Generalized water-table elevation map in agricultural regions of Bayfield County, Wisconsin: water-table elevation contours, groundwater divide, groundwater flow direction and well points (2016; 1:100,000 scale)

Suggested citation: 
Gotkowitz, M.B., and Li, Yang, 2016, Groundwater and wells in agricultural regions of Bayfield County, Wisconsin: Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey Technical Report 2, 13 p., 2 plates, scale 1:100,000.

This dataset is comprised of these features:
water-table elevation contours (ba_wt_contours)
groundwater flow direction (ba_flowLines)
groundwater divide area (ba_gwdivideArea)
well locations (ba_wt_wellpoints)

Note: Technical Report 2 replaces Open-File Report 2015-04.

Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey (WGNHS), UW-Extension, with support from the Bayfield County Board of Supervisors and its Large-Scale Livestock Study Committee.

Well data from construction records submitted to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources mainly between 1988 and 2010.

Groundwater flow model, Bradbury and others, unpublished data. 

Well construction report data for 660 wells, located within and adjacent to the study area, was derived from source files provided by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources in 2010. Records were reviewed for locational accuracy and other attributes of the wells captured on the WCR, such as well construction, hydrologic, and geologic observations. For the water-table elevation map and cross sections, wells were classified as being completed in one of three types of material: sediment (sand, or sand and gravel); sandstone; or bedrock other than sandstone, such as basalt. 

The map was developed from a model-simulated elevation of the water table (Bradbury and others, in review). The water-table elevation within the agricultural areas was subsequently refined by evaluating it for consistency with elevations of land surface, streams, lakes, and the reported groundwater level in wells completed above bedrock. Water-table contours outside the agricultural regions were not similarly evaluated. In the data, those contours were assigned a confidence level of 'approximate' and on the map, they are shown as dashed lines to indicate more uncertainty in their location. 

The groundwater divide and flow arrows were added to further illustrate primary groundwater flow. The features were digitized on-screen. Their position and direction should be considered conceptual.

Topology checks were made on feature geometry; and feature length and area measures were checked for appropriate values. Attribute values were validated to be within the appropriate domain. Visual inspections were made on-screen and using check plots. 

Geodatabase features were exported to shapefile format for digital distribution and to eps or pdf for use in final map production.