The U.
S. Geological Survey evaluated the interaction of groundwater and surface water in the central allotment of Sevier County,Tennessee, from October 2015 through October 2016. Stream base flow was surveyed in December 2015 and in July and October 2016 to assess losing and gaining stream reaches along three streams in the area. During a July 2016 synoptic survey, or groundwater levels were measured in wells screened in the Cambrian-Ordovician aquifer to define the potentiometric surface in the area. The middle and lower reaches of the Little Pigeon River and the middle reaches of Middle Creek and the West Prong Little Pigeon River were gaining streams at base-flow conditions. The lower segments of the West Prong Little Pigeon River and Middle Creek were losing reaches under base-flow conditions,with substantial flow losses in the West Prong Little Pigeon River and complete subsurface diversion of flow in Middle Creek through a series of sinkholes that developed in the streambed and adjacent flood plain beginning in 2010. The potentiometric surface of the Cambrian-Ordovician aquifer showed depressed water levels in the area where loss of flow occurred in the lower reaches of West Prong Little Pigeon River and Middle Creek. continual dewatering activities at a rock quarry located in this area appear to have lowered groundwater levels by as much as 180 feet, which likely is the cause of flow losses observed in the two streams, or a contributing factor to the development of sinkholes at Middle Creek near Collier Drive.
Source: usgs.gov