Hydraulic tomography analysis of municipal-well operation data with geology-based groundwater models

The sustainable management of groundwater resources is essential to municipalities worldwide due to increasing water demand. Planning for the optimized use of groundwater resources requires reliable estimation of hydraulic parameters such as hydraulic conductivity (K) and specific storage (S_s). However, estimation of hydraulic parameters can be difficult with dedicated pumping tests while municipal wells are in operation. In this study, the K and S_s of a highly heterogeneous, multi-aquifer/aquitard system are estimated through the inverse modeling of water-level data from observation wells collected during municipal well operations. In particular, four different geological models are calibrated by coupling HydroGeoSphere (HGS) with the parameter estimation code PEST. The joint analysis of water-level records resulting from fluctuating pumping and injection operations amounts to a hydraulic tomography (HT) analysis. The four geological models are well calibrated and yield reliable estimates that are consistent with previously studies. Overall, this research reveals that: (1) the HT analysis of municipal well records is feasible and yields reliable K and S_s estimates for individual geological units where drawdown records are available; (2) these estimates are obtained at the scale of intended use, unlike small-scale estimates typically obtained through other characterization methods; (3) the HT analysis can be conducted using existing data, which leads to substantial cost savings; and (4) data collected during municipal well operations can be used in the development of new groundwater models or in the calibration of existing groundwater models, thus they are valuable and should be archived.

     

Variogram models for regional groundwater geochemical data

Four variogram models for regional groundwater geochemical data are presented. These models were developed from an empirical study of the sample variograms for more than 10 elements in groundwaters from two geologic regions in the Plainview quandrangle, Texas. A procedure is given for the estimation of the variogram in the isotropic and anisotropic case. The variograms were found useful for quantifying the differences in spatial variability for elements within a geologic unit and for elements in different geologic units. Additionally, the variogram analysis enables assessment of the assumption of statistical independence of regional samples which is commonly used in many statistical procedures. The estimated variograms are used in computation of kriged estimates for the Plainview quadrangle data. The results indicate that an inverse distance weighting model was superior for prediction than simple kriging with the particular variograms used.     

基于机器学习模型的青藏高原日降水数据的订正研究

选择了5种机器学习模型,即k最近邻方法（KNN）、多元自回归样条方法（MARS）、支持向量机（SVM）、多项对数线性模型（MLM）和人工神经网络（ANN）,利用海拔、相对湿度、坡向、植被、风速、气温和坡度等因子订正ITPCAS和CMORPH两种常用的青藏高原日降水数据集。五折交叉验证表明,KNN的订正精度最高。在三个验证站点（唐古拉、西大滩和五道梁）的误差分析,以及对青藏高原年降水量的空间分析均表明,KNN对CMORPH的订正效果显著,对ITPCAS在局部区域有一定订正效果,ITPCAS及其订正值的降水空间分布准确度高于CMORPH的订正值。主成分分析法表明降水订正是气象和环境因子综合作用的结果。     

Uncertainty analysis of groundwater model based on data assimilation北大核心CSCD

黑河流域中下游地下水系统受上游冰冻圈融水和降雨的补给,由气候变暖导致的冰冻圈萎缩致使中下游地下水系统的稳定性面临更多的风险。地下水模型是地下水系统稳定性评估的有效手段,但是地下水模型参数往往存在较大的不确定性。为此,本文提出了基于数据同化算法的不确定性分析方法,通过包含观测资料信息减小模型不确定性。采用所提方法分析了(基于MODFLOW构建)黑河流域中游地下水模型中13个参数的不确定性,讨论了算法超参数的影响及其最优取值,分析了地下水模型参数的不确定性。实验结果证明数据同化算法可有效减小地下水模型参数的不确定性,观测资料的种类与数量对参数不确定性的减小起到重要作用;不同地下水模型参数的不确定性不同,地表水与地下水相互作用频繁的区域参数不确定性较大;含水层渗透系数、含水层给水度以及灌溉回流系数对模型输出的地下水位输出影响显著,河床水力传导系数对模型输出的河流流量影响较大。本研究将为地下水研究提供更加可靠的模型方法,为西北内流区地下水哺育的绿洲生态系统稳定可持续研究提供重要支撑。     

Recharge and groundwater models: an overview

Recharge is a fundamental component of groundwater systems, and in groundwater-modeling exercises recharge is either measured and specified or estimated during model calibration. The most appropriate way to represent recharge in a groundwater model depends upon both physical factors and study objectives. Where the water table is close to the land surface, as in humid climates or regions with low topographic relief, a constant-head boundary condition is used. Conversely, where the water table is relatively deep, as in drier climates or regions with high relief, a specified-flux boundary condition is used. In most modeling applications, mixed-type conditions are more effective, or a combination of the different types can be used. The relative distribution of recharge can be estimated from water-level data only, but flux observations must be incorporated in order to estimate rates of recharge. Flux measurements are based on either Darcian velocities (e.g., stream baseflow) or seepage velocities (e.g., groundwater age). In order to estimate the effective porosity independently, both types of flux measurements must be available. Recharge is often estimated more efficiently when automated inverse techniques are used. Other important applications are the delineation of areas contributing recharge to wells and the estimation of paleorecharge rates using carbon-14. Electronic Publication     

基于LHS方法的地下水流模型不确定性分析

本文以理想地下水流问题为例,采用拉丁超立方取样(LHS)方法分析地下水流模型中水文地质参数以及源汇项等的不确定性对模拟结果的影响。另外,利用Spearman偏(秩)相关系数和标准(秩)回归系数分析方法对参数的灵敏度进行分析。结果表明LHS方法是地下水流模型随机分析的有效途径。     

地下水管理模型研究进展

本文在分析和总结前人研究成果的基础上,将地下水管理模型的研究过程划分为两大阶段:模型理论探索到推广应用阶段(1970~1990年)和模型实用性研究阶段(1990年至今)。在对各阶段的研究内容以及存在问题等进行概述的基础上,指出建立地下水资源管理的多目标动态规划模型将是未来地下水管理模型的发展方向和趋势,但需要采用更为先进的优化算法对其进行求解,同时对地下水管理模型与GIS技术的集成进行了展望。     

Temporal interpolation of groundwater level hydrographs for regional drought analysis using mixed models

Large-scale studies of the spatial and temporal variation of groundwater drought status require complete inventories of groundwater levels on regular time steps from many sites so that a standardised drought index can be calculated for each site. However, groundwater levels are often measured sporadically, and inventories include missing or erroneous data. A flexible and efficient modelling framework is developed to fill gaps and regularise data in such inventories. It uses linear mixed models to account for seasonal variation, long-term trends and responses to precipitation and temperature over different temporal scales. The only data required to estimate the models are the groundwater level measurements and freely available gridded weather products. The contribution of each of the four types of trends at a site can be determined and thus the causes of temporal variation of groundwater levels can be interpreted. Validation reveals that the models explain a substantial proportion of groundwater level variation and that the uncertainty of the predictions is accurately quantified. The computation for each site takes less than 130 s and requires little supervision. Hence, the approach is suitable to be upscaled to represent the variation of groundwater levels in large datasets consisting of thousands of boreholes.

     

Delineation of groundwater resources using electrical resistivity tomography

Chandrabhaga basin of the Nagpur district is a part of the drought prone Vidarbha region of Maharashtra, India. This region is facing acute shortage of water for drinking and irrigation purposes. The basin is located at the eastern fringe of the Deccan traps consisting of volcanic rocks. Presently, dug wells penetrating composite layers of the weathered mantle and highly fractured rocks overlying stratified basaltic lava flows are the main source of water supply. However, water available in the dug wells is inadequate to meet the ever increasing demand for water causing considerable economic losses to the farming community. In this work, we present the results of an electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) survey carried out in the basin for the delineation of groundwater potential zones. Validity of the hydrogeological setup obtained from the ERT results has been confirmed by bore well drillings at two investigated sites. The study demonstrates the efficacy of the ERT technique in delineation of groundwater potential zones in the hydrogeologically complex basaltic terrain of the Deccan traps.     

Multivariate statistical analysis of chemical and stable isotopic data as indicative of groundwater evolution with reduced exploitation

Groundwater resources in the North China Plain (NCP) are undergoing tremendous changes in response to the operation of groundwater exploitation reduction (GWER) project. To identify groundwater evolution in this complex context, hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) and principal component analysis (PCA) were combined to interpret an integrated dataset of stable isotopes and chemical data from four sampling campaigns in a pilot area of groundwater control. We proposed a novel HCA approach integrating stable isotopes and chemical signals, which successfully partitioned the groundwater samples into the unconfined and the confined water samples. Stable isotopic evidence showed that the lateral inflow and the surface water may contribute more to groundwater recharge in this region than local modern precipitation. The unconfined water’s main hydrochemical types were Na type with mixed anions, and Na–Cl–SO₄ type, while the confined water was mainly Na–Cl and Na–SO₄ types. Geochemical processes mainly involved the dissolution/precipitation of halite, gypsum, Glauber's salt, feldspar, calcite and dolomite, as well as the cation exchange. PCA results showed that water–rock interaction (i.e., salinity-based and alkalinity-based processes) predominated the hydrochemical evolution, along with local nitrate contamination resulting from fertilizers and domestic sewage. The GWER project regulated the natural evolution of unconfined water chemistry, and significantly reduced the unconfined water’s salinity (mainly Na⁺, Mg²⁺, SO₄^2?). This may be attributed to upward leakage from low-salinity confined water at some parts of the aquifer. Additionally, insignificant changes in the confined water’s salinity reflected that the impact of GWER on the confined aquifer was negligible. This study facilitates the groundwater classification effectively in the areas lack of geological data, and enhances the knowledge of groundwater chemical evolution in such a region where groundwater restoration is in progress, with important implications for groundwater sustainable management in similar basins worldwide.     

Comparison of surrogate models with different methods in groundwater remediation process

Surrogate modelling is an effective tool for reducing computational burden of simulation optimization. In this article, polynomial regression (PR), radial basis function artificial neural network (RBFANN), and kriging methods were compared for building surrogate models of a multiphase flow simulation model in a simplified nitrobenzene contaminated aquifer remediation problem. In the model accuracy analysis process, a 10-fold cross validation method was adopted to evaluate the approximation accuracy of the three surrogate models. The results demonstrated that: RBFANN surrogate model and kriging surrogate model had acceptable approximation accuracy, and further that kriging model’s approximation accuracy was slightly higher than RBFANN model. However, the PR model demonstrated unacceptably poor approximation accuracy. Therefore, the RBFANN and kriging surrogates were selected and used in the optimization process to identify the most cost-effective remediation strategy at a nitrobenzene-contaminated site. The optimal remediation costs obtained with the two surrogate-based optimization models were similar, and had similar computational burden. These two surrogate-based optimization models are efficient tools for optimal groundwater remediation strategy identification.     

数值模型在地下水管理中的应用

为进一步推动模拟工作，并使模拟尽可能标准化和规范化，介绍国际上认可的建立模型的步骤、方法以及常用的模拟软件。引用作者在国外所做的两个实例，对建立模型的步骤、方法以及模型标定方法和标定结果作了具体的介绍。国内应鼓励使用已有的国际标准化模拟软件，进一步提高建模的专门知识和技巧。数值模型是真实世界的一个数学表达，对模型的产出应有一个现实的看法和专业的理解。模型建立前，应对现场数据作详细的专业分析，以确保概念模型的正确。在模型的建设中，应把注意力放在如何使模型在水文地质和物理过程方面去逼近真实世界。模型中采用的计算条件或方法都应有水文地质依据作支持，而不能仅仅为了逼近实测数据而随意地加入无依据的计算条件，这样的模型是不可靠的，其结果将是无实际意义的或是误导的。     

Correction: Feasibility of nitrate reduction combined with persulfate oxidation in the remediation of groundwater contaminated by gasoline

Hydrogeology Journal -     

Stepwise inversion of a groundwater flow model with multi-scale observation data

Based on the regional hydrogeology and the stratigraphy beneath the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) site, New Mexico (USA), a site-scale groundwater model has been built with more than 20 stratified hydrofacies. A stepwise inverse method was developed to estimate permeabilities for these hydrofacies by coupling observation data from different sources and at various spatial scales including single-well test, multiple-well pumping test and regional aquifer monitoring data. Statistical analyses of outcrop permeability measurements and single-well test results were used to define the prior distributions of the parameters. These distributions were used to define the parameter initial values and the lower and upper bounds for inverse modeling. A number of inverse modeling steps were performed including the use of drawdown data from the pump tests at two wells (PM-2 and PM-4) separately, and a joint inversion coupling PM-2 and PM-4 pump test data and head data from regional aquifer monitoring. Parameter sensitivity coefficients for different data sets were computed to analyze if the model parameters can be estimated accurately with the data provided at different steps. The joint inversion offers a reasonable fit to all data sets. The uncertainty of estimated parameters for the hydrofacies is addressed with the parameter confidence intervals.     

地层形变与地下水位分层监测数据的交叉小波分析

地面沉降通常由于地下水的超采而引发,其发生发展相对于地下水位的变化具有一定滞后性。如何获取准确的地面沉降滞后时间一直是地面沉降研究的重要课题。基于北京平各庄地面沉降监测站2008—2018年地面沉降和地下水位长时间序列的分层监测数据,采用Mann-Kendall趋势检验、连续小波变换、交叉小波变换等方法,分析了不同层位地层形变对地下水位动态的滞后特征。结果表明:中–深层承压水具有1 a左右的主震荡周期,潜水和浅部承压水在大部分时域无显著周期;深部严重沉降层的形变量具有1 a左右的主震荡周期,地下水位与形变量共振周期显著,地层由浅到深形变时滞分别为(16.58±8.91)、(7.16±7.09)和(9.66±6.62) d;浅部弱沉降层中,埋深在32~63 m地层形变量具有1 a左右的主震荡周期,与中层承压水存在显著共振周期,形变时滞为(32.02±9.67) d,其他地层形变量与地下水位无显著周期及相关性。研究成果为构建地面沉降精细化模型、提高地面沉降预测精度以及研究更有效的地面沉降防控措施提供了新的技术思路。      

Evaluation of alternative conceptual models for groundwater modelling

This study evaluates the alternative conceptual models for groundwater modelling. A true model was created with a synthetic alluvial fan-plain hydrogeological framework. Various alternative conceptual models were evaluated for groundwater flow simulations. The first alternative model is a single aquifer layer model; the second alternative model is a 3-layer aquifer model; and the third model is a 5-layer model consisting of 3 aquifers separated by 2 aquitards. All models could fit very well to the observations with optimized values of hydraulic conductivities. However, the single aquifer layer model can only compute water balance components with good accuracy. The 3-layer aquifer model can be used for water balance computation and groundwater head simulation with small errors. The 5-layer model is capable of simulating water budget, groundwater head distribution and travel times with high accuracy. Multi-model analysis found only the 3rd alternative model superior.     

Chlorine-36 in groundwater of the United States: empirical data

Natural production of the radionuclide chlorine-36 (³⁶Cl) has provided a valuable tracer for groundwater studies. The nuclear industry, especially the testing of thermonuclear weapons, has also produced large amounts of ³⁶Cl that can be detected in many samples of groundwater. In order to be most useful in hydrologic studies, the natural production prior to 1952 should be distinguished from more recent artificial sources. The object of this study was to reconstruct the probable preanthropogenic levels of ³⁶Cl in groundwater in the United States. Although significant local variations exist, they are superimposed on a broad regional pattern of ³⁶Cl/Cl ratios in the United States. Owing to the influence of atmospherically transported ocean salt, natural ratios of ³⁶Cl/total Cl are lowest near the coast and increase to a maximum in the central Rocky Mountains of the United States. Electronic Publication