Potential of MODFLOW to Model Hydrological Interactions in a Semikarst Floodplain of the Ozark Border Forest in the Central United States

Abstract

Riparian shallow groundwater and nutrient movement is important for aquatic and forest ecosystem health. Understanding stream water (SW)-shallow groundwater (GW) interactions is necessary for proper management of floodplain biodiversity, but it is particularly confounding in underrepresented semikarst hydrogeological systems. The Modular Three-Dimensional ). A Particle-Tracking Model for MODFLOW (MODPATH) revealed significant spatial variations between piezometer sites (p 5 0.089) in subsurface flow path and travel time, ranging from 213 m and 3.6 yr to 197 m and 11.6 yr. The current study approach is novel with regard to the use of transient flow conditions (as opposed to steady state conditions) in underrepresented semikarst geological systems of the U.S. Midwest. This study emphasizes the significance of semikarst geology in regulating SW-GW hydrologic and nutrient interactions and provides baseline information and modeling predictions that will facilitate future studies and management plans.

Using MODFLOW to Model Riparian Wetland Shallow Groundwater and Nutrient Dynamics in an Appalachian Watershed

“…For the current study, an SGW flow model was conceptualized in MODFLOW-2005 [24] for the study reach using ModelMuse (Version 5.1.1.0) [39]. MODFLOW is an international standard for estimating 3D groundwater flow and has been extensively used to understand SW-GW interactions [9,22,25,40]. The 3D flow of GW through porous and permeable media is solved using the following equation [24]:…”

“…In addition, pre- The study grid comprised 74 rows and 67 columns with uniform cell dimensions of 12 m × 12 m (Figure 2, Table 1) and 12,388 active cells. The cell dimension was chosen to provide the needed resolution and computational efficiency [9,25,39,40]. The top elevation was assigned by performing the nearest-neighbor interpolating elevation data collected from the USGS National Elevation Dataset (Figure 1).…”

“…Such mechanistic processes affect both environments' nutrient transport dynamics, water quantity, and quality [1,6,8]. Therefore, understanding the relationship between SW and SGW flow regimes is vital to optimizing their conjunctive use [1,2,9,10].…”

“…The authors developed a predictive scenario using the MODFLOW-nutrient transport subroutine Model Transport Three-Dimensional Model Simulator (MT3DMS) [26] to simulate the potential evolution of contaminants in GW. Similarly, Chinnasamy and Hubbart [9] adapted MODFLOW-MT3DMS to simulate SW-SGW hydrologic and nutrient interaction in the Ozark border forest in the central USA. Karlovi'c et al [21] used MODFLOW-MT3DMS to simulate steady-state GW flow and nitrate transport in the alluvial aquifer of the Varazdin region of NW Croatia.…”

Methods to investigate the hydrology of the Himalayan springs: a review

“…Chinnasamy (2012) used high frequency groundwater and stream discharge data to calibrate and validate a HYDRUS code (Chinnasamy and Hubbart 2014a) and a MODFLOW code (Chinnasamy and Hubbart 2014b) for the Baskett research area, Ozarks Forests, Missouri, USA, which is characterized by a karst geologic setting. Remote sensing images were used to identify land-use type and recharge rates, while micro-climate stations were used for meteorological data.…”