CMBEAR: Python-Based Recharge Estimator Using the Chloride Mass Balance Method in Australia

The chloride mass balance (CMB) method is widely used to estimate long-term rates of groundwater recharge. In regions where surface water runoff is negligible, recharge can be estimated using measurements of chloride concentrations of groundwater and precipitation, and an estimate of long-term average rainfall. This paper presents the Chloride Mass Balance Estimator of Australian Recharge (CMBEAR), a Jupyter (Python) Notebook that is set up to rapidly apply the CMB method using gridded maps of chloride deposition rates across the Australian continent. For an Australian context, the chloride deposition rate and rainfall maps have been provided. Thus, CMBEAR requires only a spreadsheet with the groundwater chloride concentration, the latitude and longitude of the sample location, and some simple user inputs. CMBEAR may be easily applied in other regions, providing that a gridded chloride deposition map is available. Recharge estimates from CMBEAR are compared against published applications of the CMB method. CMBEAR is also applied to a large dataset from the Northern Territory and is used to produce a gridded map of recharge for western Victoria. CMBEAR provides a reproducible and straightforward approach to apply the CMB method to estimate groundwater recharge.     

Microcomputer Model of Artificial Recharge Using Glover's Solution

An interactive program written for an APPLE II+ 48K computer is presented which solves Glover's (1960) analytical solution for recharge from a rectangular basin. The program is capable of graphically displaying the rise and decline of the recharge mound for either an infinite homogeneous medium or for a stream aquifer system.     

A New Method for Estimating Recharge to Unconfined Aquifers Using Differential River Gauging

In semiarid and arid environments, leakage from rivers is a major source of recharge to underlying unconfined aquifers. Differential river gauging is widely used to estimate the recharge. However, the methods commonly applied are limited in that the temporal resolution is event‐scale or longer. In this paper, a novel method is presented for quantifying both the total recharge volume for an event, and variation in recharge rate during an event from hydrographs recorded at the upstream and downstream ends of a river reach. The proposed method is applied to river hydrographs to illustrate the method steps and investigate recharge processes occurring in a sub‐catchment of the Murray Darling Basin (Australia). Interestingly, although it is the large flood events which are commonly assumed to be the main source of recharge to an aquifer, our analysis revealed that the smaller flow events were more important in providing recharge.     

Impact of Recharge Through Residual Oil Upon Sampling of Underlying Ground Water

At an aviation gasoline spill site in Traverse City, Michigan, historical records indicate a positive correlation between significant rainfall events and increased concentrations of slightly soluble organic compounds in the monitoring wells of the site. To investigate the recharge effect on ground water quality due to infiltrating, water percolating past residual oil and into the saturated zone, an in situ infiltration experiment was performed at the site. Sampling cones were set at various depths below a circular test area, 13 feet (4 meters) in diameter. Rainfall was simulated by sprinkling the test area at a rate sufficiently low to prevent runoff. The sampling cones for soil-gas and ground water quality were installed in the unsaturated and saturated zones to observe the effects of the recharge process. At the time of the test, the water table was below the residual oil layer. The responses of the soil-gas and ground water quality were monitored during the recharge and drainage periods, which resulted from the sprinkling.
Infiltrated water was determined to have transported organic constituents of the residual oil, specifically benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and ortho-xylene (BTEX), into the ground water beneath the water table, elevating the aqueous concentrations of these constituents in the saturated zone. Soil-gas concentrations of the organic compounds in the unsaturated zone increased with depth and time after the commencement of infiltration. Reaeration of the unconfined aquifer via the infiltrated water was observed. It is concluded that water quality measurements are directly coupled to recharge events for the sandy type of aquifer with an overlying oil phase, which was studied in this work. Ground water sampling strategies and data analysis need to reflect the effect of recharge from precipitation on shallow, unconfined aquifers where an oil phase may be present.     

Numerical Simulation of Multi-Water-Source Artificial Recharge of Aquifer: A Case Study of the Mi-Huai-Shun Groundwater Reservoir

Water Resources - Artificial recharge is an effective way to alleviate water shortages and excessive groundwater exploitation. In this study, to explore environmental changes of surface water and...     

一种基于逾渗模型的裂隙岩石渗透系数确定方法

针对裂隙岩体提出了一种基于双重逾渗模型的渗流系数分析方法。通过变参数研究,考察了岩体中渗流和孔压分布的不均匀;根据裂隙长度的不同将岩体分为孔隙控制渗流模式和裂隙控制渗流模式。这种模型不仅能够同时考虑孔隙和裂隙的作用,而且在模拟大规模裂隙网络时更加快捷简便。     

A Routing Technique for Estimating Ground–Water Recharge

A technique is presented for the estimation of ground–water recharge in a region where the formations overlying an aquifer cannot transmit all of the available water to the aquifer. The method is based on a routing model which is derived from the physical nature of formations overlying the aquifer. The model takes into account precipitation, evapotranspiration, soil moisture balance and the passage of water through strata such as boulder clay. The validity of the model is tested by calculated and field stream flow hydrographs.     

Using remote sensing to regionalize local precipitation recharge rates obtained from the Chloride Method

Water supply in semiarid Botswana is, to a large extent, based on groundwater. In the planning of a groundwater abstraction scheme, criteria for the sustainability of the abstraction with respect to both quantity and quality have to be satisfied. The most important parameter in the context of quantitative sustainability is the long-term average groundwater recharge together with its spatial distribution. A method is developed to calculate a recharge map that can be used in a groundwater model. The relative distribution of recharge is obtained from remotely sensed data and then calibrated with local values of recharge derived from the Chloride Method. The method was tested for two sites in Botswana, the Chobe Region and Ngamiland.     

Cryogenic Drilling: A New Drilling Method for Environmental Remediation

Cryogenic drilling is a technique developed at the University of California (UC), Berkeley, for drilling in unstable sediments of environmental monitoring, for characterizing, and for remediation wells, The method uses standard air rotary drilling techniques, but with cold nitrogen rather than ambient air as the circulating fluid in order to freeze and stabilize the borehole wall. Several laboratory and full-scale field tests have been performed. A.52-foot-deep (16 m) soil boring and 24 foot (7 m) monitoring well have been drilled as part of the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory Site Characterization Project. Continued testing and refinement of the equipment and operational method are in progress. The method has been proposed for use as part of the Department of Energy (DOE) weapons site cleanup at locations with unstable sediments such as Hanford, Sandia, and Idaho National Engineering Laboratory (INEL).     

Evaluation of Noble Gas Recharge Temperatures in a Shallow Unconfined Aquifer

Water table temperatures inferred from dissolved noble gas concentrations (noble gas temperatures, NGT) are useful as a quantitative proxy for air temperature change since the last glacial maximum. Despite their importance in paleoclimate research, few studies have investigated the relationship between NGT and actual recharge temperatures in field settings. This study presents dissolved noble gas data from a shallow unconfined aquifer heavily impacted by agriculture. Considering samples unaffected by degassing, NGT calculated from common physically based interpretive gas dissolution models that correct measured noble gas concentrations for "excess air" agreed with measured water table temperatures (WTT). The ability to fit data to multiple interpretive models indicates that model goodness-of-fit does not necessarily mean that the model reflects actual gas dissolution processes. Although NGT are useful in that they reflect WTT, caution is recommended when using these interpretive models. There was no measurable difference in excess air characteristics (amount and degree of fractionation) between two recharge regimes studied (higher flux recharge primarily during spring and summer vs. continuous, low flux recharge). Approximately 20% of samples had dissolved gas concentrations below equilibrium concentration with respect to atmospheric pressure, indicating degassing. Geochemical and dissolved gas data indicate that saturated zone denitrification caused degassing by gas stripping. Modeling indicates that minor degassing (<10% ΔNe) may cause underestimation of ground water recharge temperature by up to 2°C. Such errors are problematic because degassing may not be apparent and degassed samples may be fit by a model with a high degree of certainty.     

Using an Artificial Intelligence Method to Recognize Seismic Precursory Anomaly (SPA)

In this work,we seek for a new way to recognize and analyze the Seismic Precursory Anomaly(SPA)quantitatively.For further study of the mechanism of SPA,an artificial intelligence method,the Machine Discovery(MD)method,is proposed to process the Seismic Precursor Observation(SPO)data and to fit an analytic function to them.The analytic function is used as a criterion to identify the SPA.The algorithm of MD is worked out based on the theory of Recursive Function(RF).The data of Amplitude Factor of Solid Tide(7 value)are processed by the proposed method.We find that the subsequent data fit to the extrapolation of the discovered function during the quiet period,whereas they deviate from it before a strong earthquake.Finally,the feasibility of quantitative analysis of the SPA is testified.     

A Diffusive Sampler for Passive Monitoring of Underground Storage Tanks

Passive measurements of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) provide a method for early detection and long-term monitoring of potential leaks from underground storage tanks (USTs) and associated fuel service lines. A diffusive sampler was constructed of a sorbent tube that fits inside a specially designed sampling chamber. VOCs in the soil enter the chamber by molecular diffusion and are collected by the sorbent. The sorbent is easily retrieved for laboratory analyses by thermally desorbing into a gas chromatograph/mass spectrometer (GC/MS), or qualitative concentrations can be determined directly in the field with specific-indicator detectors.
The diffusive samplers were evaluated in an exposure chamber under controlled conditions. Laboratory measurements of the sorbed mass of organic vapor were found to be in close agreement with theoretical values and indicate the passive sampling approach is viable for detecting relatively low concentrations of organic vapors in the vadose zone over a one-day sampling period, as well as providing relatively long-term monitoring periods up to 58 days. A field test found the sampling approach successful in identifying an area where the vadose zone was contaminated by leaking petroleum USTs.