Link to USGS home page.
MD-DE-DC Water Science Center

 

U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

Open-File Report 2003-318


Lithologic Coring in the Lower Anacostia Tidal Watershed, Washington, D.C., July 2002

By Frederick J. Tenbus

 

Cover of Sir-2006-5140

Abstract

Little is known about the volumetric flux of ground water to the lower tidal Anacostia River, or whether ground-water flow is an important component of the contaminant load in this part of the Anacostia River. The watershed is in the eastern part of Washington, D.C., and has been subjected to over 200 years of urbanization and modifications of the river channel and nearby land areas. These anthropogenic factors, along with tidal fluctuations in the river, make ground-water data collection and interpretations difficult.

The U.S. Geological Survey is cooperating with the District of Columbia Department of Health, Environmental Health Administration, Bureau of Environmental Quality, Water Quality Division, in a study to assess nonpoint-source pollution from ground water into the lower tidal Anacostia River. Lithologic cores from drilling activities conducted during July 2002 in the study area have been interpreted in the context of geologic and hydrogeologic information from previous studies in the lower Anacostia tidal watershed. These interpretations can help achieve the overall project goals of characterizing ground-water flow and contaminant load in the study area.

Hydrostratigraphic units encountered during drilling generally consisted of late Pleistocene to Holocene fluvial deposits overlying Cretaceous fluvial/deltaic deposits. Cores collected in Beaverdam Creek and the Anacostia River indicated high- and low-energy environments of deposition, respectively. Two cores collected near the river showed different types of anthropogenic fill underlain by low-energy deposits, which were in turn underlain by sand and gravel. A third core collected near the river consisted primarily of sand and gravel with no artificial fill.

 

Contents


This report is available online in Portable Document Format (PDF). If you do not have the Adobe Acrobat PDF Reader, it is available for free download from Adobe Systems Incorporated.

View the full report in PDF (3 MB)

Document Accessibility:  Adobe Systems Incorporated has information about PDFs and the visually impaired. This information provides tools to help make PDF files accessible. These tools and the accessible reader may be obtained free from Adobe at Adobe Access.

For more information about USGS activities in Maryland, Delaware and the District of Columbia contact:

Director
MD-DE-DC Water Science Center
U.S. Geological Survey
8987 Yellow Brick Road
Baltimore, MD 21237

Telephone: (410) 238-4200
Fax: (410) 238-4210

or access the USGS Water Resources of Maryland, Delaware, and District of Columbia home page at:  http://md.water.usgs.gov/.

Information: webmaster@md.water.usgs.gov



Accessibility FOIA Privacy Policies and Notices

Take Pride in America home page. FirstGov button U.S. Department of the Interior | U.S. Geological Survey
Persistent URL: http://pubs.water.usgs.gov/ofr03318
Page Contact Information: USGS Publishing Network
Page Last Modified: Saturday, 12-Jan-2013 23:03:28 EST