Simulating Ground Water‐Lake Interactions: Approaches and Insights

Abstract

Approaches for modeling lake-ground water interactions have evolved significantly from early simulations that used fixed lake stages specified as constant head to sophisticated LAK packages for MODFLOW. Although model input can be complex, the LAK package capabilities and output are superior to methods that rely on a fixed lake stage and compare well to other simple methods where lake stage can be calculated. Regardless of the approach, guidelines presented here for model grid size, location of three-dimensional flow, and extent of vertical capture can facilitate the construction of appropriately detailed models that simulate important lake-ground water interactions without adding unnecessary complexity. In addition to MODFLOW approaches, lake simulation has been formulated in terms of analytic elements. The analytic element lake package had acceptable agreement with a published LAKI problem, even though there were differences in the total lake conductance and number of layers used in the two models. The grid size used in the original LAKI problem, however, violated a grid size guideline presented in this paper. Grid sensitivity analyses demonstrated that an appreciable discrepancy in the distribution of stream and lake flux was related to the large grid size used in the original LAKI problem. This artifact is expected regardless of MODFLOW LAK package used. When the grid size was reduced, a finite-difference formulation approached the analytic element results. These insights and guidelines can help ensure that the proper lake simulation tool is being selected and applied.

A review of groundwater–surface water interactions in arid/semi‐arid wetlands and the consequences of salinity for wetland ecology

“…Restrepo et al, 1998;Crowe et al, 2004) and newer analytic element techniques (Haitjema, 1995) and linknode approaches (Walton et al, 1996). Hunt et al (2003) compare the use of the first two of these techniques. It is important to note that all these studies deal with water flow only.…”

Modeling the influence of land use on groundwater chloride loading to lakes

“…2). Lakes relatively long in the direction of groundwater flow relative to the aquifer depth are likely to intercept much of the groundwater flow (Hunt et al 2003). Townley and Trefry (2000) showed that a circular lake in an isotropic aquifer intercepts >90% of the flow when the lake diameter-to-aquifer thickness is >4.…”

Estimating groundwater inflow and leakage outflow for an intermontane lake with a structurally complex geology: Georgetown Lake in Montana, USA

“…Previous studies have used major ion chemistry (Krabbenhoft and Webster 1995;Nachiappan et al 2015) and stable isotopes of water (δ 18 O and δD; Turner et al 1984;Krabbenhoft et al 1990;Gurrieri and Furniss 2004;Turner and Townley 2006;Stets et al 2010;Sacks et al 2014;Nachiappan et al 2015). However, most previous studies that have employed geochemical or isotopic mass balances to quantify groundwater inputs and outputs have investigated lakes (<120 ha; Krabbenhoft et al 1990;Millham and Howes 1994;Krabbenhoft and Webster 1995;Hunt et al 2003;Gurrieri and Furniss 2004;Stets et al 2010;Rudnick et al 2014;Sacks et al 2014;Nachiappan et al 2015).…”