A groundwater tracing investigation as an aid of locating groundwater monitoring stations on the Mitchell Plain of southern Indiana

A groundwater tracing study was conducted on the Mitchell Plain of southern Indiana to aid in the design of a karst groundwater monitoring program for a proposed landfill facility. Fluorescein and rhodamine WT dyes were introduced into sinkholes at the project site. On-site fluorometric analyses and concentration-dependent sampling were utilized at springs and a local stream for data resolution while minimizing delays between tracing events. As a result of this investigation, springs including a submerged spring that drain groundwater from the site have been identified and two groundwater monitoring stations have been established. The submerged spring was discovered in the streambed at intersections between prominent joints and solution-enlarged beddi7ng-plane partings. It could not have been identified readily during a typical karst hydrogeologic inventory, nor would it have been detected by analyzing charcoal dye receptors with a spectrofluorophotometer.