Mechanisms of partly flooded loose sand deposits

Partly flooded loose sand deposits are left back from lignite mining, particularly in east Germany. After flooding, gas inclusions in macropores enhance the pore pressure increase by total stress cycles without drainage, and this can cause the transition into a kind of suspension. Thus, natural and technical changes of surface loads triggered flow slides in chain reactions of sometimes catastrophic extent. Such collapsible deposits were and are stabilized by blast-induced liquefaction and densification. Successive collapse fronts in flooded grain skeletons are seismogeneous, and this appears as wavering in the near-field and leads to power-law spectra in the far-field. Apart from this evidence of mild fractality, the wild fractality of chain reactions eludes mathematical treatment. Therefore, uncommon methods of geotechnical design, operations and monitoring are required.     

A spatio-temporal three-dimensional conceptualization and simulation of Dera Ismail Khan alluvial aquifer in visual MODFLOW: a case study from Pakistan

Dera Ismail Khan (DIK) is situated in the Lower Indus Basin of Pakistan. The land use has been changed in the canal command area due to irrigation activities near the Indus River. To check the current status and predict the groundwater levels in the area, the unconfined aquifer has been simulated in Visual MODFLOW for a period of 35 years, i.e., from 1985 to 2020. The 2900-km² area has been modeled with a grid of 500 by 500 m and the depth set to 100 m. The aquifer in the study area has been divided vertically and laterally into three and ten zones, respectively, for the characterization. Water wells and streams were used as the sinks and hydrologic boundaries, respectively. The model was successfully calibrated in steady and the non-steady state. The simulation revealed that the whole simulation can be divided into two phases, i.e., before and after the construction of the Chashma Right Bank Canal (CRBC), whereas the results were summarized in the form of water table depth maps and groundwater budget calculations. To determine the groundwater sustainability, a conjunctive use scenario has been employed to simulate the aquifer dynamics till 2020. The simulation revealed incremental drawdowns till the end.     

Hydrogeological assessment of the Tabarteh fault zone by physicochemical analysis and multivariate statistical methods

Hydrogeologically, faults may impede, conduit, exert no influence, or may play a combination of these roles on groundwater flow. The object of this paper is to study the hydrogeological role of the Tabarteh fault, which is located on the border of Zagros and Central Iran tectonic zones in an alluvial aquifer. The recorded data of water table levels, chemical parameters, and discharge rate of wells, in addition to geological maps and geophysical results, were collected and evaluated. The outcrop of travertine in limited areas and the emergence of a few small springs within the alluvium show a barrier role of the fault in the groundwater flow. The spatial analysis of chemical components, head time series, and groundwater flow direction assessment demonstrated that the fault acts as both a barrier and a non-barrier in different sections. The multivariate statistical methods of cluster and discriminant analyses also confirm the dual role of the fault.     

Intrinsic groundwater vulnerability determination at the aquifer scale: a methodology coupling travel time estimation and rating methods

Groundwater vulnerability has been subject of much research due to the valuable information it provides concerning groundwater protection and exploitation potential. Up to now, most groundwater vulnerability studies adopt subjective systems of rating the various factors and subsequently, their results are often ambiguous and contradicting. Within the present study a methodology for the estimation of intrinsic groundwater vulnerability at the aquifer scale is presented. The methodology is based on travel time estimation from specified sources of pollution to the aquifer. Besides the deterministic calculation of travel times, the methodology provides a rating system for each pollution source, based on its relative severity and the estimated threat that it poses to the aquifer. Therefore, it can be regarded as a hybrid method that couples the advantages provided by the physically based methods with those of the subjective rating systems. The methodology is applied to the Neon Sidirochorion aquifer, Northeastern Greece, an overexploited aquifer where river waters, sea waters and lake waters interact, causing groundwater quality deterioration to the aquifer. The results indicated that the proposed groundwater vulnerability assessment methodology is well capturing pollution related to saltwater intrusion and agricultural activities, while it is concluded that the conceptual model is significantly affecting the vulnerability assessment results and therefore has to be previously developed.