Hydrologic Investigation Of The Middle Tennessee Zinc District

The New Jersey Zinc Company began a program of exploration in Middle Tennessee in 1964. The target horizon of the exploration project has been the Knox Dolomite which is a low-yield aquifer over nearly the entire Central Basin of Tennessee (1). With the exception of a few hundred acres in the Wells Creek and Flynn Creek disturbances (astroblemes?), the Knox Dolomite in Middle Tennessee is known only in subsurface. In January of 1969, New Jersey Zinc announced the discovery of a major zinc deposit near Elmwood, southeast of Carthage. This is on the northeastern flank of the Nashville Dome where the nearly flat-lying beds have an average eastward slope of about 50 feet per mile. The anticipated development of a mining situation has emphasized the significance of hydrologic relationships in the region as a whole and especially in the Elmwood area. These relationships affect several areas of concern which ma be generally grouped into two broad classes; i. e. , (1) Problems of a Public Nature - involving the prevention of the contamination of potable aquifers, the prevention of the contamination of surface waters, the prevention of the capture of presently utilized water, etc.; and (2) Problems of Mining Economics - involving pumping capacity and costs, the possible need for equipment of special composition, underground environmental conditions, etc. Exploration drilling in Middle Tennessee has contributed additional information about the Knox aquifer and