ABSTRACT: The hydrostratigraphy of the Waterloo Moraine.

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The Waterloo Moraine has long been a source of drinking water for the residents of the nearby cities of Kitchener and Waterloo, and recently numerous papers and reports have been written in an effort to characterize the location of various aquifers and aquitards within the Moraine. This project is part of that effort, and concentrates on using fully cored boreholes, reliably logged in their entirety, to develop a framework of correlated till units from an understanding of the Quaternary geology and history of the Moraine. The framework of correlated till units is then used as the basis for an understanding of the Moraine's hydrostratigraphy. Four major till units are recognized within the moraine and can be sued to define four aquitard units; the Canning Till is a clayey silt till that forms a discontinuous layer of clayey aquitard material (Aquitard C) between bedrock and younger aquifer deposits, the Catfish Creek-type tills are a collection of stony sandy silt tills that are found throughout the study area as part of a leaky aquitard (Aquitard B), the lower Maryhill Till is found in many parts of the moraine and is a clayey silt to silty clay till that forms part of another clayey aquitard (Aquitard A2) underlying important aquifer deposits, and the Upper Maryhill Till is a sandy clayey silt till that is part of a discontinuous, but important aquitard near the surface of the moraine (Aquitard A1). The till framework divides the non-aquitard material into six aquifers which are correlated through the identification of overlying and underlying till units. The largest aquifer in the moraine is Aquifer 1.1 and was deposited between the Lower and Upper Maryhill tills. This aquifer is the most important aquifer in the moraine for purposes of water supply and receives significant recharge through gaps in the overlying Upper Maryhill Till in the north and central parts of the study area. Another important aquifer is Aquifer 3.1. This aquifer is found deep in the moraine in the southern part of the study area and is recharged predominantly through leakage from the overlying Catfish Creek-type tills. Other aquifers within the moraine play important roles in providing preferred pathways for groundwater to the major aquifers and reducing the average hydraulic conductivity of the aquitard units.

Bibliography of Canadian Geomorphology