USGS INL Project Office
Welcome
The Idaho National Laboratory (INL) is a secure United States Department of Energy reservation occupying about 890 square miles (2300 square kilometers) of sagebrush desert on the Snake River Plain in southeast Idaho. Most of the research carried out at the Idaho National Laboratory involves nuclear energy. Part of the Snake River Plain aquifer lies beneath the INL and is the sole source of water for the INL. The Snake River Plain aquifer is also an important source of water for nearby communities and farms.
In 1949, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) was asked to characterize water resources prior to the building of nuclear-reactor testing facilities at the INL site. Since that time, USGS hydrologists and geologists have been studying the hydrology and geology of the eastern Snake River Plain and the eastern Snake River Plain aquifer.
At the INL and in the surrounding area, we:
- Monitor and maintain a network of existing wells
- Drill new research and monitoring wells, providing information about subsurface water, rock and sediment
- Perform geophysical and video logging of new and existing wells
- Maintain the Lithologic Core Storage Library (CSL)
Data gathered from these activities is used to create and refine hydrologic and geologic models of the aquifer, to track contaminant plumes in the aquifer, and improve understanding of the complex relationships between the rocks, sediments and water that compose the aquifer. We publish reports about our studies, available through the USGS Publications Warehouse.
Copyrighted photo courtesy of Louis J. Maher, Jr., University of Wisconsin, used by permission. To see more great photographs, visit Dr. Maher's website, Geology by Lightplane.
