 28%

49%

Sandstone
60

Ironton–Galesville
360

Coarse clastic component

Fine clastic component

Carbonate component
strata of the Franconia Formation have the ability to
serve as a confining unit regardless of burial depth
beneath younger bedrock. Differential static water
levels of 10 to 15 feet between the Ironton–Galesville
Sandstone and upper part of the Franconia Formation
(Mazomanie Member) in nested well screens measured
as part of the ATES project investigation demonstrates
that the fine clastic component of the Franconia
Formation serves as a confining unit in deep bedrock
conditions (Walton and others, 1991). The lower to
middle, fine clastic-dominated part of the Franconia
Formation in shallow bedrock conditions near Red Wing
is a confining unit that hydraulically separates a
fractured upper Franconia Formation aquifer from a
lowermost Franconia/Ironton–Galesville aquifer (Wenck
and Associates, Inc., 1997). Potentiometric levels in
the upper part of the formation mimic the land surface
and show a pattern of local recharge and discharge, traits
characteristic of water-table aquifers (Figs. 25, 26). The
lowermost Franconia Formation and Ironton–Galesville
Sandstone, perhaps connected by fractures at this site,
have potentiometric levels as much as 60 feet lower
in elevation than the water-table aquifer, and consistent
with levels for the larger-scale, regional ground-water
flow system. A site remediation study of a generally
similar geologic setting near Lakeland in southern
Washington County by Braun Intertec (1992) and Delta
Environmental Consultants, Inc. (1992) yielded results
analogous to those at Red Wing: the middle to lower
part of the Franconia Formation hydraulically separates
an upper water-table aquifer of fractured bedrock from
an Ironton–Galesville aquifer, creating differential heads
between the two aquifers of more than 40 feet. Pumping
of a remediation well open only to the Ironton–
Galesville aquifer caused only a 0.010-foot drawdown
in the water-table aquifer at this site.
Field observations of outcrops and springs in
southeastern Minnesota are compatible with subsurface
results that suggest ground-water flow in shallow
bedrock conditions occurs chiefly along a few discrete
intervals with well developed secondary pores (Fig. 26,
for example). Secondary pore networks parallel to
bedding planes are particularly common in the
carbonate-rich lowermost part of the Franconia
Formation in Minnesota, and are principal water sources
for bluffside springs along the Mississippi River, many
of which emit ground water that has a "mixed" tritium
chemistry (Runkel, 1996a; Runkel and Tipping, 1998;
E.C. Alexander, Jr., unpub. data). Based on the
characterization of the Franconia Formation made by
Wenck and Associates, Inc. (1997) at Red Wing, such
springs may be supplied by two distinct ground-water
sources, which produce a mixed-tritium chemistry when
mixed (Fig. 26): one source is vintage confined water
from the regional Ironton–Galesville system that has
upwelled through fractures in the lowermost Franconia
Formation. A second source is recent water locally
supplied through near-surface fractures along the sides
of bluffs. Field observations suggest that the coarse
clastic strata of the Mazomanie Member may also be
dominated by fracture flow in shallow bedrock
conditions. Bluffside springs along the St. Croix River
are emitted from bedding-plane fractures in the
Mazomanie Member, best exemplified by the
"Boomsite" spring in the north end of Stillwater.
The hydrostratigraphic variability of the Franconia
Formation is reflected by the variable locations and
geologic settings in which it is used as a domestic source
of water. Its hydraulic conductivity is great enough
to be utilized as an economic source of water chiefly
where it occurs in shallow bedrock settings and where
the Mazomanie Member is of substantial thickness in

Figure 23. Borehole geophysical logs of the Franconia Formation in shallow bedrock conditions. Flowmeter
data were collected while trolling up at 10 feet per minute during injection, and also with the tool stationary
at various depths under ambient and injection conditions. The logs of both holes demonstrated that the open-
hole hydraulics (measurable outflow in these examples) was dominated by thin (less than 1 foot) intervals of
preferential flow in the Franconia Formation. The remaining parts of the Franconia Formation were of insufficient
conductivity to accommodate measurable outflow. See Figure 5 for an explanation of flowmeter logs.
A. Water injected at a rate of about 2.5 gallons per minute exits the borehole through a thin bedding-plane
fracture that occurs within fine clastic strata of the middle part of the Franconia Formation. Hydraulic conductivity
of the fracture is about 90 feet per day based on flow rate and static water level increase during injection.
Anoka County unique number 165573.
B. Water injected at a rate of about 3.5 gallons per minute exits the borehole through narrow bedding-plane
fractures or thin coarse clastic interbeds in the lower Franconia Formation and upper Ironton–Galesville Sandstone.
Washington County unique number 227031.

49
 A. 400

350

Conductivity in feet per day

300

250

200

150

100

50

0
0 100 200 300 400 500 600
Distance in feet between the bedrock surface and the open-hole top

B. DEEP BEDROCK CONDITIONS C. SHALLOW BEDROCK CONDITIONS

200 200

150 150
Range

Range

100 100

50 50

0 0
68 samples 1,872 samples
Average 27.8 feet per day Average 31.7 feet per day

D. DEEP BEDROCK CONDITIONS SHALLOW BEDROCK CONDITIONS

E.
200 400

350

150 300

250
Range
Range

100 200

150

50 100

50

0 0
64 samples 131 samples
Average 5.9 feet per day Average 32.3 feet per day

50
both shallow and deep bedrock conditions. Only 4.6
percent of the 5,126 wells open to the Franconia
Formation are constructed in deep bedrock settings
where the Mazomanie Member is thin or absent (County
Well Index database). Examination of well construction
records in nine counties outside of the Twin Cities
Metropolitan area by Runkel (2000) indicated that thin
to medium, coarse clastic beds in the uppermost part
of the Franconia Formation and carbonate rock having
small dissolution cavities and mesoscopic fractures in
its lower part apparently are the most conductive parts
of the formation in a deep bedrock setting, and supply
relatively small to moderate yields of water for domestic
use. The remaining 95 percent of Franconia Formation
wells in southeastern Minnesota are constructed where
the formation occurs in shallow bedrock conditions or
where the Mazomanie Member reaches thicknesses
greater than 20 feet.
The extreme hydrostratigraphic and hydraulic
conductivity variability within the Franconia Formation
and its ability to serve as a confining unit, even in areas
where the formation can yield economic quantities of
water, should be a consideration in ground-water
management practices. The thickness and aerial extent
of the fine clastic component of the Franconia Formation
that provides confinement is equal to or greater than
that of most other historically recognized confining units
in southeastern Minnesota. Additionally, the
increasingly recognized importance of preferential flow
along bedding-plane fractures (this study) has significant
implications for predicting ground-water paths and
travel times.
ST. LAWRENCE FORMATION
Hydrostratigraphic attributes
Matrix porosity
The St. Lawrence Formation consists of interbeds
of the fine clastic and carbonate rock components.
Across most of southeastern Minnesota, it is dominated
by the carbonate rock component in its lower part, and
by fine clastic strata in its upper part (Figs. 10, 16, 18).
An exception is in the St. Croix River Valley, where
the St. Lawrence Formation consists almost entirely of
fine clastic strata. Individual shale beds in the St.
Lawrence Formation as thick as several inches are
common. Vertical permeability measured in plug
samples of the carbonate and fine clastic components
is very low to low, commonly ranging from 10 -6 to 10-
2
md.
Secondary porosity
Deep bedrock conditions—Mesoscopic fractures and
dissolution cavities are common in the St. Lawrence
Formation regardless of depth of burial. Examination
of seven cores of the St. Lawrence Formation collected
from deep bedrock conditions in Faribault, Fillmore,
Freeborn, Ramsey, and Rice Counties, and video and
caliper logs of open boreholes in the Twin Cities
Metropolitan area revealed that secondary pores are
common along discrete intervals (Figs. 3, 9, 16, 18,
20B). Dissolution cavities are as large as two inches,
and typically elongate in a direction parallel to bedding.
The pores exhibit features typical of hydraulic pores,
including oxidation and deposits of minerals such as
pyrite and calcite.
Shallow bedrock conditions—Outcrops and
borehole video log investigations demonstrate that in
shallow bedrock conditions the St. Lawrence Formation

Figure 24. Hydraulic conductivity data for the Franconia Formation calculated from specific capacity tests.
See Figure 11 for an explanation of box plots.
A. Scatter plot showing the relationship between the depth of the open-hole interval below the bedrock surface
and hydraulic conductivity. Shallower wells tend to have higher conductivity.
B. Box plot of hydraulic conductivity values for deep bedrock conditions where the coarse clastic-dominated
Mazomanie Member is greater than 25 feet thick (Anoka, Chisago, Hennepin, Isanti, Ramsey, Sherburne,
Washington, and Wright Counties).
C. Box plot of hydraulic conductivity values for shallow bedrock conditions where the Mazomanie Member
is greater than 25 feet thick. Nineteen outlying values greater than 200 feet per day are not shown.
D. Box plot of hydraulic conductivity values for deep bedrock conditions where the Mazomanie Member is
less than 25 feet thick.
E. Box plot of conductivity values for shallow bedrock conditions where the Mazomanie Member is less than
25 feet thick. One outlying value greater than 400 feet per day not shown (note the vertical scale change in
this plot).

51
contains dissolution features as well as systematic and
nonsystematic fractures (Fig. 8). At the proposed ash
disposal site near Red Wing, the St. Lawrence Formation
is broken by a dense network of fractures where it
occurs as the uppermost bedrock (Wenck and
Associates, Inc., 1997). A 200-square-foot surface
exposure contained 28 subvertical fractures that ranged
in length from 18 to 60 inches. A single borehole with
60 feet of open hole at the site contained two bedding-
plane parallel fractures large enough to be visible on
a video log.
Outcrops of the St. Lawrence Formation along the
Mississippi River and its tributaries from Red Wing
south to the Iowa border have nonsystematic fractures
developed to a comparable or greater degree than those
documented at the proposed ash disposal site (Fig. 26).
Accessible sites where classic stress-relief fractures and
dissolution features typical of the St. Lawrence
Formation in shallow bedrock conditions can be
examined are along Winona County Road 15 near
Homer (T. 106 N., R. 6 W., sec. 16, NE, NW, NE), and
in a road cut and abandoned quarry along U.S. Highway
16 in Houston County near Mound Prairie (T. 104 N.,
R. 5 W., sec. 34, NE, SW). Large, laterally extensive
outcrops of the St. Lawrence Formation are uncommon,
but one such exposure on the northwest side of Barn
Bluff in Red Wing (T. 113 N., R. 14 W., sec. 20) shows
that the formation contains vertical flat-sided fractures
with large apertures (Fig. 8) that are similar to those
known to be part of systematic regional-scale joint sets
in younger strata, such as in the Platteville Formation
and Galena Group.
Hydraulic attributes
Deep bedrock conditions—The bulk vertical
hydraulic conductivity of the St. Lawrence Formation
was calculated at 10 -5 to 10 -4 foot per day in deep
bedrock conditions based on pump tests and thermal
profile data as part of the ATES project study
(Kanivetsky, 1989). Individual shale beds may have
a vertical hydraulic conductivity as low as 10-7 foot per
day (Freeze and Cherry, 1979). Bulk horizontal
conductivity was not calculated as part of the ATES
project, but a single packer test of a discrete interval
in the lower part of the St. Lawrence Formation that
contains dissolution cavities indicated a conductivity
for that part of the formation of 6.7 feet per day (Fig.
10), a moderately high value analogous to the
conductivity measured in the coarse clastic component
in deep bedrock settings. Packer tests of two boreholes
open to the St. Lawrence Formation in southwestern
Wisconsin, where the formation is similar in
hydrostratigraphic attributes to southeastern Minnesota,
yielded values of 9.3 and 20 feet per day (Young, 1992).
Hydraulic conductivity calculated from specific
capacity data for wells that draw water from only the
St. Lawrence Formation in deep bedrock conditions
typically ranges from less than one to 50 feet per day,
and averages 14 feet per day (Fig. 27). Yield to these
wells must occur chiefly through bedding-plane
dissolution cavities, considering the very low to low
intergranular permeability of the fine clastic and
carbonate rock components that compose the St.
Lawrence Formation.
Shallow bedrock conditions—Discrete interval and
standard aquifer test data for the St. Lawrence Formation
in shallow bedrock conditions are not available at this
time. A limited amount of borehole data and field
measurements indicate that its hydraulic properties in
shallow bedrock conditions are markedly variable, and
characteristic of an aquifer with low intergranular
permeability in which water travels chiefly through
secondary pores. Preliminary information from an
ongoing site-remediation project near Blaine includes
pump tests that indicate a range in specific capacity
of over four orders of magnitude, with values as high
as 294 gallons per minute per foot (Blaine Municipal
Well Field State Superfund Site; H. Neve, unpub. data,
2001). Springs are emitted from the St. Lawrence
Formation through enlarged fractures in several places
in southeastern Minnesota, such as the Old House
Spring in Wabasha County (T. 110 N., R. 11 W., sec.
20, NE, SE, SW), where rates of over 100 gallons per
minute have been measured (Tipping and others, 2001).

Figure 25. Contour map of the potentiometric surface of the Ironton–Galesville and lower Franconia aquifers
(boxed values), and of the local water-table aquifer in the fractured upper Franconia Formation strata at the
proposed ash disposal site near Red Wing, Goodhue County. Note that the potentiometric surface for the lowermost
few feet of the Franconia Formation and Ironton–Galesville aquifer, which are part of a regional flow system,
is as much as 60 feet lower than the water table. Additionally, ground-water flow in the regional aquifer occurs
in a direction that varies from that in the water-table aquifer. This indicates that the fine clastic strata in the
middle to lower Franconia at this site provide confinement. See Figure 1 for location. Modified from Wenck
and Associates, Inc. (1997).

52
 786
88
0

94 90
0 0
860
92 940
920 0
P-3

0
880

78
88
0 697
860

88
0
70

0
5

79
900

90
0
840
797 MW-1 770 MW-105
P-1 766
709 700

760
766 MW-3
820 700
880
770 MW-102 & 202
88 750 756 860
0

0
0 705

76

53
86 84
0 840
755 740
754 C-1 730
E-1 820
710 C-2 720
820 0
710 P-2
80 708 800
MW-103
MW-104 705
MW-2
753 780 705
D-1
D-2
N

0 200 feet

705 Measured water level for regional aquifer
(Ironton–Galesville Sandstone/lowermost
Franconia Formation)
766 Measured water level for water-table aquifer
(fractured upper Franconia Formation)
708 Measured water level where regional and
water-table aquifers have similar levels
Piezometric surface contour and inferred
700 flow direction for the regional aquifer
Piezometric surface contour and inferred
760 flow direction for the water-table aquifer
Monitoring well
860
Land surface contour

Line of cross-section in Figure 26

 Elevation P-3 (426823) MW-105 (577642)
in feet

900

MW-202 (578913)
MW-102 (575374)
Common stratigraphic position
of springs along the lower bluffs

Formation Sandstone
P-2 (426822) of the Misissippi River

St. Lawrence Jordon

800 Water MW-104 (577641)
ta ble MW-2 (426806)
seeps
cascading water

Regional aquifer potentiometric surface

700

Confining unit
Franconia Formation
Sandstone
EXPLANATION

Ironton–Galesville
Nonsystematic fractures

54
Coarse clastic component
Fine clastic component
Measured water level for
water-table aquifer
Systematic fractures
Measured water level for
regional aquifer

Carbonate component Measured water level where Dissolution features—cavities and

regional and water-able aquifers bedding-plane fractures
have similar levels
Surficial deposits Screened/open borehole
Potentiometric surface
Inferred flow direction

Figure 26. Hydrogeologic character of the Ironton–Galesville Sandstone, and Franconia and St. Lawrence Formations in shallow bedrock conditions at
a proposed expansion of an ash disposal site near Red Wing in Goodhue County. A water-table aquifer occurs in the fractured, fine clastic strata of the
upper Franconia Formation. The water table aquifer is separated from a regional aquifer by relatively unfractured, middle to lower Franconia Formation
fine clastic strata that act as a confining unit in this setting. The cross-section is based largely on the work of Wenck and Associates, Inc. (1997),
supplemented with the results of other hydrogeologic studies of the Franconia Formation in southeastern Minnesota (Figs. 20 and 23; Delta Environmental
Consultants, Inc., 1992; E.C. Alexander, Jr., unpub. data, 1999). Unique numbers are listed above the boreholes. See Figure 1 for location of the ash
disposal site, and Figure 25 for line of cross-section.
Hydraulic conductivity calculated from specific capacity
data for wells that draw water from only the St.
Lawrence Formation in shallow bedrock conditions
typically ranges from less than one to 75 feet per day,
and averages 46 feet per day, about three times greater
than the conductivity in deep bedrock conditions (Fig.
27).
Hydrogeologic synthesis
In deep bedrock settings, the St. Lawrence
Formation is best characterized as a unit that has a low
bulk hydraulic conductivity in a vertical direction, and
can therefore serve as a confining unit. Published
potentiometric maps (for example Delin and Woodward,
1984) cannot be used to test the effectiveness of the
St. Lawrence Formation alone to function as a confining
unit in deep bedrock conditions because water levels
in the upper part of the Franconia Formation are not
plotted separately from those in the Ironton–Galesville
aquifer. However, the relatively low vertical bulk
conductivity values measured as part of the ATES
project study, and differential static heads between the
St. Lawrence and upper Franconia Formations at the
same site suggest that the St. Lawrence Formation can
provide vertical confinement. In contrast, bulk
horizontal conductivity of the St. Lawrence Formation
is apparently as much as four or five orders of magnitude
greater than vertical conductivity, based on the
moderately high values measured with discrete interval
packer and specific capacity tests (Young, 1992; Miller
and Delin, 1993; County Well Index database; this
study). Therefore, even though the St. Lawrence
Formation can serve as a confining unit in deep bedrock
settings, discrete intervals with interconnected secondary
pores can yield moderate to large quantities of water
(Howard and Nolen-Hoeksema, 1990).
The results of borehole flowmeter investigations
of the St. Lawrence Formation under ambient ground-
water conditions in deep bedrock settings (Figs. 20C,
28) reflect the formation's variable hydrogeologic
attributes (Paillet and others, 2000; this study).
Hydraulically active bedding-plane fractures can
accommodate relatively strong ambient flow, yet parts
of the St. Lawrence Formation have the ability to
produce confinement in a vertical direction. At Winona,
a substantial amount of measurable inflow to the well
occurs along bedding-plane fractures or dissolution
cavities in the upper and middle part of the St. Lawrence
Formation (Fig. 28). Outflow of this water occurs along
St. Lawrence–Franconia Formation contact strata. The
lowest part of the St. Lawrence Formation at this site
apparently serves as an aquitard, separating
hydraulically active conduits in the upper and middle
parts of the formation from the underlying Franconia
55
Formation. At Hastings, bedding-plane fractures in the
lower part of the St. Lawrence Formation contributed
a minimum of about a half-gallon per minute of flow
that traveled up the borehole to exit along fractures in
the upper part of the formation (Fig. 20C). A borehole
investigation by Tipping and Runkel (unpub. data) near
Hugo yielded evidence that similarly demonstrates the
presence of hydraulically significant secondary pores
in the St. Lawrence Formation. Substantial downhole
flow emitted from the Jordan aquifer exited near the
bottom of the borehole chiefly through a dissolution-
enlarged bedding-plane fracture in the upper St.
Lawrence Formation (Minnesota Department of Health
borehole video library, unique number 645394).
The St. Lawrence Formation in shallow bedrock
conditions exhibits several features characteristic of
younger carbonate rock layers generally considered to
be karstic aquifers in southeastern Minnesota: it contains
dissolution-enlarged nonsystematic fractures, cavities,
and systematic fractures that may be part of a regional
network. Borehole flowmeter logs collected from
municipal test wells at Chaska (unique number 665713),
Watertown (unique number 658174), and Greenfield
(unique number 658157) as part of an ongoing project
conducted as this report was completed demonstrate
that bedding-plane fractures are hydraulically active in
the St. Lawrence Formation in ambient conditions, and
are among the principal contributors to well yield in
stressed conditions of pumping or injection. High
capacity springs originate from these secondary pores
along the sides of bluffs. The St. Lawrence Formation
differs from the three major karst systems described
later in this report mostly because it occurs as the
uppermost bedrock over a much smaller area of
southeastern Minnesota, and it lacks a classic land-
surface expression of a karstic terrain. In part this may
reflect the relatively limited subcrop extent of the St.
Lawrence Formation where it occurs close to the land
surface, compared to the thicker karst systems that occur
across broad plateaus that have only a thin cover of
unconsolidated material.
The St. Lawrence Formation clearly has all the
attributes of a moderate to high yielding aquifer where
it occurs in shallow bedrock conditions, and was
recently classified as such in Rice County where it
occurs as the uppermost bedrock across a large part
of the county (Campion, 1997). Over 400 wells in the
County Well Index database draw water from the St.
Lawrence Formation in shallow bedrock conditions in
southeastern Minnesota, commonly constructed in areas
where the underlying Franconia Formation is dominated
by the fine clastic component and therefore has poor
yields.
 The relative effectiveness of the St. Lawrence
Formation to provide confinement in shallow bedrock
conditions needs to be evaluated. It has never been
demonstrated to act as a confining unit across a
significant geographic extent where it occurs as the
uppermost bedrock and is known to have high bulk
hydraulic conductivity. An unpublished investigation
conducted by the Minnesota Department of Health in
Blue Earth, LeSueur, and Nicollet Counties measured
differences in water chemistry above and below the St.
Lawrence Formation locally where it occurs in shallow
bedrock conditions, suggesting that some part(s) may
provide confinement even where it is commonly used
as an aquifer. The St. Lawrence Formation may
therefore be analogous in hydrogeologic character to
the fine-clastic dominated Franconia Formation (Fig.
23), and younger Paleozoic strata composed chiefly of
the carbonate rock component. Discrete intervals with
minimal development of secondary pores can at least
locally provide confinement if they are laterally
extensive, whereas other intervals with a greater
abundance of interconnected fractures and dissolution
features are of high enough hydraulic conductivity to
supply moderate to large quantities of water in saturated
conditions.
JORDAN SANDSTONE
Hydrostratigraphic attributes
Matrix porosity
The Jordan Sandstone is composed of coarse clastic
and fine clastic components. Plug samples of the coarse
clastic component commonly have permeabilities of
greater than 1,000 md (Figs. 16, 18; MUGSP, 1980;
Setterholm and others, 1991). The fine clastic
component is moderately to tightly cemented, very fine-
grained sandstone with minor siltstone and shale. Plug
samples have a horizontal permeability that typically
ranges from 10-5 to 10 -1 md and vertical permeability
of 10-5 to 10-3 md.
Cross-sections based on correlated natural gamma
logs and cuttings samples (Fig. 29) show that the Jordan
Sandstone internally consists of varying proportions of
coarse clastic to fine clastic material (Runkel, 1996b;
Runkel and others, 1999). The lower 5 to 50 feet of
Jordan Sandstone is typically composed of the fine
clastic component, and the upper 50 to 80 feet typically
consists of the coarse clastic component. Additionally,
the two components are intercalated within the Jordan
Sandstone in a stratigraphically complex manner.
Tongues of fine clastic component up to 40 feet thick
rise diagonally up-section from the base of the Jordan
Sandstone. Individual tongues are as much as several
56
miles wide and have a crescent shape in cross-sections
oriented perpendicular to strike.
The open-hole interval interpreted as the "Jordan
aquifer" on many water-well drilling records in the
County Well Index database includes in its uppermost
part the Coon Valley Member of the Oneota Dolomite,
a unit composed of an interbedded mixture of the fine
clastic, coarse clastic, and carbonate rock components.
The bulk of the Coon Valley Member is inferred to have
a relatively low to moderate permeability based on a
small number of plug tests and water chemistry data
that suggest it serves as an aquitard (Setterholm and
others, 1991; Runkel, 1996b). There is a large variation
from place to place in the relative proportions of the
Coon Valley Member, fine clastic component, and coarse
clastic component across the Jordan aquifer in
southeastern Minnesota. For example, the Jordan
aquifer is 80 to 100 feet thick and is internally composed
of 50 to 70 feet of the coarse clastic component, and
20 to 40 feet of the fine clastic component in some parts
of the city of Rochester (Fig. 30; Runkel, 1996b). The
Coon Valley Member is 20 to 30 feet thick in these
areas. Elsewhere in Rochester, the Jordan aquifer
consists entirely of the fine clastic component and Coon
Valley Member.
Secondary porosity
Deep bedrock conditions—An unproven assumption
by previous investigators is that porosity and
permeability in the Jordan Sandstone is determined
chiefly by intergranular attributes. However, limited
core, video, and caliper log data suggest that secondary
pores may be more common than widely believed.
Cores and borehole video logs of the Jordan Sandstone
in deep bedrock conditions indicate that cavities are
rarely present in the fine clastic component of the Jordan
Sandstone, developed locally where carbonate-rich
intraclasts and fossils have been dissolved (Fig. 18).
Mesoscopic fractures occur in the well-cemented fine
clastic beds, but are open less than 1 millimeter. Caliper
and video logs have also revealed bedding-plane
fractures in the Jordan Sandstone where it occurs about
270 feet below the bedrock surface (Minnesota
Department of Health borehole video library, unique
number 658966).
Borehole video logs from three sites in the Twin
Cities Metropolitan area also have revealed the presence
in deep bedrock conditions of vertical, systematic
fractures with apertures of several inches in the upper
part of the Jordan Sandstone (Minnesota Department
of Health borehole video library, unique numbers
200519, 206169, 205821). Fracture apertures at these
sites were apparently widened when the borehole was
 A.
500 Figure 27. Hydraulic conductivity data for the St.
Lawrence Formation calculated from specific
400 capacity tests. See Figure 11 for an explanation
Conductivity in feet per day

of box plots.
A. Scatter plot showing the relationship between
300 the depth of the open-hole interval below the
bedrock surface and hydraulic conductivity.
200 Shallower wells tend to have higher conductivity.
B. Box plot of hydraulic conductivity values for
deep bedrock conditions.
100
C. Box plot of hydraulic conductivity values for
shallow bedrock conditions. One outlying value
0 of greater than 500 feet per day is not shown.
0 100 200 300 400 500 600
Distance in feet between the bedrock surface and the open-hole top

B. DEEP BEDROCK CONDITIONS C. SHALLOW BEDROCK CONDITIONS

500 500

400 400

300 300
Range
Range

200 200

100 100

0 0
25 samples 109 samples
Average 14 feet per day Average 46.0 feet per day

blasted with dynamite and bailed in an attempt to
increase productivity. It appears the Jordan Sandstone
at these sites has planes of weakness that were enlarged
by these well development procedures. A tentative
interpretation based on these observations is that
systematic fractures are present in the Jordan Sandstone
(and perhaps other units as well) in deep bedrock
settings, but individual fractures may have relatively
narrow apertures or are closed, and perhaps poorly
connected at a large scale, compared to their character
in shallow bedrock settings.
Shallow bedrock conditions—Fractures are common
in the Jordan Sandstone in outcrop, particularly in the
uppermost 20 feet of the formation where it is locally
well-cemented by calcite. Fractures range from small,
irregular, closed mesoscopic fractures, to vertical flat
joints with inch-scale apertures that extend vertically
across outcrops several tens of feet in height (Fig. 8).
Fractures in the Jordan Sandstone have not been
rigorously studied, but cursory observations of
individual outcrops indicate that vertical fractures are
typically more widely spaced than those in carbonate
strata above and below the Jordan Sandstone.
Hydraulic attributes
Deep bedrock conditions—High quality, discrete-
interval tests have not been conducted on the Jordan
Sandstone in southeastern Minnesota. Tests of three
boreholes in southwestern Wisconsin yielded hydraulic
conductivity values ranging from 8.0 to 24 feet per day.
Standard aquifer tests of 26 wells across southeastern
Minnesota indicated that hydraulic conductivity in the
Jordan Sandstone ranges from about 0.1 to 100 feet

57
per day and averages 48.5 feet per day. These Rochester area where the aquifer is known to have a
Minnesota values are based on aquifer tests conducted lenticular distribution. The fine clastic component of
by many different scientists who presumably employed the Jordan Sandstone is inferred to have a horizontal
a number of different pumping procedures and methods hydraulic conductivity of about 10-3 to 10-1 foot per day
of analysis. The lowest values of less than 10 feet per and a vertical hydraulic conductivity between 10-5 and
day are based on tests of the Jordan Sandstone in the 10-3 foot per day based on tests of similar facies in the

Matrix hydrostratigraphic
bedrock surface (italics)
the land surface and
Depth in feet below

component

Stationary flow—
Gamma log Caliper ambient conditions
(counts per second) (inches) (gallons per minute)
0 100 200 0 10 20 -2 -1 0 1
200
Dolomite
Oneota

200
Jordan Sandstone

static
250 water
level

300

Interpretation
St. Lawrence
Formation

300
350

400
Franconia Formation

400
450

500

500
550

Ironton–Galesville
Sandstone

600

Coarse clastic Fine clastic Carbonate

component component component

Figure 28. Results of a borehole geophysical investigation in deep bedrock conditions near Winona by Paillet
and others (2000). The flowmeter data were obtained under ambient conditions. Note that ambient inflow to
the well is from interbedded carbonate and fine clastic rock in the upper part of the St. Lawrence Formation,
and outflow occurs in the upper part of the Franconia Formation. These hydraulically active intervals are separated
by a confining unit that corresponds approximately to the St. Lawrence–Franconia Formation contact. Unique
number 235704. See Figure 1 for location, and Figure 5 for an explanation of flowmeter logs.

58
Franconia and Eau Claire Formations (Miller and Delin,
1993).
Hydraulic conductivity values calculated from
specific capacity tests of Jordan Sandstone wells are
graphically depicted in Figure 31. Under deep bedrock
conditions, conductivity typically ranges from less than
one to as much as 35 feet per day, with an average value
of 17.4 feet per day. These values fall within the range
obtained by standard aquifer pump tests, but are much
lower in average value, which may reflect the ability
of standard tests to more fully measure contribution
of water from secondary pore networks.
The relatively large range in productivity and
hydraulic conductivity values for the Jordan Sandstone
in deep bedrock conditions (Fig. 31) in part reflects
considerable variability in the thickness of the coarse
clastic component, even at the scale of an individual
municipality (Runkel, 1996b; Runkel and others, 1999).
The coarse clastic component has permeability values
orders of magnitude higher than the fine clastic
component. Therefore, under deep bedrock conditions,
variations from place to place in coarse clastic
component thickness have a measurable impact on the
productivity and transmissivity of wells that draw water
from the Jordan aquifer (Runkel, 1996b; Runkel and
others, 1999). Additionally, the large number of high
outlying values may be representative of wells that
intersect deep secondary pores such as bedding-plane
fractures or networks of systematic fractures.
Shallow bedrock conditions—Hydraulic properties
of the Jordan Sandstone in shallow bedrock settings
are much more variable than in deep bedrock settings
(Runkel and others, 1999). For example, two municipal
wells open to the Jordan Sandstone in Bloomington have
hydraulic conductivities of 56 and 533 feet per day
based on standard aquifer pump tests, an order of
magnitude disparity that is characteristic of aquifers
that have some component of fracture flow (Runkel and
others, 1999). Springs with flow rates of hundreds of
gallons per minute are emitted from individual fractures
in the Jordan Sandstone (such as along U.S. Highway
76 in Houston County, T. 103 N., R. 6 W., sec. 27).
The presence of calcite cement along the walls of
systematic fractures in many outcrops of Jordan
Sandstone in southeastern Minnesota, and its absence
in adjacent, nonfractured strata, indicates that fractures
were once common preferential pathways for
paleoground-water flow (McBride and others, 1994).
Hydraulic conductivity values calculated from
specific capacity tests for Jordan Sandstone typically
range from less than one to as much as 95 feet per day,
with an average value of 43.2 feet per day (Fig. 31).
The greater range and overall higher average hydraulic
59
conductivity compared to the Jordan Sandstone in deep
bedrock conditions reflects the greater importance of
fracture flow.
Hydrogeologic synthesis
In deep bedrock conditions, the lithostratigraphic
unit known as the Jordan Sandstone contains
components best defined as an aquifer as well as
components best defined as a confining unit. The Jordan
aquifer should refer to the coarse clastic component
that commonly composes 20 to as much as 80 feet of
the Jordan Sandstone. Defined in such a manner it is
more analogous in definition and properties to the high
porosity intergranular Ironton–Galesville and St. Peter
aquifers. The fine clastic component of the Jordan
Sandstone is more similar in hydrostratigraphic
properties to the upper Eau Claire, middle Franconia,
and parts of the St. Lawrence Formations. Where it
occurs in the lowermost part of the Jordan Sandstone
it is best considered a confining unit together with the
underlying St. Lawrence Formation. Where it occurs
as part of the Coon Valley Member on top of the Jordan
Sandstone it is part of the overlying Oneota confining
unit.
Even though the Jordan Sandstone is often
described as an intergranular aquifer, flow along
fractures may actually be volumetrically dominant in
certain settings. Flow along fractures should be
expected in shallow bedrock conditions and may occur
at least locally in deep bedrock conditions. The known
presence of fractures in deep bedrock conditions, and
the locally high hydraulic conductivity of the Jordan
aquifer compared to conductivity measured by discrete
interval packer tests of similar material in the Ironton–
Galesville aquifer (Miller and Delin, 1993), suggest that
significant yield to some wells may occur through
fractures.
PRAIRIE DU CHIEN GROUP
Hydrostratigraphic attributes
Matrix porosity
The Prairie du Chien Group consists of two
formations: the Oneota Dolomite and the overlying
Shakopee Formation (Fig. 2; Plates 1, 2). Both
formations consist largely of carbonate rock that has
a low matrix porosity of less than 10 percent, and very
low to low vertical permeability that ranges from 10-4
to 10-1 md (Figs. 16, 18; MUGSP, 1980; Setterholm
and others, 1991). Horizontal permeability is typically
as much as ten times greater than vertical permeability.
Fine and coarse clastic interbeds are common in the
lowest part of the Oneota Dolomite, the Coon Valley
Member, and as a subordinate component throughout
the stratigraphic extent of the Shakopee Formation.
Individual siliciclastic beds are typically less than 3
feet thick except in the lower part of the Shakopee
Formation, where the coarse clastic component locally
is as thick as 40 feet and commonly referred to as the
"Root Valley" or "New Richmond" Sandstone. The New
Richmond Sandstone has been mapped across much of
southeastern Minnesota outside of the Twin Cities
Metropolitan area (Plates 1, 2; Squillace, 1979) and is
the only regionally distributed, substantially thick
interval within the Prairie du Chien Group that has a
high intergranular permeability.
Secondary porosity
Deep bedrock conditions—The Prairie du Chien
Group is similar to the St. Lawrence Formation in that
macroscopic secondary pores are common along specific
intervals of strata even where buried by several hundred
feet of overlying bedrock in Minnesota, and by
thousands of feet of bedrock in Iowa (Figs. 9, 32; Des
Moines Water Works, 1995). The Shakopee Formation
and uppermost Oneota Dolomite have especially well
developed secondary porosity, more than that known
for any other Paleozoic unit in deep bedrock conditions
of southeastern Minnesota. Typical features include
dissolution-enlarged horizontal and vertical fractures
up to a centimeter in width, decimeter-scale cavities,
and oomoldic pores. Macroscopic secondary pores in
the Oneota Dolomite are much less abundant overall,
and appear to be restricted to relatively few discrete
horizons compared to their more ubiquitous distribution
in the Shakopee Formation. A high density of large
secondary pores is common in a stromatolitic facies
that is as much as 70 feet thick in the uppermost part
of the Oneota Dolomite, and along individual beds as
much as a few feet thick in the middle to lower parts
of the formation (Fig. 32; Plates 1, 2). These high
porosity intervals in the Oneota Dolomite are separated
from one another by strata as much as several tens of
feet thick that have relatively few, small secondary
pores.
Shallow bedrock conditions—In shallow bedrock
conditions, the Prairie du Chien Group is ubiquitously
fractured, and secondary pores are more extensively
developed compared to its character in deep bedrock
conditions (Fig. 32; Plates 1, 2). All outcrops of the
Prairie du Chien Group contain nonsystematic, stress-
relief fractures along bedding planes and at high angles
to bedding. Planar, vertical fractures with inch-scale
apertures are also known in the Prairie du Chien Group
and may be part of regional-scale orthogonal systems
(Ruhl, 1995; Runkel, 1996a). Dissolution features in
the Prairie du Chien Group in shallow bedrock
60
conditions appear to be most pervasive in the
stratigraphic intervals that contain the greatest density
of secondary pores in deep bedrock conditions; such
as within many of the carbonate beds in the Shakopee
Formation, in the uppermost part of the Oneota
Dolomite, and in the middle to lower Oneota Dolomite
(Figs. 4, 8) along discrete horizons a few feet thick.
The Prairie du Chien Group hosts dozens of caves.
Most of these "megascopic pores" are three-dimensional
phreatic maze caves and are developed through the
lower Shakopee Formation, New Richmond Sandstone,
paleokarstic Shakopee Formation–Oneota Dolomite
contact strata, and in the top portion of the Oneota
Dolomite. The largest Prairie du Chien Group cave
in the region is Crystal Cave, a commercial cave located
about thirty miles east of the St. Croix River near Spring
Valley, Wisconsin. Crystal Cave extends vertically
through the lower Shakopee Formation and New
Richmond Sandstone and is about one mile long. At
least two other extensive Prairie du Chien Group caves
are known in Wabasha County, Minnesota (Tipping and
others, 2001). Several smaller Prairie du Chien Group
caves occur as abandoned phreatic tubes near the top of
Oneota Dolomite cliffs from Hastings south to Houston
County along the Mississippi River.
Hydraulic attributes
Hydraulic conductivity in the Prairie du Chien
Group reflects the relative development of secondary
pores because the unit is composed chiefly of carbonate
rock with very low intergranular permeability. As a
relatively thick body of strata with variability in the
size, abundance, and interconnectivity of fractures and
dissolution cavities, the Prairie du Chien Group can be
expected to have a range in conductivity of nine or more
orders of magnitude, in part depending on the scale at
which it is measured (Liesch, 1973; Graese and others,
1988; Gianniny and others, 1996; Hoffman and
Alexander, 1998). The hydraulic data discussed below
are biased to some extent because most hydraulic
conductivity values are calculated from tests of
boreholes constructed so that relatively high porosity
water-producing intervals are exposed across the open-
hole interval, or are based on field investigations that
measure rates of flow along well-developed conduit
systems. Conductivity values of greater than 1,000 feet
per day and flow speeds measured in miles per day in
the Prairie du Chien Group are well documented through
these kinds of investigations (Wheeler, 1993; Paillet
and others, 2000). However, the hydraulic properties
of relatively tight carbonate rock, which can be tens
of feet thick in parts of the Prairie du Chien Group,
are not well represented in our database because they
have rarely been tested. Studies of similarly dense
 416091
D
235565 Figure 29. Geometry of fine clastic tongues
C within the Jordan Sandstone in the central part
0 1 mile
236122 0
of the Twin Cities Metropolitan area. Similar
110485 10 tongues are common across southeastern
B E
235375 206798
30 Minnesota. Gamma log signatures used to
e ota A F
n construct the cross-section are included. Modified
O mite 50 feet
Dolo

N
from Runkel and others (1999).

an
Jord one 200496
n d st
Sa L
200154 200164
G K
nce 135503
awre Gamma logs 225881
St. L rmation H
Fo 122210 J
100 API units
I
A B C D

61
239765
M

C E F G H I ANOKA

A B
C
D
E
F

RAMSEY
Coarse clastic
component
Fine clastic G
M G I J K L component M H
J
WASHINGTON

I L
HENNEPIN K

DAKOTA
 increasing counts

434041 223266
(cuttings only) 161425 220666 220664 220831 222525 (cuttings only) 420668

V V
V

V
V C
V V V

C C F
F
C
C
F
F
F F
F C
F C S
S F F
S S F F

S S S
South
North

62
Interval typically interpreted as
Jordan Sandstone on drilling records
St. Lawrence Formation
St. Lawrence Formation

10 feet
1 mile
Figure 30. South to north cross-section through the city of Rochester, Olmsted
Coarse clastic component (C) County, showing the distribution of matrix hydrostratigraphic components in
the interval generally considered the Jordan Sandstone by water-well drillers
Fine clastic component (F) and geologists. Note that the Jordan Sandstone consists of variable proportions
of fine clastic, coarse clastic, and carbonate rock components. The cross-section
Carbonate component
was constructed on the basis of interpretations of gamma logs (shown) and
Coon Valley Member (V): interbedded coarse clastic, cuttings samples (unique numbers are listed above the logs). See Figure 1 for
fine clastic, and carbonate rock
location. Modified from Runkel (1996b).
S St. Lawrence Formation
carbonate rock have demonstrated hydraulic
conductivity values that typically range from 10 -6 to
10-4 foot per day (for example Liesch, 1973; Libra and
Hallberg, 1985; Graese and others, 1988; Gianniny and
others, 1996).
Deep bedrock conditions—Hydraulic properties
obtained from pump tests (Fig. 13), dye-trace and
borehole flowmeter investigations (Fig. 33) of the Prairie
du Chien Group in deep bedrock settings demonstrate
that flow occurs along discrete intervals, many with
very high conductivity, that are preferentially located
in the Shakopee Formation and uppermost Oneota
Dolomite strata. A dye-trace study in Fillmore County
documented flow speeds of greater than 6.5 miles per
day, largely along Shakopee Formation–Oneota
Dolomite contact conduits that locally occurred in deep
bedrock conditions along the trace. At Faribault, two
relatively narrow horizons with a high concentration
of cavities in Shakopee Formation–Oneota Dolomite
contact strata at a depth between 175 and 200 feet below
the bedrock surface had conductivities measured at 93
and 837 feet per day based on flowmeter logs analyzed
in conjunction with pumping and drawdown data (Fig.
33; Paillet and others, 2000). An ongoing investigation
by Tipping and Runkel (unpub. data) also documents
similar discrete intervals in the Shakopee Formation
and uppermost Oneota Dolomite with high conductivity
at a number of other sites in southeastern Minnesota.
An approximately 150-foot-thick interval of upper
Prairie du Chien Group rock under deep bedrock
conditions at Spring Grove has a bulk hydraulic
conductivity of 9 feet per day (Eder and Associates,
1997).
Hydraulic conductivity of the middle and lower
parts of the Oneota Dolomite is much lower than that
of its upper part. Hydraulic models based on pump
and slug tests in the New Brighton and Arden Hills areas
indicated a relatively low vertical conductivity of 1.5
x 10-4 foot per day and horizontal conductivity of 7.5
x 10-3 foot per day at this site, where lower to middle
Oneota Dolomite strata occur at a depth that is
transitional between shallow and deep bedrock
conditions (Camp, Dresser and McKee, 1991). Strata
in the overlying Shakopee Formation are five orders
of magnitude higher in conductivity at the same site.
A cooperative study by the Minnesota Department of
Natural Resources and Minnesota Department of Health
indicated a similarly low vertical conductivity of 10-4
foot per day at Plainview (Fig. 13).
Hydraulic conductivity values based on specific
capacity tests of wells that draw water from the Prairie
du Chien Group in deep bedrock conditions typically
range from less than one to as high as 50 feet per day,
63
and average 33.53 feet per day (Fig. 34). The large
number of high outlying values and overall moderate
to high average conductivity compared to other parts
of the Paleozoic section is consistent with borehole and
core observations that large secondary pores are
common along specific intervals in the Prairie du Chien
Group in deep bedrock conditions. Runkel (2000) used
specific capacity values in nine southeastern Minnesota
counties to demonstrate that relative productivity of
water wells is at least in part dependent upon the
stratigraphic position of the open hole: wells that draw
water from the lowermost Shakopee Formation and
uppermost Oneota Dolomite contact strata were three
times more productive than those open only to the upper
Shakopee Formation or middle to lower part of the
Oneota Dolomite. The substantially higher average
productivity of wells open across the contact between
these formations apparently reflects the relatively great
abundance of secondary pores and perhaps the local
presence of the New Richmond (Root Valley) Sandstone.
Shallow bedrock conditions—A wide range in
hydraulic conductivity has been measured in the Prairie
du Chien Group where it occurs in shallow bedrock
conditions, with most measurements collected as part
of site-remediation projects (Fig. 13). Pump and slug
tests of the Shakopee Formation in the Arden Hills and
New Brighton areas indicated a horizontal conductivity
of 163 feet per day and vertical conductivity at 1.75
feet per day. Bulk values of 18 and 5.3 feet per day
were calculated based on borehole flowmeter and
pumping test data collected from two wells open to the
uppermost Oneota Dolomite and Shakopee Formation
near Faribault and Rochester, respectively (Paillet and
others, 2000). The same investigation demonstrated
that contribution to these wells was accommodated
through a few discrete horizontal fractures and
dissolution features having hydraulic conductivity values
that ranged from 2.2 to 1,023 feet per day (Figs. 33,
35). Unfractured rock between major water-producing
horizons has much lower hydraulic conductivity, and
was demonstrated at both sites to provide hydraulic
separation of conduits. Variability in hydraulic
conductivity was also recorded at the Oronoco Landfill
site near Rochester where discrete 10-foot intervals had
conductivities that ranged from 1.6 to 65 feet per day
(RMT, Inc., 1992).
An ongoing investigation conducted by the
Minnesota Geological Survey (Tipping and Runkel,
2001) has yielded results consistent with those of RMT,
Inc. (1992) and Paillet and others (2000). Flowmeter
and packer tests of scientific boreholes at Northfield
and Cottage Grove (Figs. 36, 37) demonstrated that
water in the Prairie du Chien Group travels chiefly along
 A. B.
1.6 x 104
600

Transmissivity in feet squared per day

1.4 x 104
500
Conductivity in feet per day

1.2 x 104

400 1 x 104

300 8000

6000
200
4000
100
2000

0 0
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
Distance in feet between the bedrock surface and the open-hole top Thickness of coarse clastic component in feet

C. DEEP BEDROCK CONDITIONS D. SHALLOW BEDROCK CONDITIONS

250 250

200 200

150 150
Range
Range

100 100

50 50

0 0
702 samples 851 samples
Average 17.4 feet per day Average 43.2 feet per day

Figure 31. Hydraulic conductivity data for the Jordan Sandstone calculated from specific capacity tests. See
Figure 11 for an explanation of box plots.
A. Scatter plot showing the relationship between the depth of the open-hole interval below the bedrock surface
and hydraulic conductivity. Shallower wells tend to have higher conductivity.
B. Scatter plot showing positive correlation between the thickness of the coarse clastic component and
transmissivity for wells in the Jordan Sandstone in the Twin Cities Metropolitan area (modified from Runkel
and others, 1999).
C. Box plot of hydraulic conductivity values for shallow bedrock conditions. Twenty-five outlying values
greater than 250 feet per day are not shown.
D. Box plot of hydraulic conductivity values for deep bedrock conditions. Two outlying values greater than
250 feet per day are not shown.

64
a few discrete bedding-plane parallel conduit systems
separated from one another by intervals of carbonate
rock of sufficiently low vertical conductivity to serve
as confining units. Static head variability within the
Prairie du Chien Group is strong enough locally to drive
ambient flow in a borehole at rates greater than 12
gallons per minute.
Dye-trace investigations have measured rapid flow
speeds in the Prairie du Chien Group where it occurs
in shallow bedrock conditions. Horizontal flow speeds
of ground water at the Oronoco site were as rapid as
800 feet per day (Donahue and Associates, Inc., 1991).
The Fillmore County study by Wheeler (1993) measured
flow speeds as rapid as 6.5 miles per day within conduits
that occurred largely in conditions of shallow burial
beneath younger bedrock. These and other dye traces
in shallow bedrock conditions of southeastern Minnesota
all yield relatively wide breakthrough curves that have
a fine-scale structure. These breakthrough curves are
different from the narrow breakthrough curves seen in
the conduits of the Galena–Spillville karst system
(described later in this report) and are consistent with
movement through complex anastomosing, turbulent
flow systems.
Hydraulic conductivity values calculated from
specific capacity tests for Prairie du Chien Group wells
in shallow bedrock conditions (Fig. 34) typically range
from less than one to 125 feet per day and have an
average value of 60.8 feet per day, about twice the
average value for deep bedrock conditions. Wells
constructed to draw water from Shakopee Formation–
Oneota Dolomite contact strata are substantially more
productive than wells that are not (Runkel, 1999), a
relationship similar to that found in deep bedrock
conditions.
Hydrogeologic synthesis
The Prairie du Chien Group occurs as the
uppermost bedrock across a wide expanse of
southeastern Minnesota where it exhibits all of the usual
attributes of karst, including sinkholes, springs, caves,
stream sinks, and dry valleys. As such it is considered
the stratigraphically lowermost of three major "karst
systems." Recharge occurs through fractures and
dissolution cavities, and ground water can travel along
bedding-plane parallel conduits at rates that have been
measured in miles per day. The differential stratigraphic
distribution of secondary pores is apparently reflected
in some of the karstic characteristics of the Prairie du
Chien Group: relatively high densities of sinkholes and
springs, corresponding to major bedding-plane parallel
conduit systems, occur where the Shakopee Formation–
Oneota Dolomite and St. Peter Sandstone–Shakopee
Formation contact strata lie directly beneath the land
65
surface (Dalgleish and Alexander, 1984; Tipping and
others, 2001). Four catastrophic failures of three
wastewater treatment lagoons (Alexander and Book,
1984; Jannik and others, 1992; Alexander and others,
1993) all occurred in lagoons built on top of Shakopee
Formation–Oneota Dolomite contact strata.
Discrete interval pump tests, dye-trace
investigations, plug tests of permeability, and borehole
flowmeter studies collectively demonstrate that ground
water travels in the Prairie du Chien Group chiefly
through fractures and solution features having moderate
to extremely high values of hydraulic conductivity.
Significant flow may also occur along relatively
permeable coarse clastic interbeds, although this has
not been documented. Intervals of rock that lack these
features are orders of magnitude lower in conductivity
and serve as confining units. The distribution of these
preferential flow paths in deep and shallow bedrock
conditions appears to be largely stratigraphically
controlled (Fig. 32) and therefore generally predictable
on a regional scale. The principal intervals with
particularly high porosity and conductivity include: the
Shakopee Formation where individual carbonate beds
with macroscopic secondary pores and thin, coarse
clastic interbeds are common; uppermost Oneota
Dolomite strata where large cavities are abundant; and
within the coarse clastic New Richmond Sandstone. In
contrast, the middle to lower Oneota Dolomite has a
lower porosity, and hydraulic tests demonstrate a
corresponding lower conductivity (Camp, Dresser and
McKee, 1991). On the basis of this distribution of
porosity and related conductivity, the Prairie du Chien
Group can be generally divided into two hydrogeologic
units: a Shakopee aquifer of relatively high hydraulic
conductivity that roughly corresponds to the Shakopee
Formation and upper one-third (as much as 70 feet)
of the Oneota Dolomite; and an underlying Oneota
confining unit.
The most comprehensive site-specific
hydrogeologic study of the Prairie du Chien Group,
conducted at a landfill site near Oronoco in Olmsted
County (Donahue and Associates, Inc., 1991; RMT, Inc.,
1992), indicated that its hydrogeologic character is
generally similar to that described for many other karstic
carbonate rock aquifers studied over the past 10 years
(Fig. 38A; for example Gianniny and others, 1996;
Zanini and others, 1998), and in particular reflects the
hydrogeologic differences between its upper and lower
parts. Donahue and Associates, Inc. (1991) and RMT,
Inc. (1992) used borehole videos, dye tracing, ground-
water chemistry, discrete-interval packer tests, and
potentiometric maps to demonstrate that the Prairie du
Chien Group is divisible into two hydrogeologic units
that correspond to the Shakopee aquifer and Oneota
 A Freeborn County A'
223082
Core log
Matrix
hydrostratigraphic
component Visual porosity log
Olmsted County 0 100%
658967
Winona County 500 Steele County Rice County Dakota County Hennepin County Ramsey County Washington County
603060 236018 658966 203782 645394

St. Peter Sand 205821 206169 225652 185808 255736 225622

stone

300
Core log
Matrix
600 hydrostratigraphic St. Pe
component Visual porosity log ter Sa
n d s t o ne
0 100%
200
200 Shakopee
100 aquifer
100
100 250
500

Shakopee aquifer
100 Shakopee
Shakopee Formation Formation
Oneota Dolomite 200 Oneota
100
Dolomite

300 100 Oneota

66
confining
unit

J o rd
an San d
stone
Increasing borehole diameter
200

10 20 inches
Jordan Sandstone Caliper log scale

Oneota confining unit

(except for Olmsted County)

6 8 inches

Scale for Olmsted
County
Coarse clastic component
Fine clastic component
A'
Carbonate component
Dissolution features—
cavities and enlarged
bedding-plane fractures
A listed for each log.
Figure 32. Representative caliper and core logs showing the distribution of secondary pores
in the carbonate-dominated Prairie du Chien Group across southeastern Minnesota. The depth
of burial beneath the bedrock surface is listed beside each log. The sites range from deep
bedrock to shallow bedrock conditions.
The distribution of pores, largely dissolution cavities, is stratigraphically controlled: the
Shakopee Formation and upper part of the Oneota Dolomite have a high density of large
cavities. In contrast, secondary porosity in the middle to lower parts of the Oneota Dolomite
is much lower. Hydraulic data discussed in this report indicate that the more porous Shakopee
Formation and upper Oneota Dolomite are best classified as an aquifer, whereas the relatively
tight Oneota Dolomite behaves as a confining unit. See Figure 1 for the location of counties

LOCATION OF CROSS-SECTION
confining unit (Fig. 38A). The Shakopee aquifer
contains a well-connected network of fractures and
dissolution cavities that provide recharge to horizontal
conduits across which water flows as rapidly as 800
feet per day. In contrast, the Oneota confining unit
lacks a well-connected system of vertical fractures and
dissolution features and serves as a hydraulic barrier
that separates karstic carbonate rock above, from the
coarse clastic Jordan aquifer below.
Considerable evidence supports the interpretation
of a confined Jordan aquifer at the Oronoco landfill
site (Donahue and Associates, Inc., 1991; RMT, Inc.,
1992). The Jordan and Shakopee aquifers differ from
one another in potentiometric head by as much as 9
feet, and in hydraulic gradients and inferred flow
directions. Furthermore, pumping of the Jordan aquifer
caused no measurable drawdown in water levels in the
Shakopee aquifer. Lastly, the two aquifers are
hydrogeochemically isolated from one another: water
in the Shakopee aquifer was extensively impacted by
surface contamination and water in the Jordan aquifer
was not.
The site-specific hydrogeologic depiction in Figure
38 can be extrapolated to a regional scale because the
landfill at Oronoco lies in a plateau setting that is typical
of an enormous area of southeastern Minnesota where
the Prairie du Chien Group occurs as the uppermost
bedrock. The results of many other site-specific, as
well as regional-scale studies are consistent with the
model for the Oronoco landfill. For example, Hall and
others (1911) recognized a twofold hydrogeologic
division of the Prairie du Chien Group that roughly
corresponds to the Shakopee aquifer and Oneota
confining unit as we define them in this report. Their
work included documentation of the ability of the
Oneota Dolomite to confine artesian water in the
underlying Jordan Sandstone across a large expanse of
southeastern Minnesota, and similar conditions remain
today in places such as Northfield, Cannon Falls, and
Preston despite heavy water withdrawals from the
Jordan Sandstone in those areas. A dye-trace
investigation by Wheeler (1993) indicated that the
hydrogeologic model for the Oronoco landfill site is
applicable to a much larger scale in nearby Fillmore
County (Fig. 38B). Several other investigations
conducted over the past ten years are also best explained
by the presence of a confining unit in the Oneota
Dolomite. This includes independent hydrologic
evidence outside of that collected from the Oronoco
landfill study: potentiometric data that indicate
differential heads above and below the Oneota Dolomite
(Kanivetsky, 1988; Tipping, 1992; Barr Engineering,
1996), pumping tests and barometric data that document
67
hydraulic confinement of the Jordan Sandstone (Camp,
Dresser and McKee, 1991; Barr Engineering, 1996;
Runkel and others, 1999), and by ground-water
chemistry (for example Setterholm and others, 1991;
Tipping, 1992; Wall and Regan, 1994). Even though
these studies were conducted on the Prairie du Chien
Group in different parts of Minnesota and in different
conditions of burial depth and topography, they are all
compatible with a hydrogeologic model in which the
Shakopee Formation and upper part of the Oneota
Dolomite are a karstic aquifer with moderate to high
hydraulic conductivity, whereas the middle to lower
Oneota Dolomite is of markedly lower conductivity and
confines the Jordan aquifer. The results of recent
borehole geophysical studies by Tipping and Runkel
(unpub. data) at a number of sites in southeastern
Minnesota (Fig. 37, for example) also demonstrate the
presence of an Oneota confining unit.
An evaluation of potentiometric data in Minnesota
and surrounding areas does not support the common
assertion of good hydraulic connection between the
Prairie du Chien Group and Jordan Sandstone (for
example Kanivetsky, 1978; Delin and Woodward, 1984).
A study in northern Iowa by Horick (1989) provided
evidence that the lower part of the Prairie du Chien
Group provides effective confinement at a regional scale
(Fig. 39). He showed that the potentiometric surface
of water in the St. Peter aquifer is 50 to 200 feet higher
than that of the Jordan Sandstone across much of
northeastern Iowa along its border with Minnesota. In
the absence of any known beds in the lower St. Peter
aquifer that could create such confinement, Horick
concluded that some part of the Prairie du Chien Group
is a "confining interval." In Minnesota, differences in
static levels between the upper part of the Prairie du
Chien Group and Jordan aquifer have been noted in
at least seven counties (Hall and others, 1911;
Kanivetsky and Palen, 1982; Kanivetsky, 1984, 1988;
Kanivetsky and Cleland, 1990, 1992; Donahue and
Associates, Inc., 1991; RMT, Inc., 1992; Barr
Engineering, 1996; Zhang and Kanivetsky, 1996). These
differences in potentiometric head levels have typically
been attributed to impermeable beds of "limited" extent
in the Prairie du Chien Group (for example Kanivetsky
and Palen, 1982; Kanivetsky, 1984, 1988; Kanivetsky
and Cleland, 1990, 1992), but no stratigraphic evidence
is provided to support the interpretation that such beds
are genuinely only locally distributed. The results of
this study support a different interpretation: that the
differences in head levels noted in these many different
areas reflect the ability of an interval of rock that is
of regional extent across southeastern Minnesota, the
Oneota Dolomite, to provide confinement.
The data summarized above for the Prairie du Chien
 bedrock surface (italics)
the land surface and
Depth in feet below

hydrostratigraphic
component
Location and hydraulic
conductivity of dominant
Matrix Gamma log Caliper Stationary flow permeable intervals
(counts per second) (inches) Televiewer (gallons per minute) (feet per day)
0 100 200 0 3 6 -10 -5 0
St. Peter
Sandstone
1023
50

Casing
bottom Ambient
flow

140
50

Pumped
100 flow

140
Shakopee Formation

100

150

Interpretation

837
279
150

200
93

837
200 Oneota
Dolomite

Coarse clastic component Fine clastic component Carbonate component

Figure 33. Results of a borehole geophysical investigation of the carbonate dominated strata of the Shakopee
Formation and uppermost Oneota Dolomite strata at Faribault, Rice County (Paillet and others, 2000). Flowmeter
data were collected under ambient and 2 gallons per minute pumping conditions. Note that water is emitted
through discrete horizons, typically less than one foot thick, with hydraulic conductivity as high as 1,023 feet
per day. Ambient inflow to the well occurs in the upper half of the Shakopee Formation and outflow occurs in
the lower Shakopee Formation and uppermost Oneota Dolomite, demonstrating hydraulic separation of conduits
within the Shakopee Formation. Unique number 625327. See Figure 1 for location, and Figure 5 for an explanation
of flowmeter logs.

68
A.
1200
Figure 34. Hydraulic conductivity data for the
Prairie du Chien Group calculated from specific
1000 capacity tests. See Figure 11 for an explanation
Conductivity in feet per day

of box plots.
800 A. Scatter plot showing the relationship between
the depth of the open-hole interval below the
600 bedrock surface and hydraulic conductivity.
Shallower wells tend to have higher conductivity.
400 B. Box plot of hydraulic conductivity values for
deep bedrock conditions. Two outlying values
200 greater than 1,000 feet per day are not shown.
C. Box plot of hydraulic conductivity values for
0 shallow bedrock conditions. Twelve outlying values
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 greater than 1,000 feet per day are not shown.
Distance in feet between the bedrock surface and the open-hole top

B. DEEP BEDROCK CONDITIONS C. SHALLOW BEDROCK CONDITIONS

1000 1000

800 800

600 600
Range
Range

400 400

200 200

0 0
448 samples 2,195 samples
Average 33.5 feet per day Average 60.8 feet per day

Group indicate that it should no longer be treated as a occurs locally in shallow bedrock conditions.
single aquifer combined with the underlying Jordan
Sandstone. Instead it should be divided into a Shakopee ST. PETER SANDSTONE
aquifer and Oneota confining unit. The Oneota
confining unit can be traced across all of southeastern Hydrostratigraphic attributes
Minnesota area using outcrops, cores, borehole logs, Matrix porosity
and cuttings. Although discrete beds with a relatively
The St. Peter Sandstone is composed chiefly of the
great density of secondary pores in the Oneota confining
coarse clastic component across most of southeastern
unit may be of high horizontal hydraulic conductivity,
Minnesota, but it contains thick (up to 30 feet), laterally
there is strong evidence that bulk vertical conductivity
extensive fine clastic beds in its lower one-half in the
is low enough to provide confinement, analogous in
Twin Cities Metropolitan area, and along the western
that respect to the hydrogeologic attributes of the St.
subcrop of Paleozoic rocks south of the metropolitan
Lawrence Formation. As with all other confining units
area (Fig. 40). Fine clastic beds in the lowermost part
in southeastern Minnesota, it provides confinement
of the St. Peter Sandstone are known to occur locally
where it is not breached by interconnected networks
in other counties across southeastern Minnesota, but
of secondary pores, a situation that most commonly

69
are typically only a few feet thick or less, and their a high porosity and permeability (Norvitch and others,
lateral continuity is poorly understood. The coarse 1973).
clastic component in the St. Peter Sandstone is Interbeds of the fine clastic component have not
especially well-sorted and friable. It is one of the most been tested for permeability, but the attributes
texturally homogeneous units of sandstone known. observable in outcrop and core samples suggest that
Laboratory analyses of plug samples indicated it has the fine clastic rocks are similar to beds of older
bedrock surface (italics)
the land surface and
Depth in feet below

hydrostratigraphic
component

Location and hydraulic

conductivity of dominant
Matrix

Gamma log Caliper Stationary flow permeable intervals

(counts per second) (inches) Televiewer (gallons per minute) (feet per day)
0 50 100 2 5 12 -2 0 2 4
50
Quaternary

Ambient

No data
flow
Casing
bottom

440

100

Interpretation Pumped
flow
Shakopee Formation

50 165

150

28

100

200

11

Coarse clastic component Fine clastic component Carbonate component

Figure 35. Results of a borehole geophysical investigation of the carbonate-dominated strata of the Shakopee
Formation at Rochester, Olmsted County (Paillet and others, 2000). Flowmeter data were collected under ambient
and 2 gallons per minute pumping conditions. Note that water is emitted through discrete horizons, typically
less than one foot thick, with hydraulic conductivity as high as 440 feet per day. The ambient and pumped
flowmeter logs indicate that conduits are hydraulically separated: there is a small head difference driving inflow up the
borehole from the conduit that lies 50 feet beneath the bedrock surface. Relatively minor inflow in the two conduits
below is not markedly affected by pumping because their inflow is driven up the borehole by a head difference that is
larger than the drawdown produced by the pumping. Unique number 485610. See Figure 1 for location, and Figure 5
for an explanation of flowmeter logs.

70
Paleozoic strata that have a vertical permeability from
10 -7 to 10 -5 md.
Secondary porosity
Deep bedrock conditions—The conventional view
is that interconnected networks of open vertical fractures
are poorly developed in a friable, high porosity unit
such as the St. Peter Sandstone where it is covered by
younger bedrock layers of contrasting material
properties. An unproven assumption by previous
investigators is that fractures and dissolution features
are rare to absent in the St. Peter Sandstone in deep
bedrock settings and therefore porosity and permeability
is determined chiefly by intergranular attributes.
Shallow bedrock conditions—The St. Peter
Sandstone in shallow bedrock settings contains
systematic fractures with apertures as wide as a few
inches. They are similar to fractures developed in
younger carbonate strata, except they are more widely
spaced, are not solution enlarged, and are commonly
filled with friable sand. Easily accessible examples
of such fractures occur in roadcut exposures in the
Rochester area (such as a roadcut in the southwest
corner of T. 107 N., R. 14 W., sec. 32), and in bluffside
exposures along the Mississippi River in downtown St.
Paul. Norvitch and Walton (1979) also noted the
presence of fractures in shallow excavations of the St.
Peter Sandstone beneath the overlying Glenwood and
Platteville Formations.
Large voids routinely develop in the St. Peter
Sandstone. Caves up to hundreds of feet long are known
in the sandstone from the Twin Cities Metropolitan area
south to the Iowa border. The voids are believed to
be the result of either mechanical erosion of the
sandstone by turbulent water flow or of collapse into
solutional voids in the underlying Shakopee Formation
carbonates. These voids are sufficiently common in
the Rochester area to have affected the foundation
engineering of several buildings.
Hydraulic attributes
Deep bedrock conditions—Hydraulic conductivity
of the St. Peter Sandstone in deep bedrock in Illinois
and southeastern Wisconsin falls within a relatively
narrow range of values from 1.3 to 8.4 feet per day
(Nicholas and others, 1987; Graese and others, 1988;
Young, 1992). The St. Peter Sandstone in those areas
is similar in texture to the formation in Minnesota, but
may have a greater degree of cementation (Hoholick
and others, 1984). Hydraulic conductivity values
calculated from specific capacity data (Fig. 41) collected
from wells in deep bedrock conditions of southeastern
Minnesota average 15.9 feet per day, with a typical
range of about 2 to 50 feet per day. Fine clastic beds
71
in the lower St. Peter Sandstone have not been tested
for hydraulic conductivity, but leakage rates calculated
from pump tests and mathematical models suggest an
overall low vertical conductivity of 10-3 foot per day
(Schoenberg, 1990).
Shallow bedrock conditions—Standard aquifer tests
of several boreholes in the Twin Cities Metropolitan
area and of a single well in Rice County yielded
conductivity values that ranged from 20 to 30 feet per
day for the St. Peter Sandstone in shallow bedrock
conditions (Barr Engineering, 1976, 1986; Madsen and
Norvitch, 1979). Conductivity values based on specific
capacity tests of wells in shallow bedrock conditions
(Fig. 41) typically range from less than 1 to 75 feet
per day, with an average value of 38.7 feet per day.
The wide range and overall higher average conductivity
compared to the St. Peter Sandstone in deep bedrock
conditions reflects the greater significance of
contribution from fracture flow.
Hydrogeologic synthesis
The common depiction of the upper part of the St.
Peter Sandstone as a relatively homogeneous,
intergranular aquifer of moderate to high hydraulic
conductivity is possibly an adequate model for deep
bedrock conditions. County-scale potentiometric maps
demonstrate that fine clastic strata in the lower part of
the formation serve as confining units that hydraulically
separate the St. Peter aquifer from the underlying
Shakopee aquifer (for example Kanivetsky and Cleland,
1992) in the Twin Cities Metropolitan area. The
presence of similar fine clastic beds in the lower St.
Peter Sandstone outside of the metropolitan area
indicates that the Shakopee aquifer may be hydraulically
separated from the St. Peter aquifer on a larger scale
across southeastern Minnesota, particularly along the
western subcrop extent of Paleozoic strata (Fig. 40).
To the east, fine clastic strata are much thinner, and
their ability to serve as a confining unit is not known.
Lindgren (2001) suggested that the lower St. Peter
Sandstone in the Rochester area locally provides
confinement where the fine clastic beds are at most only
a few feet thick. The St. Peter and Shakopee aquifers
have historically been inferred to be hydraulically well
connected where these fine clastic interbeds are absent,
and local hydrogeologic studies demonstrate some
connectivity (Delin, 1991).
The hydrogeologic significance of fractures and
large voids in shallow bedrock conditions has not been
investigated in systematic fashion. The large apertures
and abundance of fractures in outcrop, and the relatively
high hydraulic conductivity of the St. Peter aquifer in
shallow bedrock conditions across southeastern
Minnesota compared to deep conditions of burial
 Matrix hydrostratigraphic
bedrock surface (italics)
the land surface and
Depth in feet below

and caliper logs)

(based on video
Major cavities
component
Packer tests
Trolling flow— Stationary flow—
Gamma log Hole diameter Pump rate Static water ambient conditions ambient conditions
(API units) (inches) (gallons per minute) elevation (pump off) (gallons per minute) (gallons per minute)
0 100 4 8 12 16 20 0 1 2 3 765 770 775 -10 -5 0 -15 -10 -5 0
0
Quater-
nary

casing
bottom

static
water
level
50
Shakopee Formation

50
Prairie du Chien Group

100 Interpretation

100
Oneota Dolomite

150

150

200
Sandstone

200
Jordan

Flow Top open

Packer status: top
measurement
and bottom closed Bottom open
taken
Coarse clastic component

Fine clastic component

Carbonate component

Figure 36. Results of a borehole geophysical investigation of the carbonate-dominated strata of the Prairie du Chien
Group and underlying coarse clastic strata of the Jordan Sandstone at Hamlet Park in Cottage Grove, Washington County.
Flowmeter data were collected under ambient ground-water conditions with the tool moving up-hole at a rate of 10 feet
per minute ("trolling" log), as well as with the tool at stationary positions. Note that water enters the borehole chiefly
through large secondary pores in the upper part of the Shakopee Formation. That water travels down the hole at a rate
measured at nearly 15 gallons per minute, and exits the borehole through large cavities at a discrete horizon in the
lower part of the Shakopee Formation. Such a borehole flow pattern, in conjunction with information from the caliper
log, static water levels, temperature profile, and chloride concentrations, all indicate that flow within the Shakopee aquifer
occurs along discrete, bedding-plane parallel conduits separated from one another by confining units. Similar borehole
tests in other parts of southeastern Minnesota (Tipping and Runkel, unpub. data) are consistent with such an interpretation.
Measurable downflow of lesser magnitude occurs between the lower Shakopee Formation and Jordan Sandstone.
Such flow is driven by differential heads between the Shakopee and Jordan aquifers. Static water levels measured at
discrete intervals indicate that the Oneota Dolomite serves as a confining unit separating the two aquifers. Unique number
658965. See Figure 1 for location, and Figure 5 for an explanation of flowmeter logs.

72
 Packer tests

Gamma log Hole diameter Pump rate Static water Temperature (C) Trolling flow—ambient Stationary flow
Location and percent of
transmissivity of dominant
permeable intervals

Major cavities
(based on video
and caliper logs)

Depth in feet below

the land surface and
bedrock surface (italics)
Matrix hydrostratigraphic
component
(API units) (inches) (gal/min) elevation (pump off) and pH Chloride (mg/l) (gallons per minute) (gallons per minute)
0 100 5 6 7 8 9 10 0 1 2 920 925 7 8 9 0 5 10 15 20 0 5 10 15 0 5 10 15
0
Quater- casing casing
nary
bottom pH bottom

static static
water Temperature water
level level
50
50

Interpretation

Shakopee Formation
100 34%
100

73
150
150

Prairie du Chien Group

200
200

Oneota Dolomite
250 14%
250

51%

Jordan Sandstone
Top open Ambient
Bottom open Pumping
Coarse clastic component
taken

Carbonate component
Figure 37
Packer status: top
and bottom closed

Explanation to Figure 37 is on page 74.

Below pump limit
Flow measurement
suggest that fracture flow may be regionally significant.
Fractures in the St. Peter Sandstone are known to at
least locally provide conduits through which ground
water can move much more rapidly than rates predicted
under the assumption of intergranular flow only.
Preferential flow through fractures was noted in shallow
excavations of the St. Peter Sandstone in the Twin Cities
Metropolitan area (Norvitch and Walton, 1979), and
small streams in Fillmore County and surrounding areas
are known to completely empty into fractures in the
St. Peter Sandstone. A good example of such a feature
is a stream sink near the headwaters of an intermittent
tributary to Watson Creek about 0.25 mile south of
Fillmore County Highway 8 (T. 103 N., R. 10 W., sec.
18, BCCAC).
GLENWOOD FORMATION
Hydrostratigraphic attributes
Matrix porosity
The Glenwood Formation is composed chiefly of
the fine clastic component, mostly shale and siltstone.
Plug samples from a core in Faribault County had
vertical permeability of 10-5 to 10-4 md (MUGSP, 1980).
Friable coarse clastic sandstone beds that are a minor
component of the Glenwood Formation have not been
tested, but similar sandstone in other parts of the
Paleozoic section is of high porosity and permeability.
Secondary porosity
Deep bedrock conditions—As a relatively ductile,
high porosity unit in a layered sequence of bedrock
strata, open fractures in deep bedrock settings are
probably uncommon in the Glenwood Formation. None
were visible in the single core examined as part of our
investigation (Fig. 42).
Shallow bedrock conditions—Open fractures are
common in the Glenwood Formation in shallow bedrock

Figure 37. Figure appears on page 73. Results of a borehole geophysical investigation of the carbonate-dominated
strata of the Prairie du Chien Group and underlying coarse clastic strata of the Jordan Sandstone at Carleton College in
Northfield, Rice County. Flowmeter data were collected under ambient ground-water conditions with the tool moving
up-hole at a rate of 10 feet per minute ("trolling" log), as well as with the tool at stationary positions. Note that water
enters the borehole chiefly through the coarse clastic strata of the Jordan Sandstone near the bottom of the hole. That
water travels up the hole, past the entire Oneota Dolomite with negligible loss, at rates greater than 12 gallons per minute.
This upflow exits the borehole through large dissolution cavities at a discrete horizon that approximates the Shakopee
Formation–Oneota Dolomite contact. Such a borehole flow pattern, in conjunction with information from the caliper
log, static water levels, temperature profile, and chloride concentrations, all strongly indicate that the lower part of the
Oneota Dolomite confines the Jordan Sandstone at this site. Similar borehole tests in other parts of southeastern Minnesota
(Tipping and Runkel, unpub. data) are consistent with such an interpretation.
A borehole video log of this well reveals that the Jordan aquifer contains bedding-plane and narrow, subvertical fractures.
The gradual change in rate of flow across the Jordan aquifer on the flowmeter logs apparently records inflow through
intergranular pore spaces, whereas the abrupt shifts in rate records contribution through fractures. Unique number 658966.
See Figure 1 for location, and Figure 5 for an explanation of flowmeter logs.

Figure 38. Hydrogeologic character of the Prairie du Chien Group and Jordan Sandstone in shallow to deep bedrock
conditions at a landfill near Oronoco (Olmsted County), and in eastern Fillmore County. See Figure 1 for location.
A. At Oronoco, a water-table aquifer lies in the Shakopee Formation and uppermost Oneota Dolomite, which have abundant
fractures and dissolution features. The Jordan Sandstone at this site is an intergranular aquifer with a regional ground-
water system. The two aquifers are hydraulically separated by Oneota Dolomite with relatively few secondary pores.
This depiction is based on borehole videos, gamma and caliper logs, cuttings, dye tracing, water chemistry, and potentiometric
levels. Modified from Donahue and Associates, Inc. (1991).
B. Conduit flow in the Prairie du Chien Group in eastern Fillmore County based on dye-trace investigations. Note the
similarity of hydrogeologic conditions to those at Oronoco. Modified from Alexander and Lively (1995).

74
 A. 1200

1100
DYE INTRODUCTION
Shakopee Formation
1000

900
DYE PLUME Oneota Dolomite
800

Elevation in feet
Jordan Sandstone
700

600
0 500 1000 feet

B. C'
C
Galena Group–
Cummingsville Formation
Decorah Shale seeps
Platteville and seeps
Glenwood Formations
St. Peter Sandstone DYE INTRODUCTION Lanesboro
Fish Hatchery
Shakopee Formation– surface stream stream sink
Willow River Member

75
Shakopee Formation– Duschee
New Richmond Member Creek

Oneota Dolomite

200 feet
FILLMORE COUNTY
C'
100 feet

C
0
0.5 mile
LOCATION OF CROSS-SECTION

EXPLANATION
MATRIX HYDROSTRATIGRAPHIC
COMPONENTS SECONDARY POROSITY Surficial deposits

Non-systematic fractures Dye plume

Coarse clastic (some dissolution enlarged)
Springs
Fine clastic Systematic fractures (some Path of surface and subsurface
dissolution enlarged) water flow
Carbonate Dye plume flow direction
Dissolution features—cavities
and enlarged bedding-plane fractures
conditions, and some fractures extend vertically across
the entire formation (outcrop observations for this
study). Their abundance, interconnectivity, and presence
in the subsurface have not been studied.
Hydraulic attributes
The Glenwood Formation has not been subjected
to discrete interval packer testing, but based on its high
shale content it can be expected to have a vertical
hydraulic conductivity of about 10-7 to 10-5 foot per day
(Freeze and Cherry, 1979) where secondary pores are
absent, and variable conductivity where it contains open
fractures such as those known to occur in outcrop.
Hydrogeologic synthesis
The Glenwood Formation is a low hydraulic
conductivity unit that is known to function as a
confining bed in shallow as well as deep bedrock
conditions. Perched water-table aquifers are common
on top of the Glenwood Formation in shallow bedrock
settings, and its contact with the overlying Platteville
Formation is a common source of springs (for example
Hall and others, 1911; Brick, 1997). However, the
Glenwood Formation is commonly thin enough that
minor vertical fractures will entirely breach it, locally
allowing hydraulic connection between the overlying
Platteville Formation and the underlying St. Peter
Sandstone. It is believed that such fractures account
for large volumes of water locally recharged into the
St. Peter Sandstone where it is capped by the Glenwood
Formation (Delin and Almendinger, 1993; Lindgren,
2001).
PLATTEVILLE FORMATION
Hydrostratigraphic attributes
Matrix porosity
The Platteville Formation is composed chiefly of
the carbonate rock component. Thin shale laminae are
common, including regionally traceable bentonites.
Plug tests of the carbonate rock indicate a very low to
low permeability ranging from 10-7 to 10-4 md (MUGSP,
1980).
Secondary porosity
Deep bedrock conditions—Little is known about the
Platteville Formation in deep bedrock conditions in
southeastern Minnesota. A single core examined as
part of this study had no visible fractures or dissolution
features (Fig. 42). Open joints and fractures are
uncommon in cores of the Platteville Formation
collected from deep bedrock conditions in Illinois
(Kempton and others, 1987; Curry and others, 1988).
Shallow bedrock conditions—Outcrop and
76
subsurface studies in Minnesota and Wisconsin have
demonstrated that in shallow bedrock conditions the
Platteville Formation contains discrete intervals with
relatively well developed secondary porosity, separated
by intervals with much lower porosity (for example Barr
Engineering, 1994, 2000; Brick, 1997; Stocks, 1998).
The Platteville Formation is well known for containing
bedding-plane and vertical fractures typical of stress-
relief conditions, and it also has vertical, flat fractures
that are part of a large-scale, orthogonal system (for
example Runkel, 1996a; Barr, 2001). Individual
fractures commonly cut across the entire formation
vertically, and are open as much as a few inches.
Dissolution-enlarged fractures and cavities are
locally large enough to permit human exploration and
to lead to the development of sinkholes (Spong, 1980;
Hoffman and Alexander, 1998). A 2,000-foot maze cave
has developed in the Platteville Formation in Fillmore
County (Spong, 1980). In areas where the Platteville
Formation is the uppermost bedrock, an extensive
epikarst system is commonly developed that presents
a variety of challenges to construction activity.
Hydraulic attributes
Deep bedrock conditions—Discrete interval packer
tests of the Platteville Formation in deep bedrock
conditions of Minnesota are not available. A
comprehensive hydraulic investigation of the formation
in Illinois, where it is generally similar in
hydrostratigraphic properties to the Platteville Formation
in Minnesota, indicated that its hydraulic conductivity
typically ranges from 10 -3 to 10-2 foot per day. Two
boreholes intersected discrete horizons with small, open
fractures and packer tests indicated conductivities as
high as 10-1 foot per day (Kempton and others, 1987;
Curry and others, 1988). In Illinois, pump tests
conducted across an open-hole interval exposing
hundreds of feet of carbonate rock in the Galena Group
and Platteville Formation caused a drawdown of over
256 feet, and failed to yield 15 gallons per minute, the
minimum pump capacity. This implies a very low bulk
hydraulic conductivity of less than 10-2 foot per day.
Similar hydraulic conductivity values were obtained in
analogous geologic settings of deep burial in Indiana
and Wisconsin (Nicholas and others, 1987). A monitor
well installed by Rowden and Libra (1990) in the
Platteville Formation in northeast Iowa remained dry.
Shallow bedrock conditions—The hydraulic
conductivities of the Platteville Formation where it
occurs in shallow bedrock conditions (Fig. 13) have
been measured in detail at a number of sites in the Twin
Cities Metropolitan area, such as at Minnesota Pollution
Control Agency Superfund remediation sites (for
example ERT, 1987; Barr Engineering, 1991; ENSR
 Mower Co. Fillmore Co. Houston Co. MINNESOTA
00
10
0
90
00
11
00
10
0
90 800
800
Figure 39. Potentiometric surfaces of the St. Peter aquifer (dashed line) and Jordan aquifer (solid line) in northeastern
Iowa, demonstrating that part(s) of the intervening Prairie du Chien Group strata serve as a confining unit that creates
hydraulic separation of the two aquifers. Modified from Horick (1989).
International, 1991), and at a proposed tunnel excavation
(Liesch, 1973). Hoffman and Alexander (1998) reported
that the hydraulic conductivity of the Platteville
Formation at these and other Twin Cities Metropolitan
area sites ranges over at least six orders of magnitude.
It has extremely high hydraulic conductivity where
secondary porosity is well developed, and extremely
low conductivity where such features are poorly
developed. At individual sites, large-scale permeability
values based on pump tests have been calculated to be
so high as to be considered infinite for specific intervals
of the Platteville Formation, whereas other intervals
tested were below the measurement threshold and
therefore may be substantially lower than 10-1 foot per
day (Fig. 13). Flow speeds of ground water in the
77
IOWA
900
Mississippi
900
0 20 mi
Riv
e
r
0
30 km
600
700
0
70
Jordan aquifer potentiometric surface
St. Peter aquifer potentiometric surface
Platteville Formation in a shallow bedrock setting have
been calculated to be faster than one mile per day in
Wisconsin (Hoffman and Alexander, 1998) and in the
Twin Cities Metropolitan area (Alexander and others,
2001). The packer testing conducted by Kempton and
others (1987) and Curry and others (1988) on the
Platteville Formation in Illinois demonstrated that its
conductivity is roughly two orders of magnitude higher
in shallow bedrock conditions than in conditions of deep
burial, particularly where the rock is within the
uppermost 40 feet of the bedrock surface. In those
settings hydraulic conductivity ranged from 10-2 to 3
feet per day.
Conductivity calculated from specific capacity tests
of water wells in southeastern Minnesota typically
 A A'

NE Ramsey County S. Ramsey County Dakota County Rice County Blue Earth County Waseca County Faribault County
236088 200044 540212 518699 463778 215698 217033
Glenwood
Formation

Upper
St. Peter Glenwood
Sandstone Formation
100

Upper
50 St. Peter
Sandstone
Lower
St. Peter Lower
Sandstone St. Peter
0 Sandstone
feet
Prairie du
Chien Group

78
Prairie du Chien Group

Increasing counts

Coarse clastic component

Fine clastic component

Carbonate component

Figure 40. Matrix hydrostratigraphic components within the St. Peter

Sandstone across part of southeastern Minnesota. Representative natural gamma
logs show that the upper part of the St. Peter Sandstone is dominated by the
A coarse clastic component. The lower St. Peter Sandstone contains fine clastic
interbeds as thick as 30 feet.

A'

LOCATION OF CROSS-SECTION
ranges from 2 to 130 feet per day, with an average value
of 72 feet per day (Fig. 43).
Hydrogeologic synthesis
The hydrogeologic properties of the Platteville
Formation vary tremendously. In deep bedrock
conditions, its low bulk hydraulic conductivity and
relatively minor development of secondary pores suggest
that it is most properly considered a confining unit.
However, the discrete interval hydraulic tests conducted
in Illinois (Kempton and others, 1987; Curry and others,
1988) demonstrated that relatively thin and widely
spaced intervals of the formation can yield moderate
quantities of water in such conditions of deep burial.
In shallow bedrock conditions, the Platteville
Formation is clearly a classic karstic aquifer, similar
to the properties of the Galena aquifer described later
in this report. It contains hydraulically significant
fractures and dissolution features, as well as sinkholes
and large caverns characteristic of classic karstic
aquifers (Liesch, 1973; Barr Engineering, 1983, 1991,
1994; Hoffman and Alexander, 1998). Secondary pores
appear to be most densely concentrated along a few
specific stratigraphic intervals of the Platteville
Formation, forming bedding-plane parallel conduit
networks that provide preferential flow paths. Brick
(1997) used outcrop attributes and the stratigraphic
position of springs to demonstrate that bedding-plane
parallel conduits occur at predictable stratigraphic
positions within the Platteville Formation in the Twin
Cities Metropolitan area. Discrete bedding-plane
parallel conduit systems were also identified in the
subsurface at the East Hennepin Avenue–General Mills
Solvent Disposal Superfund site in Minneapolis (Barr
Engineering, 1983, 1994, 2000). Individual conduit
systems at the site differ from one another in static head
and in inferred flow direction. They are separated from
one another by bentonite beds or intervals of unfractured
carbonate rock that serve as local confining units.
Stocks (1998) described similar subsurface attributes
in an investigation in Wisconsin, suggesting that ground
water traveled chiefly along discrete intervals of
relatively high secondary porosity, separated from one
another by low conductivity aquitards. A recently
completed dye-trace study by Alexander and others
(2001) at the Camp Coldwater Spring site in the Twin
Cities Metropolitan area demonstrated that ground water
can travel at rates faster than one mile per day along
such bedding-plane systems. Dye pulses were recorded
for weeks to months after initial injection, reflecting
an anastomosing pore system with variable flow speeds
among the individual interconnected conduits.
Recent ground-water models developed for site-
79
specific settings in the Twin Cities Metropolitan area
and near Rochester have demonstrated that the
Platteville Formation in those areas does not by itself
effectively serve as a confining unit in shallow bedrock
conditions. In the St. Louis Park area, contaminants
were transported through the Platteville Formation in
a well-developed network of secondary pores where the
formation occurs as the uppermost bedrock (Lindgren,
1995). Near Rochester, a comprehensive ground-water
model (Lindgren, 2001) demonstrated that a substantial
amount of recharge to the St. Peter Sandstone occurs
via fractures that are interconnected vertically through
the Platteville Formation and underlying Glenwood
Formation where those units occur near the sides of
bluffs (Fig. 44).
The common hydrogeologic depiction of the
Platteville Formation as a confining bed (for example
Kanivetsky, 1978; Delin and Woodward, 1984) is
apparently accurate only for areas where it is deeply
buried by younger bedrock and has negligible
development of secondary porosity. In such a setting
the term "Decorah–Platteville–Glenwood confining unit"
is appropriately applied to that part of the stratigraphic
section. In shallow bedrock conditions, however, the
Platteville Formation is more hydrogeologically
complex. It is a karstic carbonate aquifer that serves
as a source of water for over 500 wells in the County
Well Index database. It has the potential to provide
confinement locally only where it is not breached by
interconnected vertical fracture networks (Barr
Engineering, 1983; Lindgren, 2001). The Platteville
Formation is generally similar in hydrogeologic
properties to other carbonate rock layers in southeastern
Minnesota, such as the Prosser Limestone, which have
historically been accepted as karstic aquifers. The
Platteville Formation is not considered a "major" karst
system in this report because it is relatively thin and
has a limited distribution as uppermost bedrock
compared to the major karst systems.
DECORAH SHALE
Hydrostratigraphic attributes
Matrix porosity
The Decorah Shale is composed chiefly of the fine
clastic component, with subordinate interbeds of
carbonate rock. It is over 90 feet thick in the Twin
Cities Metropolitan area, and thins to less than 30 feet
at the Iowa border. Most of the Decorah Shale is
actually shale, with a vertical permeability that ranges
from 10-5 to 10-4 md based on plug tests of similar shale
in the Glenwood Formation. The carbonate interbeds
in the Decorah Shale are similar to those in the
 A.
400
Figure 41. Hydraulic conductivity data for the St.
350 Peter Sandstone calculated from specific capacity tests.
See Figure 11 for an explanation of box plots.
Conductivity in feet per day

300
A. Scatter plot showing the relationship between the
250 depth of the open-hole interval below the bedrock
surface and hydraulic conductivity. Shallower wells
200 tend to have higher conductivity.
150
B. Box plot of hydraulic conductivity values for deep
bedrock conditions.
100 C. Box plot of hydraulic conductivity values for
50
shallow bedrock conditions. Nineteen outlying values
greater than 250 feet per day are not shown.
0
0 100 200 300 400 500 600
Distance in feet between the bedrock surface and the open-hole top

B. DEEP BEDROCK CONDITIONS C. SHALLOW BEDROCK CONDITIONS

250 250

200 200

150 150
Range

Range

100 100

50 50

0 0
72 samples 853 samples
Average 15.9 feet per day Average 38.7 feet per day

Platteville Formation, and therefore probably have Hydraulic attributes

similarly low matrix permeabilities.
Secondary porosity
Deep bedrock conditions—Secondary porosity
characteristics in the Decorah Shale have not been
studied in deep bedrock conditions. As a relatively
ductile, high porosity unit in a layered sequence of
bedrock strata, open fractures are assumed to be
uncommon to absent.
Shallow bedrock conditions—Open fractures in the
Decorah Shale are known to occur in shallow bedrock
settings (Fig. 8; Hall and others, 1911). These include
nonsystematic stress relief fractures and orthogonal
fracture sets that may be part of a regional system.
Deep bedrock conditions—The Decorah Shale has
not been subjected to discrete interval packer tests, but
based on the large shale content it can be expected to
have a vertical hydraulic conductivity of about 10-7 to
10-5 foot per day (Freeze and Cherry, 1979).
Shallow bedrock conditions—Hydraulic
conductivity values calculated from specific capacity
data for six wells in Ramsey and Steele Counties range
from about 2 to nearly 160 feet per day, and average
60.1 feet per day (Fig. 45). This suggests that fracture
porosity can result in the development of moderate
hydraulic conductivity.
Hydrogeologic synthesis

80
 Many studies have demonstrated that the Decorah
Shale serves as an effective confining bed, even in
shallow bedrock conditions, and we classify it as a
confining unit together with the interbedded shale and
carbonate strata of the overlying Cummingsville
Formation. Perched water-table aquifers are common
above the Decorah Shale, and springs are preferentially
located along hillsides at elevations that correspond to
the top of the formation or to the lower part of the
Cummingsville Formation. These springs approximate
the position of an important hydrogeologic boundary
that results in a process called "focused recharge" (Fig.
44). Focused recharge occurs along hillsides where
large volumes of water emitted from the Galena aquifer
travel rapidly downward across the eroded edge of the
Decorah Shale and Platteville and Glenwood
Formations, eventually entering the St. Peter aquifer
in a relatively limited, or "focused" area of recharge
(for example Lindgren, 2001). Water moving from the
Galena aquifer to the St. Peter aquifer in these areas
travels at the surface, through thin surficial deposits,
and along secondary pore networks in the shallow
bedrock.
The hydrogeologic significance of open fractures
that are known to occur in shallow bedrock conditions
has not been evaluated, but 25 wells in southeastern
Minnesota use the Decorah Shale as a water source,
suggesting that such fractures can yield economic
quantities of water.
GALENA THROUGH CEDAR VALLEY
GROUPS
The Paleozoic strata from the base of the Galena
Group through the preserved thickness of the Cedar
Valley Group are composed mostly of carbonate rock,
with subordinate beds of the fine clastic component,
chiefly shale (Fig. 46). Although the entire stratigraphic
section has historically been treated as a single aquifer,
the "upper carbonate aquifer," investigations in
Minnesota and adjoining states over the past 15 years
have demonstrated that it contains distinct
hydrostratigraphic components that differ substantially
from one another in their hydraulic properties. These
investigations are ongoing (for example Campion,
2002), and until they are completed our understanding
of the hydrogeologic attributes for this part of the
Paleozoic section remains relatively limited.
The limited amount of hydrogeologic information
available for Galena through Cedar Valley Groups strata
prevents a reasonably thorough description of
hydrostratigraphic and hydraulic attributes for each of
the many individual lithostratigraphic units to be
81
presented in this report. Therefore these strata are
described together, highlighting the general stratigraphic
distribution of their two major matrix hydrostratigraphic
components, carbonate rock and shale, as well as a
summary of the available information on secondary
porosity and hydraulic attributes. This is followed by
a synthesis of these data in which we subdivide the
stratigraphic section into discrete hydrogeologic units
and karst systems.
Hydrostratigraphic attributes
Matrix porosity
The dominant component of the Galena through
Cedar Valley Groups is carbonate rock, mostly finely
crystalline to dense, microcrystalline dolostone or
limestone. It has not been tested with laboratory
methods to calculate porosity and permeability, but can
be expected to have very low to low porosity and
permeability based on field examination and plug tests
of generally similar older carbonate strata in the
Paleozoic section.
Shale is abundant in only a few intervals (Fig. 46;
Olsen, 1988a; Mossler, 1995a, 1998). The Chickasaw
Member of the Little Cedar Formation, the lower part
of the Pinicon Ridge Formation, and the upper Dubuque
Formation are the thickest intervals of strata composed
largely of shale. The lower Maquoketa Formation in
western Fillmore County and across Mower County is
composed of interbedded shale and shaly dolostone.
Additionally, beds of shale as thick as a few feet are
intercalated with carbonate beds of similar thickness
in the Coralville Formation, the upper part of the Little
Cedar Formation, and the lower part of the Galena
Group (Cummingsville Formation). Porosity and
permeability have not been calculated for plug samples
collected in Minnesota, but core samples of shale from
the Maquoketa Formation in Wisconsin yielded very
low values (Eaton and others, 2000).
Secondary porosity
Deep bedrock conditions—The abundance of
macroscopic secondary pores is known to be variably
distributed and stratigraphically controlled in the
carbonate rock of the Galena through Cedar Valley
Groups strata (Fig. 46) in deep bedrock conditions. Site
specific studies indicate that secondary pores in the
Galena Group are apparently concentrated in discrete,
relatively thin intervals separated by much thicker
bodies of relatively tight carbonate rock (for example
Curry and others, 1988; Delta Environmental
Consultants, Inc., 1995, 2002). A site-remediation study
near Spring Valley revealed that dissolution features
are concentrated in the lower part of the Prosser
 Depth in feet below
hydrostratigraphic

Fractures per foot

Lithostratigraphic

bedrock surface

Visual porosity
component

of core
Matrix
unit
0 100% 0 5

Stewartville 150
Formation
Prosser Limestone

200
Galena Group

Figure 42. Visual porosity and mesoscopic fracture abundance in core

H-1, Freeborn County. Macroscopic secondary pores are abundant in
the Shakopee Formation in deep bedrock conditions, and were also noted
250
along Cummingsville Formation–Prosser Limestone contact strata and
Cummingsville Formation

in the lower part of the Stewartville Formation in shallower conditions.

See Figure 1 for location.

300

Limestone and uppermost part of the Cummingsville

Decorah Shale

Formation in deep bedrock conditions. A core from

350
Freeborn County was examined as part of this
investigation (Fig. 42), and the distribution of visible
pores was similar: in deep bedrock conditions cavities
Platteville and mesoscopic vertical fractures were present only in
Formation
Glenwood relatively thin horizons clustered near the
Formation 400 Cummingsville Formation–Prosser Limestone contact.
Witzke and Bunker (1984) described the
St. Peter Sandstone

stratigraphic distribution of secondary pores in

(incomplete)

carbonate strata above the Galena Group where it

450 occurs in deep bedrock conditions in northern Iowa.
They noted particularly high densities of cavities in
the uppermost part of the Maquoketa Formation, the
middle part of the Pinicon Ridge Formation, the
lower part of the Coralville Formation, and
500
throughout much of the Spillville Formation and
Bassett Member of the Little Cedar Formation.
Secondary porosity in beds dominated by shale
under deep conditions of burial has not been described.
Prairie du Chien Group
Shakopee Formation

550 Fractures known to occur in shallow bedrock conditions

(for example Eaton and others, 2000) have not been
described under deeper conditions of burial in
Minnesota, although they could be present locally
(Ryder, 1996).
600
Shallow bedrock conditions—The carbonate-
dominated strata of the Galena through Cedar Valley
Groups contain all of the porosity attributes typical of
classic karsted rock (Alexander and Lively, 1995;
Alexander and others, 1996; Witthuhn and Alexander,
1996), including nonsystematic fractures along bedding
Coarse clastic component planes and at high angles to bedding, as well as
systematic fractures that are part of a large-scale,
Fine clastic component orthogonal system. Individual vertical fractures with
Carbonate component

82
 apertures of a few inches are known locally to span
entire outcrops that are tens of feet in height.
Dissolution has widened fracture apertures and has also
produced vuggy pores of wide-ranging abundance and
size. The horizons with relatively high secondary
porosity in deep bedrock conditions (Witzke and
Bunker, 1984) appear also to be of relatively high
porosity in shallow bedrock conditions based on outcrop
and borehole investigations (Delta Environmental
Consultants, Inc., 1995, 2002; Mossler, 1998; Paillet
and others, 2000). In addition, the presence of large
cavern systems in the lower Dubuque, Stewartville, and
upper Cummingsville Formations and relatively high
density of sinkholes in the Prosser Limestone,
Lithograph City and Stewartville Formations suggest
that those formations may be especially susceptible to
the development of large-scale, interconnected networks
of pores.
The intervals dominated by shale are known to be
fractured in shallow bedrock conditions. Eaton and
others (2000) described open fractures in the Maquoketa
Formation shale in southeastern Wisconsin where the
formation is buried beneath less than 200 feet of
overlying bedrock. In Minnesota, nonsystematic stress-
release fractures are common, and larger-scale,
A.
200
Conductivity in feet per day
150
100
50
0
0 10 20 30 40 50
Distance in feet between the bedrock surface and the open-hole top
Figure 43. Hydraulic conductivity data for the Platteville Formation calculated from specific capacity tests. See Figure
11 for an explanation of box plots.
A. Scatter plot showing the relationship between the depth of the open-hole interval below the bedrock surface and hydraulic
conductivity.
B. Box plot of hydraulic conductivity values for shallow bedrock conditions. One outlying value greater than 500 feet
per day is not shown.
systematic fractures are known to cut entirely across
relatively thick shaly intervals such as the upper
Dubuque and lower Maquoketa Formations based on
observations of caves and outcrops (for example
Alexander and Lively, 1995).
Hydraulic attributes
Deep bedrock conditions—The results of hydraulic
tests of the Galena through Cedar Valley Groups (Fig.
13) reflect the differential development of secondary
porosity: intervals of strata where secondary pores are
relatively large and abundant are of moderate to high
conductivity, whereas thick intervals of tight strata are
orders of magnitude lower in conductivity. Nicholas
and others (1987) tested a saturated open-hole interval
exposing about 200 feet of Galena Group strata in
Illinois and were unable to achieve the minimum pump
capacity of 15 gallons per minute, while creating a
drawdown of over 256 feet. This indicated a hydraulic
conductivity of less than 10-2 foot per day. At a different
site in Illinois, Graese and others (1988) conducted
discrete interval pump tests that indicated the Galena
Group typically has a conductivity of 10 -3 to 10-2 foot
per day or less, with the exception of three packed
intervals with conductivities that ranged from 1.4 to
B. SHALLOW BEDROCK CONDITIONS
500
400
300
Range
200
100
0
60 43 samples
Average 72.0 feet per day
83
14 feet per day (Kempton and others, 1987).
Hydraulic conductivity data for the Galena Group
in deep bedrock conditions within Minnesota are scarce.
Three wells in our specific capacity database ranged
in conductivity from 4 to 10 feet per day and averaged
6.5 feet per day (Fig. 47). Some Galena Group variance
wells permitted by the Minnesota Department of Health
in Mower County have failed to yield adequate supplies
for domestic purposes in deep bedrock conditions.
Packer tests at the Spring Valley site remediation
investigation in western Fillmore County yielded
variable results. Two wells at the site were pumped
dry in 10 minutes or less when pumping at 5 to 6 gallons
per minute, indicating a low hydraulic conductivity,
while a third well had a moderate hydraulic conductivity
of between 2 and 7 feet per day (Delta Environmental
Consultants, Inc., 1995, 1998).
Hydraulic conductivity of the carbonate strata that
overlie the Galena Group in deep bedrock conditions
is known chiefly from packer tests conducted by Libra
and Hallberg (1985) in northern Iowa, along with one
test conducted on the Spillville Formation by Green
and others (1997) near LeRoy, Minnesota. These
authors reported values that range over three orders of
magnitude. Three tests of the Spillville Formation range
from 0.5 to 39 feet per day (Fig. 13). The Bassett
Member of the Little Cedar Formation tested as low
as 0.8 foot per day at one site, whereas another borehole
had a hydraulic conductivity of more than 190 feet per
day, greater than any other individual formation tested
in deep bedrock conditions. A single test of the
Coralville and upper part of the Little Cedar Formations
yielded a bulk hydraulic conductivity value of 26 feet
per day.
Intervals dominated by shale have not been tested
in Minnesota, but packer tests in Illinois under deep
bedrock conditions resulted in hydraulic conductivity
values that typically were less than 10-3 foot per day,
with several tests below the measurement limit of 10-
4
foot per day (Curry and others, 1988; Graese and
others, 1988). Green and others (1997) demonstrated
that the vertical conductivity of shaly strata in the
lowermost part of the Pinicon Ridge Formation was so
low as to provide effective hydraulic confinement at
LeRoy, Minnesota, on the basis of a pump test
conducted on the underlying Spillville Formation and
observations of monitor wells higher in the stratigraphic
section.
Shallow bedrock conditions—It is well known that
in shallow bedrock conditions the carbonate strata in
the Galena through Cedar Valley Groups contain large,
interconnected conduits that can accommodate
enormous volumes of water traveling at rates measured
84
in hundreds of feet per day to several miles per day
(for example Alexander and Lively, 1995; Green and
others, 1997; Delta Environmental Consultants, Inc.,
1998) and therefore at a relatively large scale commonly
have a high bulk hydraulic conductivity. Specific
capacity tests of the Galena Group in Minnesota average
64.6 feet per day. The statistically acceptable range
of conductivity calculated from specific capacity tests
of the strata above the Galena group has a maximum
value of 170 feet per day, and the average conductivity
is 67 feet per day. Several packed intervals tested by
Libra and Hallberg (1985) in northern Iowa had
conductivities greater than 50 feet per day, and the
productivity of wells that draw water from the Coralville
and Lithograph City Formations in two boreholes in
Iowa, and of the Spillville Formation at Austin,
Minnesota was so great that measurable drawdown did
not occur while pumping (Libra and Hallberg, 1985;
Paillet and others, 2000). At the Austin site, 93 percent
of the water was contributed from a discrete 5-foot
horizon with large secondary pores (Fig. 48).
At a smaller scale, packer tests reveal extreme
variability in hydraulic conductivity, and the presence
within the Galena through Cedar Valley Groups of
intervals of carbonate rock with much lower
conductivity than that calculated for boreholes with
longer open-hole intervals. Packer testing of 0.6-meter
intervals of the Galena Group in Wisconsin
demonstrated that individual, carbonate-dominated,
hydrostratigraphic units have conductivities as low as
10-3 foot per day (Stocks, 1998). Rigorous hydraulic
tests of this kind, which are necessary to recognize
discrete horizons of low conductivity that may serve
as confining units, have not been conducted in
Minnesota.
Intervals dominated by shale have been tested at
only one site in Minnesota, near Spring Valley, where
hydraulic conductivity and ground-water flow speeds
varied dramatically. The Dubuque Formation had a
horizontal hydraulic conductivity ranging from 8.9 x
10 -4 to 3 x 10 -2 foot per day (Delta Environmental
Consultants, Inc., 1995). The lower Maquoketa
Formation at the same site yielded variable test results.
Some wells were dry after a few minutes of pumping
at a rate of 5 to 7 gallons per minute whereas other
intervals yielded hydraulic conductivity values as high
as 1 to 2 feet per day. Dye tracers in fractured
Maquoketa and Dubuque Formation strata traveled
laterally at rates ranging from 0.23 mile per year to
1.8 miles per day, and reached depths of 260 feet into
the underlying Galena Formation in less than 7 months
(Delta Environmental Consultants, Inc., 1998). The
range in conductivity measured at Spring Valley is
 Water discharges from Galena Group
bedrock surfaces as springs or travels Relatively rapid infiltration of precipitation
downward through fractures and horizontal flow along fractures and cavities

Focused recharge
to St. Peter aquifer
Galena Group–
Prosser Limestone

Galena Group–
Cummingsville Formation
Decorah Shale
Platteville Formation
Glenwood Formation
St. Peter Sandstone

EXPLANATION

100 ft
Coarse clastic component Non-systematic fractures
(some dissolution enlarged)

85
Fine clastic component Systematic fractures (some
dissolution enlarged)
0 2 mi
Carbonate component Dissolution features—cavities and
enlarged bedding-plane fractures

Surficial deposits Sinkhole

Ground and surface water Spring

flow direction

Figure 44. Ground- and surface-water flow in a typical hillside setting where the St. Peter Sandstone through Galena Group are the uppermost bedrock. Water in the
Galena aquifer moves downward through vertical fractures, and laterally along bedding-plane conduits where it is perched above relatively unfractured shale and carbonate
rock of the Cummingsville Formation and Decorah Shale. Galena aquifer water is emitted at springs along hillsides, and travels at the surface or through thin surficial
deposits downward to eventually reach the St. Peter aquifer. A significant component of Galena aquifer water also travels downward through shallow bedrock fractures
in the Decorah Shale and Platteville and Glenwood Formations to reach the St. Peter aquifer. Recharge of the St. Peter aquifer is commonly focused in discrete areas in
such a setting. Based on flowpath lines modeled by Lindgren (2001) for the Rochester area, and supplemented with information based on outcrop observations
(for example Runkel and Tipping, 1998), sinkhole maps (for example Witthuhn and Alexander, 1996), dye-trace and related karst studies (Alexander and
Lively, 1995; Alexander and others, 1996), and borehole investigations (Delta Environmental Consultants, Inc., 1995) of this part of the stratigraphic
section in nearby areas of Olmsted and Fillmore Counties.
 generally consistent with that reported for the
Maquoketa Formation in southeastern Wisconsin and
Illinois, where fractured shaly beds commonly have
conductivities of a few feet per day, and relatively
unfractured shaly intervals are commonly 10-3 foot per
day or less (Curry and others, 1988; Graese and others,
1988; Eaton and others, 2000).
Hydrogeologic synthesis
The Galena through Cedar Valley Groups are
composed of discrete intervals having moderate to
extremely high hydraulic conductivity separated by
confining units composed of unfractured carbonate rock
or shale that are several orders of magnitude lower in
conductivity (Fig. 46). The stratigraphic section is
divided into hydrogeologic units on the basis of matrix
hydrostratigraphic properties: the shaly strata of the
upper Dubuque/lower Maquoketa Formations, lower
Pinicon Ridge Formation, and Chickasaw Member
separate four intervals dominated by carbonate rock.
In deep bedrock conditions, hydraulic tests and
potentiometric levels in nested well screens have
demonstrated that each of the shaly intervals have the
ability to serve as confining units (Libra and Hallberg,
1985; Rowden and Libra, 1990; Green and others,
1997), an interpretation additionally supported by
documentation of ground-water ages that are stratified
A.
160
140
Conductivity in feet per day
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
0 5 10 15 20
Distance in feet between the bedrock surface and the open-hole top
Figure 45. Hydraulic conductivity data for the Decorah Shale calculated from specific capacity tests. See
Figure 11 for an explanation of box plots.
A. Scatter plot showing the relationship between the depth of the open-hole interval below the bedrock surface
and hydraulic conductivity.
B. Box plot of hydraulic conductivity values for shallow bedrock conditions.
in a manner consistent with hydraulic separation (Green
and others, 1997; Tipping, 1997; Campion, 2002). The
individual bodies of carbonate rock separated by shaly
confining units can be considered aquifers as bulk units
because they all yield economic quantities of water to
wells in Minnesota, even in deep bedrock conditions.
These are the Galena aquifer (including the Prosser
Limestone, Stewartville and lower Dubuque
Formations), the upper Maquoketa–Spillville aquifer,
and the lower and upper Cedar Valley aquifers (Green
and others, 1997). Water is produced from these bodies
of rock chiefly along discrete intervals of relatively high
porosity. It is noteworthy that individual aquifers may
contain thick intervals of carbonate rock much lower
in conductivity and that such intervals have been proven
to serve as confining units in some areas (Buchmiller
and others, 1985; Nicholas and others, 1987; Graese
and others 1988; Delta Environmental Consultants, Inc.,
2002). For example, at Spring Valley, where the Galena
Group occurs in a transitional setting between shallow
and deep bedrock, such intervals provide confinement
sufficient to separate discrete bedding-plane conduits
that differ from one another in potentiometric level and
inferred flow direction (Delta Environmental
Consultants, Inc., 2002). In Illinois and Iowa, where
the Galena Group is much more deeply buried by
B. SHALLOW BEDROCK CONDITIONS
160
140
120
100
Range
80
60
40
20
0
25 6 samples
Average 60.1 feet per day
86
younger bedrock, it is dominated by thick intervals of
carbonate rock with low conductivity and therefore the
entire group is typically classified as a confining unit
(for example Buchmiller and others, 1985; Nicholas
and others, 1987).
The hydrogeologic system in shallow bedrock
conditions is more complex, with enormous variations
in hydraulic conductivity and flow features that are
characteristic of "triple porosity" karstic aquifers (Figs.
46, 49). The much greater degree to which secondary
porosity is developed, especially in the size, spacing,
and interconnectivity of fractures, is reflected in an
overall greater range in conductivity, and at least locally
can compromise the ability of low permeability units
to provide confinement. For example, outcrop and cave
investigations have documented the presence of large
vertical fractures that pass continuously through the
Maquoketa and Dubuque Formations, and dye-trace
studies have demonstrated that ground water travels
across them at rapid rates (Alexander and Lively, 1995;
Delta Environmental Consultants, Inc., 1995, 1998).
Tipping (1997) and Campion (2002) noted that
stratification in ground-water ages in Mower County
is less pronounced in shallow bedrock conditions,
particularly in areas with a relatively thin cover of
surficial deposits and near bedrock faults. Nevertheless,
even in such a setting, Campion (2002) delineated
separate potentiometric surfaces for the upper Cedar
Valley, lower Cedar Valley, and Spillville–Maquoketa
aquifers, indicating that the confining units between
them provide some degree of hydraulic separation.
In shallow bedrock conditions, the strata between
the base of the Galena Group and the top of the
Lithograph City Formation contain two of southeastern
Minnesota's major karst systems: the Galena–Spillville
karst and the Cedar Valley karst (Figs. 46, 49). These
karst systems are separated by the shaly strata of the
Pinicon Ridge Formation. However, each karst system
contains intervals of shaly strata that have been
demonstrated to act as confining units in relatively deep
bedrock conditions, and therefore they may be further
subdivided with continued study. Investigations thus
far have indicated that in shallow bedrock conditions,
sinkholes, caves, and dye traces pass through shaly
intervals within each of the individual karst systems.
Together the Galena–Spillville karst system and
Cedar Valley karst system occur as the uppermost
bedrock across a large part of southeastern Minnesota,
although the latter has been recognized only in Mower
County at the time of this report. Karstic features such
as sinkholes, springs, stream sinks, and dry valleys are
best expressed and most abundant where overlying
unconsolidated glacial drift is relatively thin (less than
50 feet). The differential stratigraphic distribution of
87
secondary pores is apparently reflected in some of the
karstic characteristics: relatively high densities of
sinkholes occur in the Prosser Limestone, Stewartville
and Cedar Valley Formations, and springs most
commonly lie at the approximate contacts between
carbonate rock and shale, such as in the lower
Cummingsville Formation. Lateral movement of ground
water can be expected to occur preferentially along a
few discrete bedding-plane parallel intervals with well-
developed secondary pore systems, such as those
described for the Galena karst system in northeastern
Iowa (Keeler, 1997).
Recharge to karstic aquifers such as the Galena–
Spillville occurs relatively rapidly through fractures and
dissolution cavities, and ground water can travel laterally
at rates commonly measured in miles per day
(Alexander and Lively, 1995; Alexander and others,
1996). Flow paths in this aquifer system have been
demonstrated to commonly cross surface watershed
divides. Furthermore, the direction of ground-water
movement along conduit systems does not consistently
correspond to ground-water flow directions inferred
from regional-scale potentiometric maps.
The Dubuque–Galena part of the Galena–Spillville
karst system contains numerous caves where it occurs
as the uppermost bedrock. There are two fundamentally
different types of caves present. The caves that develop
in the Dubuque and Stewartville Formations tend to be
fracture-controlled, high-gradient, water-inlet maze
caves (for example Mystery Cave, Spring Valley
Caverns, Goliath Cave). These caves serve hydraulically
to conduct surface water into the aquifer via sinkholes.
The second type of caves typically develops in the mid
to lower Cummingsville Formation, and their attributes
in part may reflect the presence of laterally continuous
shale beds in the Cummingsville Formation. Such caves
(Coldwater Cave in Iowa, Pine Cave, Tyson's Spring
Cave, and Deep Lake Cave) are large, low-gradient
dendritic conduits that collect and drain water from
stratigraphically higher levels of the Galena Group. In
planview these caves resemble surface drainages. They
are typically flat and terminate at springs, draining large
conduits. Vertical hydraulic gradients are locally larger
than the horizontal gradient in this part of the karst
system.
DISCUSSION: CLASSIFICATION OF
AQUIFERS AND CONFINING UNITS
Our classification of aquifers and confining units
(Plates 1, 2) recognizes eleven aquifers and ten
confining units at a regional scale. This new
hydrogeologic classification is based on hydraulic data
interpreted within the context of a hydrostratigraphic
framework that depicts the distribution of porosity and
 S o u t h e a s t e r n M owe r C o u n t y S o u t h we s t e r n F i l l m o r e C o u n t y
Cedar Valley karst system Galena–Spillville karst system

LeRoy karst study Setting of Spring Valley Setting of

site-remediation study Mystery Cave

Dcuu
Upper
Cedar Valley
aquifer Dcum

Dclc l
Lower Dsp Springs
Cedar Valley common
Dclp Omaq
aquifer
b
Odu
Maquoketa– Dspl v
Ogs
Spillville
aquifer r
Omaq Ogp
m
Odub Ogc EXPLANATION
r Nonsystematic fractures
Ogsv Odc
Galena Fine clastic component (some dissolution enlarged)
aquifer
Ogpr Carbonate component Systematic fractures (some
100 feet dissolution enlarged)

88
Ogcm
Surfical deposits Dissolution features—cavities
Odcr and enlarged bedding-plane
0 5 miles
fractures

Confining unit Sinkholes

Figure 46. Cross-section of the Galena through Cedar Valley Groups in Mower and Fillmore Counties showing lithostratigraphic units, hydrostratigraphic
attributes, aquifers and confining units, and two major karst systems. These strata contain four aquifers that are composed chiefly of carbonate rock
with fractures and/or dissolution cavities. Note that some intervals of carbonate rock in the Galena aquifer likely have the ability to provide confinement
in deep bedrock settings where secondary porosity is poorly developed. The four aquifers are separated by three confining units composed largely of
shale. Where the shales occur near the fractured bedrock surface, their relative effectiveness to provide confinement is likely highly variable.
The Cedar Valley and Galena–Spillville karst systems occur where those units are near the bedrock surface. Lithostratigraphic units and geologic
structures are modified from Mossler (1995a, 1998). Hydrostratigraphic attributes are chiefly from Libra and Hallberg (1985), Witzke and Bunker (1985),
Green and others (1997), and Mossler (1998).
Lithostratigraphic units:
Odcr—Decorah Shale Ogcm—Cummingsville Formation Ogpr—Prosser Limestone Ogsv—Stewartville Formation
Odub—Dubuque Formation Omaq—Maquoketa Formation Dspl—Spillville Formation Dclp—Pinicon Ridge Formation and Bassett
Dclc—Chickasaw Member of the Little Cedar Formation Member of the Little Cedar Formation
Dcum—Coralville Formation and Hinkle and Eagle Center Members of the Little Cedar Formation Dcuu—Lithograph City Formation
permeability in the Paleozoic bedrock. It therefore
provides a more realistic depiction of aquifers and
confining units in a variety of geologic settings across
southeastern Minnesota than previous classifications,
and more accurately characterizes the hydraulic
properties of each of these hydrogeologic units at
varying conditions of burial.
Our classification follows standard conventions in
the use of the terms "aquifer" and "confining unit" (for
example Fetter, 1988; Subsurface-Water Glossary
Working Group, 1989). An aquifer is a body of rock
that is sufficiently permeable to yield economic
quantities of water to wells and springs. A confining
unit is a body of rock of relatively low permeability
that is stratigraphically adjacent to one or more aquifers.
The standard definitions of "aquifer" and "confining
unit" are not entirely mutually exclusive—for example
bodies of rock that can yield economic quantities of
water through bedding-plane parallel fractures can be
of sufficiently low vertical conductivity to hydraulically
confine an underlying aquifer. The first step in our
classification of hydrogeologic units in southeastern
Minnesota therefore was to delineate major confining
units in deep bedrock conditions, where secondary pores
are relatively diminished. The "major" confining units
we recognize are regionally extensive, relatively thick
intervals of fine clastic and carbonate rock that have
been demonstrated to be of sufficiently low bulk vertical
conductivity to provide confinement under particular
conditions of hydraulic stress, and where they are not
breached by vertical fractures. They meet all the
standard criteria characteristic of confining units (for
example Fetter, 1988; Subsurface-Water Glossary
Working Group, 1989) such as having a vertical
hydraulic conductivity of less than 10-2 foot per day.
Furthermore, each of our regional confining units
except the "middle Mt. Simon Sandstone" has been
demonstrated in this report to hydraulically separate
aquifers with differential static heads in southeastern
Minnesota or extreme northern Iowa. The middle
Mt. Simon Sandstone confining unit has been
demonstrated to do so in southeastern Wisconsin and
Illinois.
The aquifers we define are the bodies of rock
dominated by coarse clastic strata or relatively thick
intervals of carbonate rock with abundant secondary
pores that are known to yield moderate to large volumes
of water in deep bedrock settings. The coarse clastic
aquifers typically have a horizontal hydraulic
conductivity between 5 and 60 feet per day in deep
bedrock conditions. The carbonate rock aquifers are
much more variable in conductivity, and typically
consist internally of relatively narrow intervals of high
89
to very high conductivity (tens to thousands of feet per
day) separated by thick intervals of tight carbonate rock
that is orders of magnitude lower in conductivity.
The regional scale at which we have defined our
aquifers and confining units results in a generalized
classification in which some individual hydrogeologic
units are internally variable in hydrostratigraphic and
hydraulic properties. For example, the St. Lawrence
and lower St. Peter confining units internally contain
discrete, bedding-plane parallel intervals of secondary
pores or coarse clastic interbeds that have moderate to
high conductivity. Conversely, some aquifers we have
defined at a regional scale are known to contain internal
confining units, such as fine clastic beds in the upper
Mt. Simon aquifer, and carbonate rock with few
secondary pores in the Galena aquifer. Our limited
understanding of the lateral distribution of these
heterogeneities prevents us from depicting them at a
regional scale.
Regional-scale classification of aquifers and
confining units in shallow bedrock conditions is difficult
because of the ubiquitous presence of fractures,
relatively great abundance of dissolution features, and
the limited number of comprehensive ground-water
studies conducted in such settings in Minnesota. All
of the confining units we recognize in deep conditions
of burial have been demonstrated to locally have
moderate to high bulk conductivities in shallow bedrock
settings. More importantly, it has been clearly shown
that these confining units are in places hydraulically
breached by fractures and dissolution features where
they occur close to the bedrock surface (Alexander and
Lively, 1995; Lindgren, 2001). On the other hand, parts
of some confining units, such as the Decorah Shale and
fine clastic strata in the Franconia Formation, have been
demonstrated to provide confinement at some scale in
shallow bedrock conditions even though elsewhere they
may be breached vertically by fractures. With
consideration of these complexities, we have tentatively
applied a single hydrogeologic classification of aquifers
and confining units for both shallow and deep bedrock
conditions. Although each of the confining units have
the potential to provide hydraulic separation at some
scale, in shallow bedrock conditions, the relative
effectiveness and scale at which they can do so is
practically untested in southeastern Minnesota.
Therefore as a practical matter for environmental
investigations, the ability of these confining units to
provide hydraulic separation in shallow bedrock
conditions has to be established at individual sites—
it cannot be assumed.
SUMMARY
 A.
800

700

Conductivity in feet per day

600

500

400

300

200

100

0
0 50 100 150 200 250 300
Distance in feet between the bedrock surface and the open-hole top

B. DEEP BEDROCK CONDITIONS C. SHALLOW BEDROCK CONDITIONS

500 500

400 400

300 300
Range
Range

200 200

100 100

0 0
3 samples 170 samples
Average 6.5 feet per day Average 64.6 feet per day

D. E. SHALLOW BEDROCK CONDITIONS

1000 1000

800 800
Conductivity in feet per day

600 600
Range

400 400

200 200

0
0
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 217 samples
Average 67.0 feet per day
Distance in feet between the bedrock surface and the open-hole top

90
 This study demonstrates that individual
lithostratigraphic units in the Paleozoic bedrock of
southeastern Minnesota have great variability in their
internal hydrostratigraphic character (Plates 1, 2).
Variations in matrix and secondary pores result in
measurable and predictable variability in hydraulic
properties within individual lithostratigraphic units. The
hydrogeologic system is best understood when studied
within the context of the hydrostratigraphic attributes
of these rocks, such as within the context of the three-
dimensional distribution of porosity and permeability.
The Paleozoic bedrock of southeastern Minnesota
can be divided into three principal matrix
hydrostratigraphic components: 1. Coarse clastic rock
of high porosity and permeability; 2. Fine clastic rock
of low porosity and permeability; and 3. Carbonate rock,
also of low porosity and permeability. The ground-
water system appears to be relatively simple and
predictable in conditions of deep burial by younger
bedrock. Under these conditions, coarse clastic strata
are of relatively high hydraulic conductivity, typically
ranging from a few feet per day to a few tens of feet
per day, presumably reflecting flow through large, well-
connected intergranular pore spaces. In contrast, the
matrix conductivity of the fine clastic and carbonate
rock components is sufficiently low in a vertical
direction (10 -7 to 10 -3 foot per day) that intervals
dominated by these components can provide hydraulic
confinement.
The abundance and distribution of secondary pores
overprinted on matrix hydrostratigraphic attributes
substantially affects hydraulic properties. We
demonstrate that in deep bedrock conditions carbonate
strata contain discrete, stratigraphically controlled
horizons with abundant secondary pores, separated from
one another by relatively tight carbonate rock. These
horizons have a wide range in conductivity, in part
depending on the scale at which they are tested, but
can be as great as hundreds of feet per day. Our
understanding of the hydraulic importance of fractures
in deep bedrock conditions is much more limited.
Bedding-plane parallel fractures and systematic fractures
are known to exist in all rock types at least locally, but
their abundance and connectivity is not documented.
Standard aquifer and specific capacity test data
tentatively indicate that fracture networks may at least
locally be hydraulically significant. Regional-scale
connectivity of such networks may provide an enhanced,
large-scale conductivity to the aquifers and confining
beds in southeastern Minnesota that has not been
measured by the standard hydraulic tests performed thus
far.
In shallow conditions of burial, secondary pores
including abundant fractures are common in all three
matrix hydrostratigraphic components. Individual layers
composed of coarse clastic, fine clastic, or carbonate
components in relatively shallow conditions are very
different hydrogeologically from the same layers in
relatively deep bedrock conditions because secondary
porosity is vastly different. In the shallow setting they
have a higher bulk hydraulic conductivity, a greater
range in conductivity, and may transmit the greatest
volumes of ground water through conduit networks.
Water in the conduit network is typically recharged
through vertical fractures and transported laterally
through an interconnected system of bedding-plane
parallel secondary pores with high hydraulic
conductivity. These preferential intervals of flow are
separated from each other by blocks with substantially
lower conductivity, which reflects the matrix
permeability. Flow paths in such conditions are much
less predictable than in deep conditions of burial and
flow speeds have been documented to be faster than

Figure 47. Hydraulic conductivity data for Galena Group through Cedar Valley Group strata calculated from
specific capacity tests. See Figure 11 for an explanation of box plots.
A. Scatter plot showing the relationship between the depth of the open-hole interval below the bedrock surface
and hydraulic conductivity for wells open only to the Galena Group. Shallower wells tend to have higher
conductivity.
B. Box plot of Galena Group hydraulic conductivity values for deep bedrock conditions.
C. Box plot of Galena Group hydraulic conductivity values for shallow bedrock conditions. Two outlying
values greater than 500 feet per day are not shown.
D. Scatter plot showing the relationship between the depth of the open-hole interval below the bedrock surface
and hydraulic conductivity for wells open to strata above the Galena Group. Shallower wells tend to have
higher conductivity.
E. Box plot of hydraulic conductivity values for strata above the Galena Group in shallow bedrock conditions.

91
bedrock surface (italics)
the land surface and
Depth in feet below

hydrostratigraphic
component Location and percent
borehole transmissivity
Matrix

Gamma log Caliper Stationary flow of dominant permeable

(counts per second) (inches) Televiewer (gallons per minute) intervals
0 50 100 0 3 6 -4 -2 0 2 4
60
Pinicon Ridge
Formation

Interpretation

No data
Casing
50 bottom
75

Ambient
flow
Spillville Formation

93%

Pumped
flow

75
100

Fine clastic component Carbonate component

Figure 48. Results of a borehole geophysical investigation at Austin, Minnesota (Paillet and others, 2000).
Flowmeter data were collected under ambient and 2 gallons per minute pumping conditions. Note that 93
percent of the contribution to the borehole is from a discrete horizon within the Spillville Formation. Ambient
downflow from this horizon moves out of the borehole into secondary pores just a few feet below. Pumping
produced no measurable drawdown. Unique number 613746. See Figure 1 for location, and Figure 5 for an
explanation of flowmeter logs.

those calculated on the assumption of intergranular flow RECOMMENDATIONS

only.
Our synthesis of the hydrogeologic attributes of
The effectiveness and scale at which bedrock layers
Paleozoic bedrock in southeastern Minnesota has
with low matrix permeability can provide confinement
revealed a number of topics that warrant further
is diminished in shallow bedrock conditions. Such units
investigation. For example, among the major aquifers
are ubiquitously fractured, and have a relatively great
we have defined, the upper and lower Mt. Simon
range in hydraulic conductivity in shallow conditions
aquifers and all of the aquifers above the Decorah Shale
of burial. Individual hydrostratigraphic units that are
are relatively poorly characterized. In addition, virtually
proven to serve as confining units in deep bedrock
all of the confining units need to be rigorously tested
conditions are in places hydraulically breached by
in shallow bedrock settings to adequately determine to
fractures and dissolution features where they occur close
what degree fractures and dissolution features
to the bedrock surface (Alexander and Lively, 1995;
compromise their inferred confining capability. The
Lindgren, 2001).
presence, abundance, and hydraulic significance of
systematic fractures and bedding-plane fractures are

92
topics that are particularly poorly understood. Such
features may affect basin-scale hydraulics, particularly
in layers that have a low matrix permeability.
Researchers are encouraged to analyze both new and
existing data in the context of our new hydrogeologic
framework to further its development. Recently
developed borehole geophysical techniques such as
flowmeter, video, caliper, and acoustic televiewer logs
have proven to be particularly useful for recognition
of major ground-water conduits and low permeability
confining units in subsurface conditions at both local
and regional scales.
Models of ground-water flow in southeastern
Minnesota should take into consideration the fact that
flow in some aquifers and confining units occurs chiefly
along discrete intervals of high hydraulic conductivity
such as bedding-plane fractures. Such flow is
increasingly recognized to be important in aquifers and
confining units that were formerly treated as more or
less homogeneous bodies (for example Gianniny and
others, 1996; Michalski and Britton, 1997; Morin and
others, 1997; Swanson, 2001). Prior to recognition of
preferential flow paths, conductivity for such units was
commonly calculated on the basis of standard aquifer
tests and with the assumption that the entire thickness
of a hydrogeologic unit contributes equally to a
borehole. Travel times of ground water calculated under
such an assumption are known to be orders of magnitude
slower than travel times measured by tracer experiments
(for example Bradbury and others, 2000). Wellhead
protection plans and other environmental management
strategies in which ground-water travel times are of
critical importance should take this into consideration.
Potentiometric and water chemistry maps should
be constructed within the context of the hydrogeologic
framework presented in this report. Existing regional-
scale maps are of limited value because they were
constructed at scales that allow small but potentially
important head differences to go unrecognized, and were
developed under the incorrect premise that
lithostratigraphic units directly correspond to
hydrogeologic units, and that apparent similarities in
static water levels in adjacent units demonstrates
hydraulic connection. Furthermore, previously
published potentiometric maps are based in part on
measurements of static water levels in boreholes that
we now know expose multiple aquifers and confining
units.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The framework for this report, and its inspiration,
are attributed to Bea Hoffman of the Southeast
Minnesota Water Resources Board. Her recognition
93
that a comprehensive synthesis of hydrogeologic data
for southeastern Minnesota was needed to produce
improved wellhead protection plans led early
development of this report. The Southeast Minnesota
Water Resources Board was funded to initiate such a
synthesis by the Minnesota Board of Water Resources
through two "Challenge Grants" from its local water
resources protection and management program. Much
of the information on the Prairie du Chien Group and
Jordan Sandstone described in this report was compiled
by the Minnesota Geological Survey as part of two
projects approved by the Minnesota Legislature for
funding as recommended by the Legislative Commission
on Minnesota Resources: the 1989 project entitled
"Geologic Factors Affecting the Sensitivity of the Prairie
du Chien–Jordan Aquifer," and the 1999 project
supported specifically through the Minnesota
Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund entitled
"Groundwater Flow in the Prairie du Chien Aquifer,
Southeastern Minnesota." Additionally, those projects
provided part of the funds used to purchase borehole
geophysical equipment that has been essential in
characterizing the hydrogeologic attributes of all parts
of the Paleozoic stratigraphic section. An ongoing
investigation of the hydrogeologic attributes of the
Franconia Formation and Ironton and Galesville
Sandstones funded by the Metropolitan Council also
provided important borehole flowmeter data used in this
report.
A number people associated with local and state
government agencies have been particularly helpful over
the past 10 years in providing funds and logistical
support necessary to collect much of the information
used in this report. They include: Terry Lee, Olmsted
County Planning Department; Doug Rovang and Barb
Huberty, Rochester Public Works; Donna Rasmussen,
Fillmore County Soil and Water Conservation District;
Bill Buckley, Mower County Environmental Health;
Daryl Franklin, Mower County Planning and Zoning;
Ross Dunsmore, Winona County Environmental
Services; Jim Lundy, Sandeep Burman, and Larry
Landherr, Minnesota Pollution Control Agency; Laurel
Reeves, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources,
Division of Waters; and Bruce Olsen and Patrick
Sarafolean, Minnesota Department of Health.
 A. Topographic divide A'
Mahood's Subsurface basin divide 0 0.5 mile
Valley
Sinkholes
Dubuque Formation
Galena Group– Stagecoach
Stewartville Formation spring
Galena Group– Watson
Prosser Limestone Creek
Galena Group–
Cummingsville Formation
Decorah Shale
Platteville and
Glenwood Formations
St. Peter Sandstone vertical exaggeration x11

B. B'
Surface stream York Blind Valley Stream sink Surface basin divides 0 1 mile
Sinkhole

Spillville Formation

94
Buried valley Odessa
spring
Maquoketa Formation
Dubuque Formation Upper Iowa
River
Galena Group–
Stewartville Formation
Galena Group–
Prosser Limestone
Galena Group– vertical exaggeration x35
Cummingsville Formation

EXPLANATION
FILLMORE COUNTY
Figure 49. Characteristic features of the Galena–
Coarse clastic component A
Spillville karst system highlighting major, dissolution A'
Fractures and
enlarged conduits. Conduit flow is commonly measured dissolution features B
Fine clastic component B'
at rates as rapid as miles per day, and large cavern
Spring LOCATION OF CROSS-SECTIONS
systems are well known. Note that the shaly strata of Carbonate component
Ground and surface water
the upper Dubuque Formation do not provide effective flow direction
Surficial deposits
confinement everywhere because they are cut by
systematic fractures. Figure is based on dye-trace studies
and cave explorations (Alexander and Lively, 1995).
95
96
97
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