OVERVIEW

The Tully Valley, located in southern Onondaga County has been the source of sediment and brackish water discharge to Onondaga Creek, tributary to the Seneca and Oswego Rivers and eventually Lake Ontario. Information on the origin of the Tully Valley mudboils, their persistence, and the possible extent of their migration within the Tully Valley is needed to mitigate or remediate (1) the discharge of turbid water and fine-grained sediment from the mudboils, (2) land-surface subsidence caused by the removal of sediment from below the land surface, and (3) degradation of Onondaga Creek by turbidity, fine-sediment deposition, and chloride loading.

To define the glacial stratigraphy and hydraulic-head distribution within the unconsolidated deposits in the valley-fill aquifer system, identify the source(s) of artesian head driving the mudboils, and monitor the results of mudboil remediation projects.

Results of the Tully mudboil area study will provide local, regional, state, and federal agencies with hydrogeologic data on the unconsolidated valley-fill deposits in the Tully Valley and what drives mudboil activity in this valley. The study also provides a means to monitor remediation efforts to control mudboil discharges on the local and watershed-level environments.

First posted August, 2012