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At least 253 records · Page 14Linked to original sources
USGS1979

The flow mechanism in the Chalk based on radio-isotope analyses of groundwater in the London Basin

14 C analyses of groundwaters from the Chalk of the London Basin are re-interpreted and the age of the groundwater is revised. Radio-isotope analyses are used to examine the flow mechanism in the aquifer. The evidence supports the view that a network of micro-fissures and larger intergranular pores in the matrix provides a significant part of the water pumped from Chalk wells and the major fissures distribute the water to the wells. Most of the matrix is fine-grained and contains a very old water. This diffuses into the micro-fissures and larger pores and is carried to the wells by the major fissures.

southeast England↗
USGS1979

Hydrogeology of glacial-terrain lakes, with management and planning applications

The subject of the relationship between groundwater and lakes is characterized by sparse information and, in general, has received limited attention by hydrologists. Nevertheless, the hydrogeologic regime of lakes must be adequately assessed in order to intelligently manage lakes and their related shorelands. This paper is a compilation of hydrogeologic data for numerous lakes in North America and presents a preliminary classification framework for lakes based on hydrogeologic considerations. The classification leads to systematic categorization of lake types for planning and management purposes. The main hydrogeologic factors for assessing lake environments are: (1) regime dominance, the relative magnitude of groundwater in the total water budget of a lake; (2) system efficiency, a description of the rate aspects of surface and groundwater movement through a lake system; and (3) position within a groundwater flow system. We indicate the significance and difficulty of measuring these descriptive characteristics and provide examples of each category. Additionally, a variety of lake-related activities that illustrate the value of hydrogeologic information for planning and management purposes are presented.

Journal of Hydrology↗
USGS1979

Hydraulic potential in Lake Michigan bottom sediments

The magnitude and direction of groundwater flux in the bottom sediments of Lake Michigan were deduced from measurements made during three shipboard cruises between 1973 and 1975. These factors affect the geochemical environment of the sediments and therefore the distribution of trace elements reported to be present. The near-shore, sandy-bottom and fine-grained, soft, deep-lake sediments were investigated; areas of hard till or bedrock were not included in the study. Thirty-three piezometers were placed in near-shore sands in waters 5-15 m deep. The piezometers were placed an average of 3 m into the bottom sediment. Water levels from the piezometers averaged 0.6 cm above the lake level, equivalent to an upward hydraulic gradient of about 0.002 cm/cm. Water samples taken from the piezometers have a distinctly different chemical composition from that of the lake water. The total dissolved mineral content and hardness of the groundwater are about twice those of the lake water. Twenty-two hydraulic gradient measurements were made in the fine-grained soft deep-lake sediments in waters 48-140 m deep by using a differential-pressure transducer dropped into the sediments. These measurements show an upward gradient averaging 0.2 cm/cm. No chemical data were obtained for the groundwater in the deep-lake sediments. The results of this study indicate that the groundwater flux is upward through the bottom sediments into Lake Michigan and that there is a chemical change in the water near the water-sediment contact.

Lake Michigan↗
USGS1979

Contribution of groundwater modeling to planning

The consideration of groundwater in water-resource planning frequently has been neglected because many planners believed that groundwater could not be adequately evaluated in terms of availability, quality, cost of development, or effect of development on the surface-water supply. The development of predictive groundwater models now provides the water planner with tools to evaluate these problems. Highly sophisticated digital models can be used in planning the development of groundwater and the conjunctive use of ground- and surface water. About 250 digital models have been used to evaluate groundwater problems: The models are powerful tools for predicting the response of groundwater systems to stresses. They can also clarify the cause and progress of past stresses. With these developments it is now possible to integrate the utilization of groundwater into water-resource planning with a high degree of confidence.

Journal of Hydrology↗
USGS1980

Mixing models and ionic geothermometers applied to warm (up to 60°C) springs: Jordan Rift Valley, Israel

Mixing models and evaluation of SiO 2 contents of warm-water manifestations in the Jordan—Dead Sea Rift Valley indicate that these waters are fed by aquifers with estimated temperatures of up to 68°C. These calculations and Na/K ratios, concentrations of Na, K and Ca, concentrations of atmospheric Ne, Ar, Kr and Xe; and concentrations of the stable hydrogen and oxygen isotopes all indicate below-boiling temperatures. No indications are available for the existence of above-boiling geothermal systems in the Jordan Rift Valley. Slightly higher than observed temperatures are concluded for a deep component at the springs of Hammat Gader (67°C), Gofra (68°C), the Russian Garden (40°C), and the Yesha well (53–65°C). These temperatures may encourage further developments for spas and bathing installations and, to a limited extent, for space heating, but are not favorable for geothermal power generation.

Journal of Hydrology↗
USGS1980

Effective and bankfull discharges of streams in the Yampa River basin, Colorado and Wyoming

The effective discharge is defined as the increment of discharge that transports the largest fraction of the annual sediment load over a period of years. Increments of the average annual total sediment load transported by various discharges were calculated by the flow-duration, sediment-transport-curve method for 15 gaging stations in the Yampa River basin of Colorado and Wyoming. A total sediment-transport curve was constructed for each gaging station by adding measured instantaneous suspended-sediment discharges to bedload-sediment discharges computed by the Meyer-Peter and Mueller relation. The streamflow durations were compiled from the respective gaging-station records. The quantity of sediment transported by discharges having various frequencies may be computed by combining these two relations. The 15 gaging stations had diverse hydraulic and sediment characteristics. Contributing drainage area ranged from 51.8 to 9,960 km 2 , and mean-annual discharge ranged from 0.040 to 43.9 m 3 /s. The median diameter of bed material ranged from 0.4 to 86 mm. Mean-annual sediment load from the drainage basins studied ranged from 500 to 1.3·10 6 metric tons per year. The effective discharges at the 15 gaging stations were equaled or exceeded on the average of between 1.5 days per year (0.4% of the time) and 11 days per year (3.0% of the time). The recurrence interval of the effective discharges ranged from 1.18 to 3.26 yr. on the annual flood series. To compare the effective discharge with the bankfull discharge, cross-sections were surveyed in a self-formed reach of the channel in the vicinity of each gaging station. The bankfull discharge was defined as the discharge which filled the channel to the level of the floodplain. At all gaging stations, the effective discharge and the bankfull discharge were nearly equal. Thus, the stream channels appear to be adjusted to their effective discharge.

Colorado, Wyoming↗
USGS1981

Dissolution of salt on the east flank of the Permian Basin in the southwestern U.S.A.

Hydrogeologic studies prove that natural dissolution of bedded salt occurs at shallow depths in many parts of the Permian Basin of the southwestern U.S.A. This is especially well-documented on the east side of the basin in study areas on the Cimarron River and Elm Fork in western Oklahoma, and on the Red River in the southeastern part of the Texas Panhandle. Four requirements for salt dissolution are: (1) a deposit of salt; (2) a supply of water unsaturated with respect to NaCl; (3) an outlet for removal of brine; and (4) energy to cause water to flow through the system. The supply of fresh groundwater in the region is recharged through permeable rocks, alluvium, terrace deposits, karstic features and fractures. Groundwater dissolves salt at depths of 10–250 m, and the resulting brine moves laterally and upward under hydrostatic pressure through caverns, fractures in disrupted rock, and clastic or carbonate aquifers until it reaches the land surface, where it forms salt plains and salt springs. In many areas, salt dissolution produces a self-perpetuating cycle: dissolution causes cavern development, followed by collapse and subsidence of overlying rock; then the resulting disrupted rock has a greater vertical permeability that allows increased water percolation and additional salt dissolution.

Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas↗
USGS1981

Patterns of groundwater salinity changes in a deep continental-oceanic transect off the southeastern Atlantic coast of the U.S.A.

Investigations of formation-fluid salinities in a transect from western Georgia to the edge of the Blake Plateau off the coast of Georgia show surprisingly similar hydrochemical features offshore and onshore. A fresh-brackish wedge of groundwater (<25 g/kg total dissolved solids) lies beneath the shelf to a depth of ∼ 900 m. On land, brackish waters extend to a maximum depth of ∼ 1.2 km below sea level in Lowndes County, Georgia. In deeper horizons, hypersaline brines (> 100 g/kg) occur in Lower Cretaceous (?) strata. These strata have a pronounced evaporitic (anhydritic) character in the offshore segment. Strong salinity gradients in interstitial waters signify buried evaporite deposits at drill sites beneath the Blake Plateau.

Florida, Georgia, South Carolina↗
USGS1981

Geological considerations in hazardous waste disposal

Present regulations assume that long-term isolation of hazardous wastes - including toxic chemical, biological, radioactive, flammable and explosive wastes - may be effected by disposal in landfills that have liners of very low hydraulic conductivity. In reality, total isolation of wastes in humid areas is not possible; some migration of leachate from wastes buried in the gound will always occur. Regulations should provide performance standards applicable on a site-by-site basis rather than rigid criteria for site selection and design. The performance standards should take into account several factors: (1) the categories, segregation, degradation and toxicity of the wastes; (2) the site hydrogeology, which governs the direction and rate of contaminant transport; (3) the attenuation of contaminants by geochemical interactions with geologic materials; and (4) the release rate of unattenuated pollutants to surface or groundwater. An adequate monitoring system is essential. The system should both test the extent to which the operation of the site meets performance standards and provide sufficient warning of pollution problems to allow implementation of remedial measures. In recent years there has been a trend away from numerous, small disposal sites toward fewer and larger sites. The size of a disposal site should be based on the attenuation capacity of the geologic material, which has a finite, though generally not well-defined, limit. For slowly degradable wastes, engineered sites with leachate-collection systems appear to be only a temporary solution since the leachate collected will also require final disposal.

Journal of Hydrology↗
USGS1983

Groundwater observation network design for the Kansas groundwater management districts, U.S.A.

Concerns about the efficiency and economic soundness of the Kansas groundwater monitoring program led to a systematic redesign of this network, a tentative phase of which is presented in this study. The objectives of this paper include monitoring of major aquifers within each groundwater management district at a spatially more uniform level of accuracy, elimination of redundant measurements and optimization of the information gained from each observation well. The theory of regionalized variables is employed to estimate the amount of spatial variability of the water table, on which the network design is based. This study shows that it is not practical to attempt to reduce the already existing level of uncertainty uniformly throughout the various districts; to do so would tremendously increase the cost of well monitoring, which is already very high. Assuming that the currently existing network is satisfactory for the State's objectives, a reduced network consisting of one well every 6.4 km is equally satisfactory. The reduced network yields district-wide maps that do not differ significantly from those produced using the present network and at the same time it reduces the already-existing network by 18–47%. Therefore, adoption of a rearranged square well network is recommended, which is reduced to a 6.4-km spacing to achieve both a uniform level of information about the water table and a minimum required accuracy.

Kansas↗
USGS1983

Hydrostratigraphic subdivisions and fault barriers of the Edwards aquifer, south-central Texas, U.S.A.

The karstic Edwards Limestone within the Balcones Fault Zone of south-central Texas forms a productive confined aquifer that consists predominately of dense carbonate rocks and contains several layers of highly permeable and porous honeycombed rocks that have been produced by the leaching of evaporitic, tidal flat or reefal deposits. Fractures have hydraulically interconnected these layers at some places. Faults, however, commonly place rocks of very high-permeability opposite rocks of very low permeability, thus creating a lateral discontinuity and a flow barrier. At places, fault barriers probably cause partial to almost complete blockage of groundwater flow normal to the fault.

Texas↗
USGS1984

Transport and concentration controls for chloride, strontium, potassium and lead in Uvas Creek, a small cobble-bed stream in Santa Clara County, California, U.S.A.: 2. Mathematical modeling

Three models describing solute transport of conservative ion species and another describing transport of species which adsorb linearly and reversibly on bed sediments are developed and tested. The conservative models are based on three different conceptual models of the transient storage of solute in the bed. One model assumes the bed to be a well-mixed zone with flux of solute into the bed proportional to the difference between stream concentration and bed concentration. The second model assumes solute in the bed is transported by a vertical diffusion process described by Fick's law. The third model assumes that convection occurs in a selected portion of the bed while the mechanism of the first model functions everywhere. The model for adsorbing species assumes that the bed consists of particles of uniform size with the rate of uptake controlled by an intraparticle diffusion process. All models are tested using data collected before, during and after a 24-hr. pulse injection of chloride, strontium, potassium and lead ions into Uvas Creek near Morgan Hill, California, U.S.A. All three conservative models accurately predict chloride ion concentrations in the stream. The model employing the diffusion mechanism for bed transport predicts better than the others. The adsorption model predicts both strontium and potassium ion concentrations well during the injection of the pulse but somewhat overestimates the observed concentrations after the injection ceases. The overestimation may be due to the convection of solute deep into the bed where it is retained longer than the 3-week post-injection observation period. The model, when calibrated for strontium, predicts potassium equally well when the adsorption equilibrium constant for strontium is replaced by that for potassium.

California↗
USGS1984

Effect of anisotropy and groundwater system geometry on seepage through lakebeds. 1. Analog and dimensional analysis

Distribution of seepage through lakebeds is controlled partly by geometric configuration of the lake and of the groundwater system interacting with the lake. To evaluate the effect of these factors, conductive-paper electric-analog models were used to analyze a number of lake and groundwater settings having different geometric configurations. Most settings analyzed are of lakes that do not penetrate the groundwater system. The width ratio, the ratio of half the lake width to thickness of the groundwater system, is the principal geometric characteristic used in this study. Because the distribution of groundwater seepage into a lake is not uniform across the lakebed, the concept of a streamlinecrowding factor is developed, and is used to determine seepage patterns from geometric characteristics of the lake and its contiguous groundwater system. Analysis of fourteen different width ratios of lake and groundwater systems indicates that lakes can be defined by three general groups of seepage patterns, which include flow patterns, volumes and rates: (1) lakes having width ratios less than ∼ 0.6 show relatively uniform distribution of seepage across the lakebed; (2) lakes having width ratios of ∼ 0.6 to ∼ 2.0 change in absolute and relative streamline crowding in the near-shore region; and (3) lakes having width ratios greater than ∼ 2.0 show stable flow patterns near shore; however, with increasing lake width, the relative streamline crowding increases relative to that width. For deep lakes and those in anisotropic media, the crowding effect is decreased, resulting in more uniform seepage across the lakebed.

Journal of Hydrology↗
USGS1984

Effect of anisotropy and groundwater system geometry on seepage through lakebeds. 2. Numerical simulation analysis

The interaction of lakes and groundwater is controlled partly by the geologic framework through which the water flows. Two interrelated geometric factors of the groundwater system that affect flow are overall geometry of the system, and anisotropy of the porous media within the system. Numerical simulation analysis was made for variations in the coefficient of anisotropy for each of several lake and groundwater settings having different geometric configurations. These analyses indicate that, for a given geometric setting, as the anisotropy of geologic materials decreases seepage from a lake decreases and depth of the local groundwater flow system associated with the lake increases. Transformation of scale of groundwater systems that have anisotropic media to isotropic equivalents results in a change in the overall geometry. Because of the different slopes of the water table and lakebed resulting from the scale transformations, a series of numerical experiments were made for various geometric configurations for a given anisotropy. These analyses indicate that as thickness of the groundwater system decreases, relative depth of the local flow system increases and seepage from the lake decreases.

Journal of Hydrology↗
USGS1984

Experimental studies in natural groundwater recharge dynamics: Assessment of recent advances in instrumentation

To quantify and model the natural groundwater-recharge process, two sites in south-central Kansas, U.S.A., were instrumented with various modern sensors and data microloggers. The atmospheric-boundary layer and the unsaturated and saturated soil zones were monitored as a unified regime. Data from the various sensors were collected using microloggers in combination with magnetic-cassette tape, graphical and digital recorders, analog paper-tape recorders, and direct observations to evaluate and automate data collection and processing. Atmospheric sensors included an anemometer, a tipping-bucket raingage, an air-temperature thermistor, a relative-humidity probe, a net radiometer, and a barometric-pressure transducer. Sensors in the unsaturated zone consisted of soil-temperature thermocouples, tensiometers coupled with pressure transducers and dial gages, gypsum blocks, and a neutron moisture probe operated by an observer. The saturated-zone sensors consisted of a water-level pressure transducer, a conventional float gage connected to a variable potentiometer, soil thermocouples, and a number of multiple-depth piezometers. Evaluation of the operation of these sensors and recorders indicated that certain types of equipment such as pressure transducers are very sensitive to environmental conditions. Extraordinary steps had to be taken to protect some of the equipment, whereas other equipment seemed to be reliable under all conditions. Based on such experiences, a number of suggestions aimed at improving such investigations are outlined.

Kansas↗
USGS1984

Groundwater-flow parameter estimation and quality modeling of the Equus Beds aquifer in Kansas, U.S.A.

The salinity problems created in the Burrton area as a result of poor oil-field brine disposal practices of the past continue to be a major concern to the area depending on the Equus Beds aquifer for water, including the City of Wichita, Kansas. In this paper, an attempt is made to predict where and how fast the brine plume will move in this area, and what the average chloride concentrations in different parts of the aquifer are. In order to make such predictions, it was necessary to get a calibrated model of the groundwater-flow velocity field. Multiple regression analysis is used for parameter estimation of the steady-state groundwater-flow equation applied in the most critical area of the Equus Beds aquifer. Results of such an analysis produced a correlation coefficient of 0.992 between calculated and observed values of hydraulic head. A chloride transport modeling effort is then carried out despite some serious data deficiencies, the significance of which are evaluated through sensitivity analysis. Thus, starting with the quasi steady-state conditions of the early 1940's, it was possible to match the present chloride distribution satisfactorily. Chloride concentration predictions made for the year 2000 indicate that the quality of the Wichita well-field waters will not generally deteriorate from their present condition by that time.

Kansas↗
USGS1984

Evaluation of the efficiency of streamflow data collection strategies for alluvial rivers

Streamflow discharge is usually determined indirectly from measurements of the river stage at gaging stations and through the use of stage-discharge relationships (rating curves). However, in alluvial streams, stage-discharge relationships change continually and, sometimes, quite markedly. Such changes may be caused by major floods, seasonal variations, or long-term secular trends associated with changes in the river channel. Consequently, reliable estimates of discharge using rating curves are not possible unless frequent direct measurements of discharge are made. Such measurements involve appreciable costs, and it is important to evaluate their contribution in increasing the accuracy of estimation of quantities of interest such as mean daily, monthly or annual flow. A methodology for the evaluation of the efficiency of data-collection strategies for alluvial rivers is developed and applied to stations on the Missouri River, U.S.A. A flexible and expedient model describing the variability of discharges and shifts in the stage-discharge relationship is developed. Procedures for the estimation of parameters and the validation of the model using actual data are presented. The calibrated and validated model is then employed in simulations to evaluate the effect of sampling strategies (such as frequency and accuracy of discharge measurements) on the accuracy of estimated mean daily, monthly and annual flow. Curves relating the cost of sampling to the achieved accuracy can be generated, and the optimization of sampling strategies given accuracy or budget objectives or constraints can be achieved.

Journal of Hydrology↗