Boone-Roubidoux
The Boone-Roubidoux aquifer is a freshwater resource spanning eastern Oklahoma. It is a major component of a larger hydrologic system called the Ozark Plateaus aquifer system. The Boone-Roubidoux aquifer is a carbonate aquifer composed of multiple water-bearing units with the Boone and Roubidoux being the predominant formations utilized for fresh groundwater resources. The Mississippian-age Boone Formation crops out in eastern and northeastern Oklahoma and is composed of limestone and cherty limestone, with thicknesses in Oklahoma ranging geographically from 250 feet in Adair County to 400 feet in Ottawa County. The Ordovician-age Roubidoux Formation consists of dolomite, cherty dolomite, and sandstones, which crops out extensively in central and southeastern Missouri with thicknesses in Oklahoma ranging from 100 to 200 feet. The two units are separated by the Chattanooga Shale, also known as the Ozark confining unit, which serves as a barrier for hydraulic flow in some areas but can be absent in others .
The Boone-Roubidoux aquifer supplies domestic, industrial, irrigation, and municipal wells, with large-volume wells primarily completed in the Roubidoux Formation yielding on average 200 gallons per minute (gpm), and reaching up to 1,000 gpm in Ottawa County. Boone Formation wells in Delaware County averaged 3.5 gpm with a maximum of 50 gpm, while in Ottawa County Boone Formation wells have reached yields as high as 1,000 gpm.
Water quality analyses reveal a wide range in water types produced from the Boone and Roubidoux Formations due to changes in lithology and mineral content. In water produced from the Roubidoux–Boone aquifer dissolved solids concentration generally ranges from 200 to 300 milligrams per liter. Dissolved solids concentrations tend to rise in areas where the Boone and Roubidoux Formations are confined, especially near the western extent of the freshwater portions of the aquifer in counties like Craig and Mayes, and shifting to brine west of Vinita and Pryor, Oklahoma. In these areas groundwater type shifts from calcium bicarbonate to sodium chloride and water from deep wells tends to contain hydrogen sulfide.
