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<br />Figure 2 is a bedrock map of southern Anoka County and shows the distribution of bedrock units <br />in the Centerville area. The major bedrock units in Anoka County, relative to groundwater <br />resources, are the Mt. Simon (and Hinckley) Sandstone Aquifer system and the Franconia- <br />Ironton-Galesville Aquifer system. Locally in southeastern Anoka County, the Prairie du Chien- <br />Jordan Aquifer System, the most heavily used in the Twin Cities Metropolitan Area, is <br />important. The geologic aspects of these aquifers and the units separating them were reviewed in <br />the Ramsey-Anoka-Washington County Groundwater Flow Model (EOR and KDB Consulting, <br />2000) and were taken from MossIer (1972). <br /> <br />Underlying Formations - The geologic formations underlying the lowest bedrock aquifer <br />are principally comprised of red beds oflate Keweenawan age. Their thickness is estimated <br />to be as much as 4000 feet. Because of their generally low permeability, they are regarded <br />as the base of the aquifer systems in the Twin Cities basin. <br /> <br />Hinckley Sandstone - The Hinckley Sandstone is a quartzose sandstone that directly <br />overlies the Keweenawan red beds. It is lithologically similar to the overlying Mt. Simon <br />Sandstone and appears to be differentiated in this area primarily by being involved in late <br />Keweenawan faulting. The Hinckley is thickest in western Anoka County, where <br />thicknesses on the order of 250 feet or more have been observed. <br /> <br />Mt. Simon Sandstone - The Mt. Simon Sandstone directly overlies the Hinckley with no <br />intervening aquitard. It is a mostly medium- to coarsely-grained, friable quartzose <br />sandstone. It is generally about 250 feet thick along the western margin of the Twin Cities <br />basin and thins to the east. <br /> <br />Eau Claire Formation - The Mt. Simon conformably grades upward into the Eau Claire <br />Formation, which is composed of glauconitic siltstones, very fine-grained sandstones and a <br />green shale. The formation is approximately 100 to 125 feet thick in the Twin Cities basin. <br />This formation is regarded as the separating aquitard between the underlying Mt. Simon- <br />Hinckley Aquifer and the overlying Franconia-Ironton-Galesville Aquifer. The Eau Claire <br />is largely intact, except in the vicinity of buried bedrock valleys, throughout all but <br />northwestern Anoka County. <br /> <br />Ironton and Galesville Sandstones - The Galesville Sandstone unconformably overlies <br />the Eau Claire. Both the Galesville and lronton Sandstones are medium-grained quartzose <br />sandstones. Their aggregate thickness is 35 to 65 feet in the Twin Cities basin. Because of <br />their similar hydraulic properties and lack of separating layer, these sandstones are regarded <br />as a single aquifer. <br /> <br />Franconia Formation - The Ironton-Galesville is conformably overlain by the Franconia <br />Formation, which is generally composed of very fine to fine-grained, glauconitic <br />sandstones and siltstones. The upper portion of this formation is comprised of coarser, <br />non-glauconitic sandstones representing near-shore facies, collectively termed the <br />Mazomanie Member. These are interfingered with the glauconitic sandstones in the <br />northern portion of the basin. The thickness of the Mazomanie varies from approximately <br />40 feet in the southern portion of Anoka County to approximately 125 feet at its <br />northeastern comer; the Franconia as a whole correspondingly increases in thickness from <br />approximately 140 feet to 180 feet (Runkle, 1995). Because the permeable Mazomanie <br />Member comprises a majority of the Franconia and because a clear underlying aquitard <br /> <br />4 <br />