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The Ogallala Aquifer (oh-gə-LAH-lə) is a shallow water table aquifer surrounded by sand, silt, clay, and gravel located beneath the Great Plains in the United States. As one of the world's largest aquifers, it underlies an area of approximately 174,000 sq mi (450,000 km 2) in portions of eight states (South Dakota, Nebraska, Wyoming, Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Texas). [1]
The Ogallala Formation is a Miocene to early Pliocene geologic formation in the central High Plains of the western United States and the location of the Ogallala Aquifer. [1] In Nebraska and South Dakota it is also classified as the Ogallala Group . [ 2 ]
The Ogallala Aquifer was formed more than 25,000 years ago, but it recharges at a very low rate. For years, irrigators in Kansas have drained more from the aquifer than rainfall can replace.
[4]: 356 The Ogallala Aquifer is the main freshwater source for the region and consists of braided stream deposits filling in valleys during humid climatic conditions, followed by a sub-humid to arid climate and thick eolian (wind-blown) sand and silt. [4]: 356 Caliche layers cap the Ogallala, which reflect today's arid conditions.
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The Ogallala aquifer is the principal source of water for agriculture in western Kansas. It’s not an underground lake as some believe but saturated sediments that have been deposited over the ...
The Ogallala Aquifer of the central United States is one of the world's great aquifers, but in places it is being rapidly depleted by growing municipal use, and continuing agricultural use. This huge aquifer, which underlies portions of eight states, contains primarily fossil water from the time of the last glaciation. Annual recharge, in the ...
The Ogallala or High Plains Aquifer sits under 450,000 km 2 of 8 states of the United States of America. It is one of the largest freshwater deposits in the world. The aquifer is composed of unconsolidated alluvial deposits. Groundwater in this aquifer has been dated to have been deposited in the humid time following the last glacial maximum. [8]