Application of the groundwater-balance equation to indicate interbasin and vertical flow in two semi-arid drainage basins, Mexico |
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Authors: | J Carrillo-Rivera |
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Institution: | (1) Instituto de Geografía, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad Universitaria, Coyoacán, 04510 Mexico City, Mexico, |
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Abstract: | An analysis of horizontal inflow and outflow in the groundwater-budget equation and the significance for interbasin flow
are presented. Two field cases in Mexico, one in the Baja California peninsula and another in central Mexico, highlight the
influence of interbasin flow. A significant proportion (approximately 70%) of the abstracted (thermal) groundwater probably
originates outside the drainage basin. A conclusion is that a groundwater-balance study is an unsatisfactory method for determining
some parameters, such as storativity (S). Specifically, the groundwater-balance approach provides unreliable results when vertical inflow is ignored or cannot be
adequately defined. Vertical flow is indicated by the presence of groundwater temperatures as much as 23 °C higher than ambient
temperature. Regional faults could be the pathways for upward flow. When vertical inflow is ignored, uncertainty in the estimation
of the storativity through regional groundwater-balance calculation results. On the basis of the groundwater-balance equation,
a value of S=0.19 appears to represent the confined condition of the developed part of the aquifer; this result is several orders of magnitude
higher than would be reasonable according to the geological conditions. Findings are useful in evaluating whether a groundwater
resource is being "overexploited". Conclusions are instructive in the application of transient-flow computer models, in which
vertical flow of less dense water from beneath is not included.
Electronic Publication |
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Keywords: | vertical flow groundwater recharge/water budget conceptual model Mexico interbasin flow |
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