The Effect of Undetected Barriers on Groundwater Drawdown and Recovery

Marshall, Sarah K.; Cook, Peter G.; Miller, Alan S.; Simmons, Craig T.; Dogramaci, Shawan

doi:10.1111/gwat.12856

Cited by 8 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 37 publications

(49 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The ability to detect hydrogeologic barriers has many implications for groundwater management. Due to their role in constricting and localising flow, barriers can facilitate spring or wetland formation (Babiker and Gudmundsson 2004;Gleeson and Novakowski 2009), influence drawdown associated with large-scale groundwater extraction (Bense and van Balen 2004;Gumm et al 2016;Marshall et al 2019), or separate high-quality from low-quality water (Mayer et al 2007). Hydraulic head data form the foundation of groundwater system characterisation and have proven to be useful for detecting hydrogeologic barriers.…”

Section: Barrier Detectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Hydrogeologic barriers, including some dykes and faults, are structures that cut off or restrict groundwater flow (Ferris et al 1962). Detecting hydrogeologic barriers in the subsurface is important because they can compartmentalise groundwater flow (Ferrill et al 2004;Marshall et al 2019) and provide a mechanism for spring and wetland formation (Babiker and Gudmundsson 2004;Gleeson and Novakowski 2009). Steep hydraulic head gradients have been observed across hydrogeologic barriers under natural flow regimes; therefore, detailed potentiometric surface mapping can assist in their identification (Bense et al 2003;Stamatis and Voudouris 2003;Bense and van Balen 2004;Cilona et al 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Conjoint use of hydraulic head and groundwater age data to detect hydrogeologic barriers

et al. 2020

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Hydraulic head and groundwater age data are effective in building understanding of groundwater systems. Yet their joint role in detecting and characterising low-permeability geological structures, i.e. hydrogeologic barriers such as faults and dykes, has not been widely studied. Here, numerical flow and transport models, using MODFLOW-NWT and MT3D-USGS, were developed with different hydrogeologic barrier configurations in a hypothetical aquifer. Computed hydraulic head and groundwater age distributions were compared to those without a barrier. The conjoint use of these datasets helps in detecting vertically-oriented barriers. Two forms of recharge were compared: (1) applied across the entire aquifer surface (uniform), and (2) applied to the upstream part of the aquifer (upgradient). The hydraulic head distribution is significantly impacted by a barrier that penetrates the aquifer's full vertical thickness. This barrier also perturbs the groundwater age distribution when upgradient recharge prevails; however, with uniform recharge, groundwater age is not successful in detecting the barrier. When a barrier is buried, such as by younger sediment, hydraulic head data also do not clearly identify the barrier. Groundwater age data could, on the other hand, prove to be useful if sampled at depth-specific intervals. These results are important for the detection and characterisation of hydrogeologic barriers, which may play a significant role in the compartmentalisation of groundwater flow, spring dynamics, and drawdown and recovery associated with groundwater extraction.

show abstract

Section: Barrier Detectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Conjoint use of hydraulic head and groundwater age data to detect hydrogeologic barriers

et al. 2020

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…We also assume a homogeneous infinite aquifer. Any hydraulic boundaries within the area affected by pumping will affect the extent of the drawdown cone both during pumping and during recovery (Marshall et al 2019).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Facilitating Open Pit Mine Closure with Managed Aquifer Recharge

Cook¹,

Miller

Wallis

et al. 2022

Groundwater

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Dewatering of open pit mines can lower the regional water table for distances of several kilometers from the pit. When the mine is closed, dewatering operations usually cease, and the water table near the pit begins to rise. If the pit is backfilled, the water table will eventually recover, but this recovery may take several hundred years. However, if the extracted water is re-injected into the subsurface, then this may accelerate recovery of the water table. We show that there is an optimal distance for re-injection, which is sufficiently far from the mine to minimize the amount of groundwater that flows back to the pit during mine operations (and hence necessitate additional pumping) but is still close enough to speed up the water table recovery post-mine closure. The optimal injection distance increases with the aquifer hydraulic diffusivity and the mine life (duration of dewatering and injection), and typically ranges between about two and nine times the radius of the mine pit. Where the mine pit is not backfilled, the relative reduction in drawdown due to injecting all the pumped water at the optimal distance is between approximately 10% and 50% after a recovery time equal to the mining period, increasing to 30% to 90% after a recovery time five times the mining period. The relative drawdown reduction due to managed aquifer recharge will be even greater for a pit which is backfilled when mining ceases.

show abstract

“…The properties of the fault zone in this multiaquifer sandstone system have implications for other areas in similar geologic settings if groundwater use occurs near faults and flow barriers are reached. The flow‐barrier behavior of the Sandwich Fault Zone may also mean a slower recovery (e.g., see Marshall et al ) of the CO system if communities are eventually forced to switch to Lake Michigan water as groundwater is depleted.…”

Section: Discussion and Implications For Groundwater Supplymentioning

confidence: 99%

Modeling a Large‐Scale Historic Aquifer Test: Insight into the Hydrogeology of a Regional Fault Zone

Hadley¹,

Abrams

Roadcap

2019

Groundwater

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Faults can act as flow barriers or conduits to groundwater flow by introducing heterogeneity in permeability. We examine the hydrogeology of the Sandwich Fault Zone, a 137 km long zone of high-angle faults in northern Illinois, using a large-scale historic aquifer test. The fault zone is poorly understood at depth due to the majority of the faults being buried by glacial deposits and its near-vertical orientation which limits geologic sampling across faults. The aquifer test-perhaps one of the largest in terms of overall withdrawal in North American history-was conducted in 1942 at a facility adjacent to the fault zone. More than 34,000 m 3 /day was pumped for 37 days from nine multiaquifer wells open to the stratified Cambrian-Ordovician sandstone aquifer system. We modeled the aquifer test using a transient MODFLOW-USG model and simulated pumping wells with the CLN package. We tested numerous fault core/damage zone conceptualizations and calibrated to drawdown values recorded at production and observation wells. Our analysis indicates that the fault zone is a low-permeability feature that inhibits lateral movement of groundwater and that there is at least an order of magnitude decrease in horizontal hydraulic conductivity in the fault core compared to the undeformed sandstone. Large head declines have occurred north of the fault zone (over 300 m since predevelopment conditions) and modifying fault zone parameters significantly affects calibration to regional drawdown on a decadal scale. The flow-barrier behavior of the fault zone has important implications for future groundwater availability in this highly stressed region. Article impact statement: Modeling a large-scale historic aquifer test determined the hydraulic conductivity of a deep vertical fault zone in a multiaquifer system.

show abstract

The Effect of Undetected Barriers on Groundwater Drawdown and Recovery

Cited by 8 publications

References 37 publications

Conjoint use of hydraulic head and groundwater age data to detect hydrogeologic barriers

Conjoint use of hydraulic head and groundwater age data to detect hydrogeologic barriers

Facilitating Open Pit Mine Closure with Managed Aquifer Recharge

Modeling a Large‐Scale Historic Aquifer Test: Insight into the Hydrogeology of a Regional Fault Zone

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About