Impact of Climate Change on Groundwater Recharge in Shallow Young Glacial Aquifers in Northern Poland

Gumuła-Kawęcka, Anna; Jaworska-Szulc, Beata; Szymkiewicz, Adam; Gorczewska-Langner, Wioletta; Angulo-Jaramillo, Rafaël; Šimůnek, Jirka

doi:10.2139/ssrn.4280958

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 63 publications

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“…Sandy soils are widespread, for example, on post‐glacial areas of Northern Europe and North America. Due to their high permeability, they play a vital role in recharging shallow aquifers (e.g., Gumuła‐Kawęcka et al., 2022, 2023), but on the other hand, they allow fast movement of pollutants from the soil surface to groundwater. Moreover, sand is a widespread earth material used in embankments, dikes, and other civil engineering structures.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Water retention curves of sandy soils obtained from direct measurements, particle size distribution, and infiltration experiments

Farooq,

Gorczewska‐Langner,

Szymkiewicz

2024

Vadose Zone Journal

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Accurate information about soil water retention curves (SWRCs) of sands is essential for evaluating groundwater recharge and vulnerability to contamination in many shallow sandy aquifers which are widespread on post glacial areas in Northern Europe and North America. Pedotransfer functions (PTFs) allow to estimate SWRC from basic physical characteristics of soils, such as textural composition. However, in the case of clean sands which are dominated by a single textural fraction, PTFs should be based on more detailed information given by the particle size distribution. In this study we evaluated three parametric PTFs, which estimate parameters of the van Genuchten SWRC based on empirical correlations to the parameters of soil particle size distribution, and five semi‐physical PTFs, which derive the pore size distribution from particle size distribution. PTFs were compared to SWRCs fitted to the results of drainage experiments on sandy soil samples from six locations in Gdańsk region (northern Poland). Although in all samples the content of silt and clay fractions was low (<3.5%), the differences in actual content of fines strongly influenced the shape of SWRC. In contrast, the amount of gravel fraction (varying from 1% to 35%) did not have significant effect on SWRC. Semi‐physical PTFs were found to be more accurate than parametric PTFs. The best overall performance was shown by the semi‐physical Chang and Cheng PTF. Among the parametric PTFs the best accuracy was obtained with the Schaap and Bouten method. However, all considered functions showed limited accuracy in higher suction range. Additionally, infiltration experiments were performed on four sites. SWRCs were obtained from ring infiltrometer tests using the Beerkan estimation of soil transfer parameters (BEST) method and from the tension infiltrometer (TI) tests using numerical solution of the inverse problem based on the Richards equation. In almost all cases the wetting SWRCs were characterized by higher values of the pressure scaling parameter α compared to SWRCs measured in drainage experiments, which is consistent with the well‐known phenomenon of hysteresis in soils. However, the BEST method resulted in significantly higher α and hydraulic conductivity Ks than TI, probably due to activation of the largest soil pores during ponded infiltration.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%