Estimating recharge rate from groundwater age using a simplified analytical approach: Applicability and error estimation in heterogeneous porous media

Kozuskanich, John C.; Simmons, Craig T.; Cook, Peter G.

doi:10.1016/j.jhydrol.2014.01.058

Cited by 9 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…Spatial variability in hydraulic conductivity, as well as recharge is likely to have an influence of the distribution of tracers such as 14 C [ McCallum et al ., ; Kozuskanich et al ., ]. The conductivity field used in our model is based on available drilling and aquifer testing; however, it is likely to be a simplification of the real hydraulic conductivity distribution.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Constraining spatial variability in recharge and discharge in an arid environment through modeling carbon‐14 with improved boundary conditions

Wood

Cook

Harrington

et al. 2017

Water Resources Research

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C) has been widely used to estimate groundwater recharge rates in arid regions, and is increasingly being used as a tool to assist numerical model calibration. However, lack of knowledge on 14 C inputs to groundwater potentially limits its reliability for constraining spatial variability in recharge. In this study, we use direct measurements of 14 C in the unsaturated zone to develop a 14 C input map for a regional scale unconfined aquifer in the Ti Tree Basin in central Australia. The map is used as a boundary condition for a 3-D groundwater flow and solute transport model for the basin. The model is calibrated to both groundwater 14 C activity and groundwater level, and calibration is achieved by varying recharge rates in 18 hydrogeological zones. We test the sensitivity of the calibration to both the 14 C boundary condition, and the number or recharge zones used. The calibrated recharge rates help resolve the conceptual model for the basin, and demonstrate that spatially distributed discharge (through evapotranspiration) is an important part of the water balance. This approach demonstrates the importance of boundary conditions for 14 C transport modeling ( 14 C input activity), for improving estimates of spatial variability in recharge and discharge.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Constraining spatial variability in recharge and discharge in an arid environment through modeling carbon‐14 with improved boundary conditions

Wood

Cook

Harrington

et al. 2017

Water Resources Research

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“…Recent studies have demonstrated the effect of increasing heterogeneity on environmental tracer data and thus groundwater age and recharge estimates (McCallum et al, 2014;Kozuskanich et al, 2014), however we do not consider aquifer heterogeneity in this study. Also, recharge in the Ti Tree Basin is likely to vary temporally in response to large infrequent rainfall events, which may be several decades or centuries apart (Harrington et al, 2002).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Vertical carbon-14 profiles for resolving spatial variability in recharge in arid environments

Wood

Cook

Harrington

2015

Journal of Hydrology

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“…The numerical model employed is rectangular in shape (10 000 m in length and 100 m in thickness) as shown in Figure 1. Kozuskanich et al (2014) examined the effect of aquifer heterogeneity on the applicability of the Vogel method with the same model setup but smaller size. The model was used to perform groundwater flow and mean groundwater age transport simulations.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Aquifer heterogeneity is another factor that may strongly affect the estimated recharge. Kozuskanich et al (2014) performed a numerical study and found that the reasonable application of the analytical approach is limited to a certain size of the aquifer domain depending on the degree of heterogeneity. Despite the investigations of these studies, we still lack a thorough understanding of whether and when recharge rates estimated from the simplified analytical approach can represent spatially average recharge rates given the nature of the spatial variability of actual recharge.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reliability of recharge rates estimated from groundwater age with a simplified analytical approach

Dong

Xie

Zhang

et al. 2021

Hydrological Processes

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Groundwater age is often used to estimate groundwater recharge through a simplified analytical approach. This estimated recharge is thought to be representative of the mean recharge between the point of entry and the sampling point. However, given the complexity in actual recharge, whether the mean recharge is reasonable is still unclear. This study examined the validity of the method to estimate long-term average groundwater recharge and the possibility of obtaining reasonable spatial recharge pattern. We first validated our model in producing reasonable age distributions using a constant flux boundary condition. We then generated different flow fields and age patterns by using various spatially varying flux boundary conditions with different magnitudes and wavelengths. Groundwater recharge was estimated and analysed afterwards using the method at the spatial scale. We illustrated the main findings with a field example in the end. Our results suggest that we can estimate long-term average groundwater recharge with 10% error in many parts of an aquifer. The size of these areas decreases with the increase in both the amplitude

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Estimating recharge rate from groundwater age using a simplified analytical approach: Applicability and error estimation in heterogeneous porous media

Cited by 9 publications

References 10 publications

Constraining spatial variability in recharge and discharge in an arid environment through modeling carbon‐14 with improved boundary conditions

Constraining spatial variability in recharge and discharge in an arid environment through modeling carbon‐14 with improved boundary conditions

Vertical carbon-14 profiles for resolving spatial variability in recharge in arid environments

Reliability of recharge rates estimated from groundwater age with a simplified analytical approach

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