Application of electrical resistivity to map the stratigraphy and salinity of fluvio-deltaic aquifers: case studies from Bangladesh that reveal benefits and pitfalls

Fluvio-deltaic aquifers are the primary source of drinking water for the people of Bangladesh. Such aquifers, which comprise the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna Delta, are hydrogeologically heterogeneous. Because of widespread groundwater quality issues in Bangladesh, it is crucial to know the hydrostratigraphic architecture and hydrochemistry, as some aquifer units are contaminated, whereas others are safe. Geophysical methods provide a potentially effective and noninvasive method for extensive characterization of these aquifers. This study applies and investigates the limitations of using electrical resistivity imaging (ERI) for mapping the hydrostratigraphy and salinity of an aquifer-aquitard system adjacent to the Meghna River. Some electrical resistivity (ER) sections showed excellent correlation between resistivity and grain size. These suggest that ERI is a powerful tool for mapping internal aquifer architecture and their boundaries with finer-grained aquitards which clearly appear as low-ER zones. However, in parts of some ER sections, variations in electrical properties were determined by porewater resistivity. In these cases, low ER was indicative of brine and did not indicate the presence of finer-grained materials such as silt or clay. Accordingly, the following hydrostratigraphic zones with different resistivities were detected: (1) aquifers saturated with fresh groundwater, (2) a regional silt/clay aquitard, and (3) a deeper brine-saturated formation. In addition, shallow silt/clay pockets were detected close to the river and below the vadose zone. ERI is thus a promising technique for mapping aquifers versus aquitards; however, the observations are easily confounded by porewater salinity. In such cases, borehole information and groundwater salinity measurements are necessary for ground-truthing.

     

Characterization of land subsidence induced by groundwater withdrawals in the plain of Beijing city,China

The plain of Beijing city in China suffers severe land subsidence owing to groundwater overdraft. The maximum subsidence rate could reach 6 cm/year through the 2000s. An integrated subsidence-monitoring program was designed, including levelling survey, borehole extensometers and multilayer monitoring of groundwater level, with the aim to understand both hydrological and mechanical processes and to characterize the land subsidence. From multilayer compaction monitoring, the major compression layers were identified. The major strata contributing to compression deformation are the second (64.5–82.3 m) and third (102–117 m) aquitards, which contributed around 39 % of the total subsidence. Meanwhile, irrecoverable deformations were also observed in the second (82.3–102 m) and third (117–148 m) confined aquifers; they exhibit elasto-plastic mechanical behavior, which is attributed to the thin beds of silt or silty clay. Stress–strain analysis and oedometer tests were conducted to study the aquifer-system response to pumping　and to estimate the specific storage of the major hydrogeologic units. The results reveal the creep behavior and elasto-plastic, visco-elasto-plastic mechanical behavior of the aquitards at different depths. The compressibility of the aquitards in the inelastic range is about one order of magnitude larger than for the elastic range.     

Regional land subsidence simulation in Su-Xi-Chang area and Shanghai City, China

Su-Xi-Chang area and Shanghai City, located in the south of Yangtze Delta, China, has subsided due to groundwater overpumping. Because of the regional scale of the groundwater exploitation, cone of depression and land subsidence at present, Su-Xi-Chang area and Shanghai City are treated as a single area for land subsidence study to avoid the uncertainty of boundary condition due to the regionalism. The characteristics of aquifer system compaction are complex because of the difference in the types, compositions and structures of the soils that the hydrostratigraphic units are composed of, and in the histories of groundwater level change the hydrostratigraphic units have experienced. Considering the fact that different hydrostratigraphic units have different kinds of deformation and that an identical unit may also present different deformation characteristics, such as elasticity, elasto-plasticity, and visco-elasto-plasticity, at different sites of the cone of depression or in different periods, corresponding constitutive laws have been adopted. This avoids the shortcomings of the previous research that the same constitutive law was adopted in all the hydrostratigraphic units during the entire time period. A coupled flow and subsidence model, which includes a three-dimensional flow model with variable coefficients and a one-dimensional (vertical) subsidence model, is built according to the complicated hydrological condition in the region. The simulation model is calibrated using observed data, which include compression of individual strata from groups of extensometers and groundwater levels from observation wells from 1995 to 2002. The model reproduced that the primary subsidence layer in Shanghai shifts from the shallow aquitard to the fourth confined aquifer because of the groundwater yield variations and the change of exploitation aquifers. However the third aquitard was the primary subsidence layer in Su-Xi-Chang area and the compaction deformation of the sandy aquifers was remarkable. The simulation results could provide some reasonable advice about groundwater exploitation in the future.     

Methods for determining the in situ hydraulic conductivity of shallow aquitards – an overview

Shallow clay-rich aquitards limit groundwater recharge to underlying aquifers, but they also protect the aquifers from contamination. The bulk hydraulic conductivity of such shallow aquitards can range from less than 1 mm/year to more than 100 m/year and may be much greater than the hydraulic conductivity of small intact samples of the aquitard material. This enhanced hydraulic conductivity diminishes the qualities of the aquitards for the protection of underlying aquifers but allows a higher rate of recharge. For aquifers that are overlain by aquitards, management and protection of groundwater resources may be critically dependent on reliable determinations of aquitard permeability. A variety of methods for determining bulk hydraulic conductivities of shallow clay aquitards is available; each has drawbacks and advantages, and each is based on simplifying assumptions. These methods include slug tests, pumping tests, response of the aquitard to mechanical loading, and analysis of natural pore-pressure fluctuations. Several of the commonly used methods require an independent measurement of specific storage. Laboratory methods for determining specific storage are probably not representative of in situ conditions and may lead to overestimation of aquitard permeability. Much of the theory developed to date depends on the assumption that horizontal displacement of the solid material is negligible, and this may not be a valid assumption for highly deformable media such as clay aquitards. However, with judicious selection of the most suitable methods for a particular site, good test design, careful instrumentation, and respect for the underlying assumptions, reliable determinations of aquitard permeability can be obtained. Electronic Publication     

The relationship between the water table and the surface flow of a losing stream, lower Medano Creek, Great Sand Dunes National Monument, Colorado

 Proposed groundwater withdrawals in the San Luis Valley of Colorado may lower the water table in Great Sand Dunes National Monument. In response, the National Park Service initiated a study that has produced a generalized conceptual model of the hydrologic system in order to assess whether a lowering of the water table might decrease the surface flow of lower Medano Creek. Based upon information obtained during the drilling of several boreholes, there appear to be five important hydrostratigraphic units underlying lower Medano Creek within the upper 30 m of the ground surface: 1. a perched aquifer overlying an aquitard located between about 5 and 6 m below the ground surface; 2. the aquitard itself; 3. an unconfined aquifer located between the upper and lower aquitards; 4. an aquitard located between about 27 and 29 m below the ground surface; and 5. a confined underlying the lower aquitard. Because the areal extent of the aquitards cannot be determined from the borehole data, a detailed conceptual model of the hydrogeologic system underlying lower Medano Creek cannot be developed. However, a generalized conceptual model can be envisioned that consists of a complex system of interlayered aquifers and leaky aquitards, with each aquifer having a unique hydraulic head. Water levels in the perched aquifer rise rapidly to their annual maximum levels in response to the arrival of the flow terminus of Medano Creek during the spring runoff event, and the location of the flow terminus is directly dependent upon the discharge of the creek. Water levels in the deeper, non-perched aquifers do not appear to fluctuate significantly in response to the arrival of the flow terminus, demonstrating that it is unlikely that the proposed groundwater withdrawals will decrease the surface flow of lower Medano Creek. Received: 27 December 1995 · Accepted: 20 February 1996     

Mapping an aquitard breach using shear-wave seismic reflection

In multi-layered hydrostratigraphic systems, aquitard breaches caused by faulting or paleo-erosion can allow substantial quantities of water of differing quality to be exchanged between aquifers. Seismic reflection technology was used to map the extent and orientation of an aquitard breach connecting a shallow alluvial aquifer to the deeper semi-confined Memphis aquifer in southwestern Tennessee, USA. Geophysical well logs indicate the presence of the aquitard at borehole locations that define the beginning and end points on two seismic survey lines, which intersect at a borehole where the aquitard is absent. A SE–NW-oriented paleochannel, 350 m wide and approximately 35–40 m deep, is interpreted from the seismic reflection surveys. The paleochannel cuts through the aquitard and into the upper part of the Memphis aquifer, thus creating a hydraulic connection between the shallow unconfined and deeper, semi-confined aquifers. The results indicate the potential of the shear-wave seismic reflection methods to resolve shallow breaches through fine-grained aquitards given availability of sufficient well control.     

基于DFOS的苏州第四纪沉积层变形及地面沉降监测分析

苏州地区广泛分布松散第四纪沉积物,大量抽取地下水导致了苏州大范围的地面沉降,严重影响了该区经济发展。本文在苏州盛泽200m钻孔内安装了分布式感测光纤,采用BOTDR及FBG等分布式光纤感测技术(DFOS),对第四纪沉积层压缩及地面沉降进行了长期的监测分析。分析结果表明:苏州盛泽地区第四纪土层可分为3个含水层(Af)及4个弱透水层(Ad),现阶段含水层压缩已不明显,主要压缩层为与抽水含水层相邻的两个隔水层,且与抽水含水层距离越近的部位压缩越明显; 第四纪沉积层的变形与抽水含水层孔隙水压变化基本一致,呈现出夏季压缩,冬季略回弹的趋势,并且存在滞后现象; 定义压缩度为各层累计压缩量与其自身厚度的比值,即每米压缩量。各土层沉降趋势可用压缩度判断,对于黏土隔水层沉降程度Ad2 Ad3 Ad4 Ad1,对于含水砂层,Af2为主要变形层,Af1及Af3变形基本稳定。DFOS技术为研究地面沉降机理,评价土层压缩变形潜力提供了十分先进的监测手段。     

饱和黏性土蠕变变形试验研究

结合苏锡常地区地面沉降研究,用单向固结仪研究饱和黏性土在复杂荷载作用下的蠕变变形特征。试验土样取自苏锡常地区第2弱透水层。研究结果表明,在初次加载时黏性土具有明显的蠕变性,在双对数坐标中蠕变变形与时间呈直线关系,且直线斜率随荷载水平增大而减小,但在荷载水平达到一定值后斜率变化不大;在初次卸载时黏性土仍有明显的回弹蠕变,特别是在卸载水平较高时,卸载回弹蠕变变形与应力和时间的关系仍可用幂函数表示;在循环荷载作用下,加卸载达到变形稳定的时间随循环次数增加而减小。当循环荷载最大值小于土样的先期固结压力时,土样在2次加卸载循环后达到弹性变形状态;当循环荷载最大值等于土样的先期固结压力时,土样在5次加卸载循环后达到弹性变形状态。     

Relationships among sedimentology, stratigraphy, and diagenesis in the Proterozoic Thelon Basin, Nunavut, Canada: implications for paleoaquifers and sedimentary-hosted mineral deposits

The Thelon Basin, Nunavut, Canada, is host to unconformity-type uranium mineralisation and has the potential to host other economic deposits. The Thelon Formation (ca. 1750 Ma) is composed of thick (meters to tens of meters), poorly sorted, trough cross-bedded conglomerate and coarse-grained lithic arenite beds, and to a lesser extent, well-sorted, medium- to coarse-grained quartz arenite beds. Relatively rare, 1–12 cm thick, clay-rich siltstones to fine-grained sandstone layers punctuate the coarser lithofacies. Based on regional analysis of drill cores and outcrops, multiple unconformity-bounded sequences are defined in this fluvial-dominated sedimentary succession. Stratigraphic correlations are based on detailed lithofacies analysis, distinct changes in fining-upward cycle thickness, and intraformational surfaces (unconformities, transgressive surfaces, and paleosols).Diagenetic and paragenetic relationships vary systematically with sedimentology and stratigraphy of the Thelon and provide a framework for understanding the evolution of fluid-flow systems in the context of basin hydrostratigraphy. Stratigraphic units with well-sorted textures, which lacked clay and unstable framework grains, originally were aquifers (depositional aquifers) during early basin evolution. However, pervasive, early quartz cementation radically reduced the porosity and permeability of these units, occluding pore throats and transforming them into aquitards. Proximal fluvial and alluvial fan lithofacies that contained detrital, mechanically infiltrated, and diagenetic clay minerals and/or unstable detrital grains originally had low permeabilities and only experienced minor quartz cementation. In the deep burial setting (2–7 km), these units retained sufficient permeability to allow diagenetic fluid flow (diagenetic aquifers) as suggested by feldspar dissolution, quartz dissolution, and formation and recrystallization of illite and other diagenetic reactions. Tracing potential diagenetic aquifer and aquitard units across the study area allowed development of a hydrostratigraphic model. In this model, diagenetic aquifers onlap onto, and focused basinal fluids into basement rocks to the east in the Thelon Basin (in the vicinity of the Kiggavik uranium deposit).     

Excessive groundwater withdrawal and resultant land subsidence in the Su-Xi-Chang area,China

Excessive groundwater withdrawal has caused severe land subsidence in the Su-Xi-Chang (SXC) area, China. The restriction and prohibition on groundwater pumping have been carried out since the late 1990s. Based on the latest updated field data, the changing pattern of groundwater level and the distribution of land subsidence are analyzed. The distribution of land subsidence in SXC is closely related to that of the cone of depression in the second confined aquifer in time and space. But land subsidence is not in synchronization with the changing groundwater level. Both aquitards and aquifers compacted continuously in the early period of groundwater level rising and behaved as creep materials. A series of laboratory tests were conducted on aquifer sands, which indicated that the creep deformation under virgin compression is much greater than that under recompression and unloading, and that the creep of sands decreases rapidly with the cycles of repeating load. The test results reveal the mechanism of sand creep under the condition of long-term groundwater pumpage. As a consequence of the restriction and prohibition on groundwater pumping, groundwater level has obviously recovered in the vast majority of the SXC area, and land subsidence has slowed down and even a little rebound has occurred in some sites in Suzhou and Changzhou. If the pumpage is strictly limited continuously, the groundwater level will not decline below the historical lowest value but fluctuate within a certain range. In such a case, land subsidence in SXC will no longer develop obviously.     

Land subsidence and earth fissures due to groundwater withdrawal in the Southern Yangtse Delta,China

Excessive extraction of groundwater has caused severe land subsidence and earth fissures in the Southern Yangtse Delta, China. Based on field data, the temporal and spatial distribution of land subsidence is investigated and the causes for earth fissures are analyzed. The areal distribution of the land subsidence is closely related to the cones of depression in the main exploited aquifers. The compaction of a hydrostratigraphic unit depends on its mechanical behavior, thickness, compressibility, and the piezometric level changing. The primary subsidence layers in Shanghai have been the first aquitard before 1990 and the third confined aquifer since then. But the second aquitard unit was the primary subsidence layer in Changzhou. Earth fissures, trending in several directions, occurred in the Husu tectonic zone. They were mainly caused by differential subsidence and horizontal displacement that resulted from tensile stress and shear stress in units. The majority of fissures in the study area are tensile.     

上海市地下水位大幅抬升条件下土层变形特征分析

过去对地下水位持续下降条件的地面沉降研究较多,但对水位大幅持续抬升过程中的地面沉降研究较少。本文根据 上海大量地面沉降、水位观测和钻孔资料,系统分析上海市90年代末以来地下水位大幅抬升条件下各土层的变形特征。自 1998年以来,上海市通过大幅压缩开采量、回灌地下水等措施使第二、三、四和五承压含水层水位分别平均抬升2.1 m, 3.6 m, 12.4 m, 12.7 m。水位的抬升使上海市地面沉降平均速率由1998年的12.2 mm/a减小到2011年的1.83 mm/a,减少85%。 通过对27组分层标数据分析发现：现阶段主要压缩层位在第一、二软土层,年沉降速率为2~4 mm/a;而第二含水层以下土 层已经有少量回弹。在水位持续大幅抬升过程中,本文总结了两种变形特征：1） 变形和水位变化基本同步,残余变形量非 常小,变形可概化为线弹性变形,这种变形主要发生在第一、二、三和五承压含水层、第五和六弱透水层;2） 压缩速率逐 渐减小,无明显持续回弹趋势,有较大残余压缩量且存在变形滞后现象,变形可概化为弹塑性变形,这种变形主要发生在 地第二、三和四弱透水层。第四承压含水层变形较复杂,两种变形特征都有。其中较大残余变形量主要由塑性贮水率比弹 性贮水率大2个数量级引起;变形滞后主要由弱透水层中超孔隙水压力消散较慢引起。本文研究成果对于掌握水位抬升过 程中土层变形方式、发生发展机理、预测未来地面沉降及地下水科学管理和资源评价具有重要意义。     

The drainage of the aquitard and its implication for groundwater exploitation in Hengshui City

The deformation and the drainage of the aquitard is the main concern in the North China Plain(NCP), and the water released from aquitard compaction may be a large portion of the exploited groundwater. The skeletal specific storage of aquitard is the element parameter to the drainage of aquitard, and the undisturbed core samples are the best choice for the measurement of the physical parameters. In this study, the consolidation test was employed to analyze the skeleton specific storage of the clay sample drilled from Hengshui City, and the contribution from the drainage of aquitard to the groundwater exploitation. The results suggest the consolidation test can be utilized to understand the skeletal specific storage of aquitard, which is about 3.92×10-4 m-1 in the Hengshui. The water-saturation content of the aquitard was less than 100%, and the amount of the drainage of the aquitard was about 69% of the volume of land subsidence. The water released from aquitard compaction was about 35% of the groundwater exploitation to the deep aquifers.     

地面沉降对含水层参数及给水能力的影响研究

地面沉降主要由深层地下水开采造成,含水层的压缩释水是深层地下水开采量主要构成来源,同时随其压缩变形孔隙比减小造成储水系数、渗透系数的减小,对弱透水层非弹性释水量、越流补给量造成影响。地面沉降过程中的水文地质参数非线性变化及对承压含水层系统的反馈作用也成为水文地质领域的前沿问题。为对地下水开采量、沉降量、地质参数变化以及给水能力变化之间的关系做一个较为定量定性的探究,以含水层压缩过程中的物理机制为依据,并基于沧州地区深层承压含水层的地下水位变化过程和水文地质参数,采用数学手段构建储水系数和渗透系数变化的一维非线性沉降模型。模拟结果显示随承压水头下降,储水系数最高可减小77%,含水层系统的给水能力和储水能力会随压缩变形减小50%甚至更多。研究成果为深入认识水文地质参数与应力变化相关关系、科学评价承压含水层地下水储水调节能力有重要借鉴意义。     

应力历史对弱透水层参数影响试验研究

弱透水层储存的地下水是地下水资源的重要组成部分,弱透水层水文地质参数对地下水资源管理与评价以及地面沉降等具有重要意义。通过室内试验对定降深条件下弱透水层水流运移规律进行了研究,并探讨了弱透水层释水过程中的变形规律和释水规律。试验结果表明,在相邻含水层定降深条件下,弱透水层固结变形滞后于相邻含水层的降深变化,且变形速度逐渐变小并趋于零。基于室内试验,利用配线法求得弱透水层不同应力状态下的水文地质参数,对比分析,大变形和小变形试验中土层的渗透系数变化不大,但贮水率明显变小,土层的固结系数变大。因此,土层的应力历史对土层的渗透系数影响不大,而对贮水率有较大的影响。     

Subsidence due to pumping from layered soil—a perturbation theory

Persistent pumping of groundwater is known to cause subsidence of the ground surface. When the soil is composed of alternating layers of sand and clay, subsidence is, in general, a consequence of pressure change in and deformation of all layers. Even with various simplifications, the mathematical task for the mechanics of a layered soil is complex and, in the past, many idealizations have been introduced in the literature. Among the existing approximations, a well-known approximation by Hantush¹ for well-hydraulics in leaky aquifers is intuitively attractive. He used the fact known to be strictly true for simple flows in a soil system with horizontal layers, that the flow must be mainly horizontal in a relatively porous aquifer and mainly vertical in a highly impervious aquitard, and invoked the same approximation for transient flows induced by well-pumping. In this paper we shall apply a perturbation analysis to give a mathematical confirmation of the hydrological approximation and to show its degree of accuracy. In particular, we treat a three-layered system, where the middle layer is a relatively soft aquitard, and the well withdraws water from the artesian aquifer at the bottom. The upper aquifer has a phreatic surface. Physically, we examine the often ignored effects of self-weight which is important for thick aquitards. The perturbation theory is worked out for sufficiently weak pumping rates and small soil deformation. Subsidence in the vertical direction due mainly to the deformation of the soft aquitard is studied. Results show that the common assumption of constant total stress with respect to depth is valid only when the storage coefficient is very small.     

Regional hydrostratigraphy and groundwater flow modeling in the arsenic-affected areas of the western Bengal basin, West Bengal, India

The first documented interpretation of the regional-scale hydrostratigraphy and groundwater flow is presented for a ～21,000-km² area of the arsenic-affected districts of West Bengal [Murshidabad, Nadia, North 24 Parganas and South 24 Parganas (including Calcutta)], India. A hydrostratigraphic model demonstrates the presence of a continuous, semi-confined sand aquifer underlain by a thick clay aquitard. The aquifer thickens toward the east and south. In the south, discontinuous clay layers locally divide the near-surface aquifer into several deeper, laterally connected, confined aquifers. Eight 22-layer model scenarios of regional groundwater flow were developed based on the observed topography, seasonal conditions, and inferred hydrostratigraphy. The models suggest the existence of seasonally variable, regional, north–south flow across the basin prior to the onset of extensive pumping in the 1970s. Pumping has severely distorted the flow pattern, inducing high vertical hydraulic gradients across wide cones of depression. Pumping has also increased total recharge (including irrigational return flow), inflow from rivers, and sea water intrusion. Consequently, downward flow of arsenic contaminated shallow groundwater appears to have resulted in contamination of previously safe aquifers by a combination of mechanical mixing and changes in chemical equilibrium.     

Origin,lithology and weathering characteristics of Upper Tertiary ‐ Quaternary clay aquitard units on the Lower Murrumbidgee alluvial fan

The Lower Murrumbidgee alluvial fan at the eastern edge of the Murray Basin is comprised of high‐yielding coarse‐grained aquifers and interlayered fine‐grained deposits that exert an important control on recharge and vertical leakage of contaminants such as salt. Concerns over increasingly saline shallow groundwater, particularly in irrigation areas, has focused investigations on the depositional origin and spatial distribution of these fine‐grained deposits (aquitard units), which may constitute both a source of leachable salt and a barrier to leakage. Detailed laboratory analysis of a minimally disturbed core to 83m depth, obtained from a drillhole adjacent to an irrigation bore, was augmented with geophysical investigations from this and other boreholes near the apex of the alluvial fan. Previously mapped clay units (aquitards) are redefined as clayey silts based on clay content variation between 10% and 30%. Mineralogical and lithostratigraphic evidence for three clayey silt units is presented: a lower unit (75–83m), a middle unit (45–64m) and an upper unit (0–16m). Electrical image surveys indicate that the upper unit is discontinuous, interrupted by large palaeodrainage features probably containing sands and gravels. These palaeodrainage channels are buried beneath a veneer of clay and significantly increase recharge and leakage. Some evidence suggests an aeolian component near the surface and within the middle clayey silt unit. However, mixing with fluvial deposits and subsequent weathering has also occurred. The clayey silt units are extensively weathered and oxidised, with the degree of oxidation increasing towards the surface and adjacent to aquifers saturated with oxygenated groundwater. Post‐depositional weathering of the middle and lower units may also have been associated with leaching of salts. No salt remains in the middle and lower units, but 10.2kg/m² is stored within 15m of the surface at the Tubbo site. The upper clayey silt unit is a significant source of leachable salt, which is associated with increasing shallow groundwater salinity at some sites.     

Characterization of regional land subsidence in Yangtze Delta, China: the example of Su-Xi-Chang area and the city of Shanghai

Su-Xi-Chang area and the city of Shanghai, located in the south of Yangtze Delta, China, has subsided due to groundwater overpumping. Because of the regional scale of the groundwater exploitation, cone of depression and land subsidence at present, Su-Xi-Chang area and Shanghai are treated as a single area for a land subsidence study, which could more clearly elaborate the relationships between the deformation features of hydrostratigraphic units and the different sites of the cone of depression. All hydrostratigraphic units in the study area were discussed throughout. Based on the field data, including data on compression of individual strata from groups of extensometers and groundwater levels from observation wells, the relationship between the deformation and the groundwater level was analyzed. The results indicate that the deformation features of the hydrogeologic units are greatly related to hydrogeologic properties and groundwater-level variations. An identical hydrogeologic unit may exhibit different deformation features in different locations such as along the periphery and in the center of the cone of depression. In addition, in the same location, a hydrogeologic unit also exhibits different features in different periods because of different groundwater level variations. The delay phenomenon of the sandy aquifer is not specific but occurs widely.     

Redox evolution in glacial drift aquifers: role of diamicton units in reduction of Fe(III)

High iron concentrations create water quality problems for municipal use in glacial drift aquifer units. The chemical evolution of oxic groundwater in shallow aquifer units to anoxic groundwater in deeper aquifer units, in which soluble Fe(II) is stable, is attributed to coupled reduction of Fe(III) on aquifer solids with oxidation of organic carbon. The objective of this study was to characterize the distribution of organic carbon in aquifer and aquitard sediments to determine the availability of potential electron donors to drive these reactions. To do this, four complete rotasonic cores in a glacial aquifer/aquitard system were sampled at close intervals for analyses of grain-size distribution and organic carbon content. The results indicate significantly higher organic carbon concentrations in diamicton (till) units that function as aquitards, relative to coarse-grained aquifer units. In addition, readily reducible iron content in the diamicton units and lower aquifer unit materials is sufficient to produce far more dissolved iron than is present in the aquifer. Groundwater evolves to the level of iron reduction as a terminal electron-accepting process as it moves downward through aquitard units along flow paths from upland recharge areas to downgradient discharge areas. Deeper aquifer units are therefore unlikely to contain groundwater with low iron concentration.