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Lafayette, Tennessee Karst Groundwater Dye Tracing Water Year 2024

Metadata Updated: September 17, 2025

Karst hydrologic systems are important resources in the state of Tennessee, both as drinking water resources and as centers for possible biological diversity. These systems are susceptible to contamination due to the inherent connectivity between surface water and groundwater systems in karst systems. A partnership between the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) was formed to investigate karst spring systems across the state utilizing fluorescent groundwater tracing, particularly in areas where these resources may be used as drinking water sources. In fall 2021, USGS and TDEC staff identified possible vulnerabilities or complexities that may exist within karst spring systems based upon maturity of karst development, underlying geology, and uncertainties related to estimated recharge areas. Based upon initial research, several study areas were selected and fieldwork started in March 2022. In Water Year 2024 (10/1/2023-9/30/2024) dye tracing was conducted in the communities of Caryville, Lafayette, Morristown, Mount Pleasant, and Vanleer. Collectively these communities span multiple physiographic regions including the Western and Eastern Highland Rim, and the Valley and Ridge Province. Each of these communities rely on karst groundwater as a drinking water source. Additionally, these are all areas where the hydrology has been significantly altered by karst processes and thus the groundwater pathways are complex and unpredictable. The community of Lafayette is in Macon County, TN along the northern portion of the Eastern Highland Rim. Streams in the study area drain north to the Barren River in Kentucky. The study area is primarily underlain by the Mississippian Fort Payne Formation, though Silurian and Ordovician strata is exposed in some of the more-deeply dissected valleys. Karstification in the study area occurs in bioherms of limestone in the Fort Payne Formation that are both vertically and laterally discontinuous. Streams in areas underlain by limestone can sink into the subsurface and springs located further downstream discharge karst groundwater creating the perennial reaches of most streams. In Water Year 2024 a total of fifteen dye injections were conducted in the Lafayette area over five rounds. The monitoring network consisted of 73 monitoring sites where charcoal packets were deployed. This data release contains shapefiles of dye injection locations, monitoring sites, and dye traces conducted in the Lafayette area during the 2024 Water Year. All files were created in ArcGIS Pro and each shapefile contains associated attributes for the features contained within. Layer files are included with the datasets to match symbology found in figures in the accompanying report. All shapefiles and layers were created and modified in ArcGIS software. For a full description of the methods used to create these files, see Process Steps in the metadata file, "LF24_Metadata.xml". Data within each child item of this data release are named with a two-letter abbreviation unique for the community where the tracing occurred and the water year when the work was conducted (e.g. LF24). Abbreviations for the communities are as follows: CR = Caryville, LF = Lafayette, MR = Morristown, MP = Mount Pleasant, and VN = Vanleer.

Access & Use Information

Public: This dataset is intended for public access and use. License: No license information was provided. If this work was prepared by an officer or employee of the United States government as part of that person's official duties it is considered a U.S. Government Work.

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Dates

Metadata Created Date September 12, 2025
Metadata Updated Date September 17, 2025

Metadata Source

Harvested from DOI USGS DCAT-US

Additional Metadata

Resource Type Dataset
Metadata Created Date September 12, 2025
Metadata Updated Date September 17, 2025
Publisher U.S. Geological Survey
Maintainer
Identifier http://datainventory.doi.gov/id/dataset/usgs-679a98e2d34ea8c18376f0a3
Data Last Modified 2025-06-10T00:00:00Z
Category geospatial
Public Access Level public
Bureau Code 010:12
Metadata Context https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.jsonld
Metadata Catalog ID https://ddi.doi.gov/usgs-data.json
Schema Version https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
Catalog Describedby https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.json
Harvest Object Id ad267bf2-d518-4643-9fce-8450b52b0344
Harvest Source Id 2b80d118-ab3a-48ba-bd93-996bbacefac2
Harvest Source Title DOI USGS DCAT-US
Metadata Type geospatial
Old Spatial -86.1185, 36.5490, -85.9363, 36.6599
Source Datajson Identifier True
Source Hash 2d9c609eef5a2a6c8094c2caf290f156f67bcdbb095a622aefa5a8093344c664
Source Schema Version 1.1
Spatial {"type": "Polygon", "coordinates": -86.1185, 36.5490, -86.1185, 36.6599, -85.9363, 36.6599, -85.9363, 36.5490, -86.1185, 36.5490}

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