JEFFERSON CITY, MO, MARCH 12, 2022 - The Missouri Geological Survey, a division of the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, recently made it easy to locate well logs in Missouri using a new ArcGIS application. Well logs contain detailed construction information about wells and the subsurface geology at the well site. This includes stratigraphy (named rock layers), lithology (rock type), mineralogy and groundwater information.
“We are very pleased to make this online tool available to well drillers and other businesses and industry, agriculture, citizens and academia,” said Dru Buntin, director of the Missouri Department of Natural Resources. “The details contained on the well logs include information about the construction and depth of the well, water level and subsurface geology at the time the well was drilled and more.”
Well drilling contractors provide well cuttings (small pieces of rock collected as the well is drilled) to the department for most public water supply wells drilled in Missouri. These cuttings are reviewed and interpreted by staff geologists to determine the nature of the subsurface geology. Well logs are important records that provide the department with information about the well’s location, contractor, owner of the well, stratigraphy, distance to groundwater, materials used to construct the well and other related information.
“The app contains numerous tools that can be used to search for well logs across the state, including the physical address of a well site,” said Jerry Prewett, assistant state geologist and deputy director of the Missouri Geological Survey.
Give it a try. To locate a well that was drilled for Six Flags over Mid-America, enter “Six Flags Missouri” in the search window and continue with the search. Numerous wells will be displayed on the map. The attribute table below the map provides information for the wells displayed to the mapped extent. To access a PDF image of the well log, select the blue square identified as “0026640” and select the “More info” hyperlink in the popup window. Choose the “Zoom to” hyperlink to access well log information displayed in the attribute table below the map. Many details related to the well are displayed in the table including the well log number, location, well owner’s name, driller’s name, depth of the well, water produced per minute, and geologic layers at the bottom of the casing and at total depth. These details may also be viewed on the PDF of the well log itself.
Many of the actual well logs are associated with rock cuttings and cores housed at the department's McCracken Core Library and Research Center in Rolla. The facility contains nearly 8 million feet of geologic subsurface material, which is made available to anyone interested in the subsurface geology of the state. Learn more online at dnr.mo.gov/land-geology/geology/mccracken-core-library-research-center.
Access well logs using the Well Drilling Logs app online at modnr.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=0e701223578b4cb1bc15e4a160cc0230.