Well Field

The well field is located on the banks Little Kickapoo Creek on property owned by the Bloomington-Normal Water Reclamation District (BNWRD). It is used for teaching field methods in classes at the undergraduate and graduate level. It is also being used as the site of undergraduate and graduate research projects. We are continually expanding the instrumentation and uses of the well field.

Geologic Setting

The well field sits in a valley eroded by glacial meltwater during the Pleistocene, and the valley is occupied by the modern Little Kickapoo Creek. The aquifer in which the wells are installed is composed of coarse-grained (gravel and sand) outwash deposited by meltwater (the Henry Formation).

Both the erosion of the valley and partial backfilling occurred when the ice front was stationary several km north of the site. The aquifer is 5-7 meters thick in the center of the valley and pinches out at the edges of the valley. The base of the aquifer, at depth of 8-10 meters below the surface, is defined by the low permeability till of the Wedron Formation. The Wedron sediments are clay-rich lodgement tills deposited by continental glaciers during the Wisconsinan period of the Pleistocene. The aquifer is overlain by 2-3 of fine-grained Holocene floodplain sediments of the Cahokia Formation. Little Kickapoo Creek is inset into the Cahokia and rests on top of the Henry.