Hydrogeology of the Beaver Kill Basin in Sullivan, Delaware, and Ulster Counties, New York
by Richard J. Reynolds
U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY
Water-Resources Investigations Report 00-4034
ABSTRACT
The hydrogeology of the 299-square-mile
Beaver Kill basin in the southwestern Catskill
Mountains of southeastern New York is depicted
in a surficial geologic map and five geologic
sections, and is summarized through an analysis
of low-flow statistics for the Beaver Kill and its
major tributary, Willowemoc Creek. Surficial
geologic data indicate that the most widespread
geologic units within the basin are ablation and
lodgment till. Large masses of ablation till as
much as 450 feet thick were deposited as lateral
embankments within the narrow Beaver Kill and
Willowemoc Creek valleys and have displaced the
modern stream courses by as much as 1,000 feet
from the preglacial bedrock-valley axis.
Low-flow statistics for the Beaver Kill and
Willowemoc Creeks indicate that the base flows
(discharges that are exceeded 90 percent of the
time) of these two streams--0.36 and 0.39 cubic
feet per square mile,respectively--are the highest
of 13 Catskill Mountain streams studied. High
base flows elsewhere in the glaciated northeastern
United States are generally associated with large
stratified-drift aquifers, however, stratified drift in
these two basins accounts for only about 5 percent
and 4.4 percent of their respective surface areas,
respectively. The high base flows in these two
basins appear to correlate with an equally high
percentage of massive sandstone members of the
Catskill Formation, which underlies the entire
region. Ground-water seepage from these
sandstone members may be responsible for the
high base flows of these two streams.
Citation: Reynolds, R.J., 2000, Hydrogeology of the Beaver
Kill Basin in Sullivan, Delaware, and Ulster Counties, New York:
U.S. Geological Survey Water-Resources Investigations Report 00-4034, 23 p.
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