Use of Alternative Hydrogeological Conceptual Models to Assess the Potential Impact of Climate Change on Groundwater Sustainable Yield in Central Huai Luang Basin, Northeast Thailand

Abstract

Sustainable management of groundwater resources is essential for sound groundwater development, especially in sensitive salt-affected areas. In Northeast Thailand, the Central Huai Luang Basin, underlain by rock salt, is the source of groundwater and soil salinity. The future sustainable groundwater development yield was assessed under the plausible uncertainty of hydrogeological and projected climate scenarios that could impact the groundwater system. The SEAWAT and HELP3 models were used to simulate groundwater system. The four alternative scenarios of hydrogeological conceptual models were formulated to determine the impact on groundwater system and sustainable groundwater yield. In addition, impacts of projected climate conditions on each alternative model were explored. The results indicate that variable depths and thicknesses of rock salt layers have a higher impact on groundwater salinity distribution and sustainable yield estimations than model boundary conditions. Groundwater salinity, shallow water table areas, and sustainable yield projections vary substantially depending on the possible conceptual model scenarios. It is clear that the variable hydrogeological models affect groundwater sustainable yields.

Impact of climate change on groundwater recharge and salinity distribution in the Vientiane basin, Lao PDR

“…The initial head was created by 41 observed data in September 2014 and the initial concentration was created by 25 observed data. The rock salt (K2tn) under the Vientiane and Saysomboun units was 5.0 Â 10 À9 -5.0 Â 10 À7 5.0 Â 10 À10 -5.0 Â 10 À8 6.2 Â 10 À3 0.25 0.31 0.38 70 designated as a constant boundary with a concentrate of 100,000 mg/l in layers 5-8 in the lower part of the VTB (Srisuk et al 1999;Saraphirom et al 2013a;Pholkern et al 2018Pholkern et al , 2019.…”

Application of Visual MODFLOW to the Analysis of Boundary Conditions for a Phreatic Porous Aquifer Using Limited Available Information: A Case Study

“…Because of the lack of wells with recorded historical pumping series or aquifer tests that could attest deviations from the original flow direction, it is assumed that the groundwater flow is uniform, with no drawdown cones, which can be corroborated by the 3D flow model, presented by (Poeter & Anderson 2005;Pholkern et al 2019). The flow inflections take a radial form to the outlet of the main sub-basins of the Ribeirão Candidópolis and follow northwards, towards the Peixe River.…”

Application of MODFLOW with Boundary Conditions Analyses Based on Limited Available Observations: A Case Study of Birjand Plain in East Iran

“…The first and most important step in groundwater modeling is constructing the conceptual model of the groundwater system [54], which represent a simplified version of the actual aquifer system. Due to the complexity of the hydrogeological system, as well as the lack of data in the study region, the conceptual model and its structure is applied according to the available data [55].…”