Nags Head Woods, a coastal maritime forest located on a barrier island in eastern North Carolina, stabilizes a back-barrier dune system bordering a tidal marsh. The purpose of this study is to provide basic information about the groundwater geology in Nags Head Woods and to predict the effects upon water levels due to municipal pumping of Fresh Pond, a large lake near the center of the island.
Clean, fine-to-medium sands dominate the top of the surficial (water table) aquifer, underlain by silty fine-to-coarse sands at -4 m elevation. A silty clay bed of very low permeability is present at -12 m to -21 m elevation.
The natural water table across the island forms an elongate dome which crests east and northeast of Fresh Pond. Municipal pumpage of Fresh Pond lowers lake water levels by 1.5 m to 2.0 m.
A finite-difference model (PLASM) was used to predict the effects of pumping from Fresh Pond
