Direct measurements of floodwater infiltration into shallow alluvial aquifers

Dahan, Ofer; Shani, Yuval; Enzel, Yehouda; Yechieli, Yoseph; Yakirevich, A.

doi:10.1016/j.jhydrol.2007.06.033

Cited by 112 publications

(112 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…1a). Climate is Mediterranean with annual mean precipitation of 566 mm yr −1 (Gan Shmuel, 1987-2007. The annual average temperature is 20.2 • C. The coldest month is January with average maximum and minimum temperatures of 17.4 and 10.5 • C, respectively.…”

Section: Site Descriptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Monitoring and modeling infiltration–recharge dynamics of managed aquifer recharge with desalinated seawater

Ganot

Holtzman

Weisbrod

et al. 2017

Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci.

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Abstract. We study the relation between surface infiltration and groundwater recharge during managed aquifer recharge (MAR) with desalinated seawater in an infiltration pond, at the Menashe site that overlies the northern part of the Israeli Coastal Aquifer. We monitor infiltration dynamics at multiple scales (up to the scale of the entire pond) by measuring the ponding depth, sediment water content and groundwater levels, using pressure sensors, single-ring infiltrometers, soil sensors, and observation wells. During a month (January 2015) of continuous intensive MAR (2.45 × 10 6 m 3 discharged to a 10.7 ha area), groundwater level has risen by 17 m attaining full connection with the pond, while average infiltration rates declined by almost 2 orders of magnitude (from ∼ 11 to ∼ 0.4 m d −1 ). This reduction can be explained solely by the lithology of the unsaturated zone that includes relatively low-permeability sediments. Clogging processes at the pond-surface -abundant in many MAR operations -are negated by the high-quality desalinated seawater (turbidity ∼ 0.2 NTU, total dissolved solids ∼ 120 mg L −1 ) or negligible compared to the low-permeability layers. Recharge during infiltration was estimated reasonably well by simple analytical models, whereas a numerical model was used for estimating groundwater recharge after the end of infiltration. It was found that a calibrated numerical model with a onedimensional representative sediment profile is able to capture MAR dynamics, including temporal reduction of infiltration rates, drainage and groundwater recharge. Measured infiltration rates of an independent MAR event (January 2016) fitted well to those calculated by the calibrated numerical model, showing the model validity. The successful quantification methodologies of the temporal groundwater recharge are useful for MAR practitioners and can serve as an input for groundwater flow models.

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Section: Site Descriptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Infiltration rates were calculated at the pond scale by pond draining rate, and at local scale by single-ring infiltrometers and wetting-front propagation (Dahan et al, 2007). Details of each method are given in what follows.…”

Section: Calculating Infiltration Ratesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Monitoring and modeling infiltration–recharge dynamics of managed aquifer recharge with desalinated seawater

Ganot

Holtzman

Weisbrod

et al. 2017

Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci.

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“…Discussion on the hydrological processes involved in channel transmission losses can be found, e.g. in Renard (1970), Abdulrazzak and Morel-Seytoux (1983), Knighton and Nanson (1994), Lange et al (1998), Dunkerley and Brown (1999), Lange (2005), Konrad (2006), Dahan et al (2007Dahan et al ( , 2008 and Dagés et al (2008). From those studies, channel transmission losses may be seen to behave as follows: small sub-bank flows must firstly fill pool abstractions and channel filaments in order to propagate downstream; then bank-full flows infiltrate predominantly into bed and levees; and, at high stream discharges, overbank flows lose water for pools, subsidiary channels and floodplains, but once they become fully saturated, the most direct floodways become fully active and channel transmission losses decrease.…”

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confidence: 99%

“…Depending on the interaction between stream and groundwater and the variations of the groundwater level, the seepage may even shift from being vertical and unsaturated to being lateral and saturated in the same dryland stream-groundwater system. However, independently of the underlying groundwater, not every flood will result in deep infiltration and, consequently, groundwater recharge, because of lateral subsurface flow dispersion through the layered structure of alluvial sediments (Renard, 1970;Dahan et al, 2007). On the other hand, rapid deep infiltration may be driven by an active preferential flow mechanism that bypasses the porous matrix of the vadose zone (Dahan et al, 2007).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, independently of the underlying groundwater, not every flood will result in deep infiltration and, consequently, groundwater recharge, because of lateral subsurface flow dispersion through the layered structure of alluvial sediments (Renard, 1970;Dahan et al, 2007). On the other hand, rapid deep infiltration may be driven by an active preferential flow mechanism that bypasses the porous matrix of the vadose zone (Dahan et al, 2007). Moreover, stream-aquifer exchanges may constitute hyporheic flow as in the case where a stream loses flow to a shallow aquifer that discharges back to the stream in a downstream reach due to decrease in aquifer thickness, aquifer narrowing and/or decrease in aquifer hydraulic conductivity (Konrad, 2006).…”

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A channel transmission losses model for different dryland rivers

Costa

Bronstert

Araújo

2012

Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci.

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Abstract. Channel transmission losses in drylands take place normally in extensive alluvial channels or streambeds underlain by fractured rocks. They can play an important role in streamflow rates, groundwater recharge, freshwater supply and channel-associated ecosystems. We aim to develop a process-oriented, semi-distributed channel transmission losses model, using process formulations which are suitable for data-scarce dryland environments and applicable to both hydraulically disconnected losing streams and hydraulically connected losing(/gaining) streams. This approach should be able to cover a large variation in climate and hydro-geologic controls, which are typically found in dryland regions of the Earth. Our model was first evaluated for a losing/gaining, hydraulically connected 30 km reach of the Middle Jaguaribe River (MJR), Ceará, Brazil, which drains a catchment area of 20 000 km 2 . Secondly, we applied it to a small losing, hydraulically disconnected 1.5 km channel reach in the Walnut Gulch Experimental Watershed (WGEW), Arizona, USA. The model was able to predict reliably the streamflow volume and peak for both case studies without using any parameter calibration procedure. We have shown that the evaluation of the hypotheses on the dominant hydrological processes was fundamental for reducing structural model uncertainties and improving the streamflow prediction. For instance, in the case of the large river reach (MJR), it was shown that both lateral stream-aquifer water fluxes and groundwater flow in the underlying alluvium parallel to the river course are necessary to predict streamflow volume and channel transmission losses, the former process being more relevant than the latter. Regarding model uncertainty, it was shown that the approaches, which were applied for the unsaturated zone processes (highly nonlinear with elaborate numerical solutions), are much more sensitive to parameter variability than those approaches which were used for the saturated zone (mathematically simple water budgeting in aquifer columns, including backwater effects). In case of the MJR-application, we have seen that structural uncertainties due to the limited knowledge of the subsurface saturated system interactions (i.e. groundwater coupling with channel water; possible groundwater flow parallel to the river) were more relevant than those related to the subsurface parameter variability. In case of the WEGW application we have seen that the non-linearity involved in the unsaturated flow processes in disconnected dryland river systems (controlled by the unsaturated zone) generally contain far more model uncertainties than do connected systems controlled by the saturated flow. Therefore, the degree of aridity of a dryland river may be an indicator of potential model uncertainty and subsequent attainable predictability of the system.

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River‐aquifer interactions in a semiarid environment investigated using point and reach measurements

McCallum¹,

Andersen

Rau

et al. 2014

Water Resources Research

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A critical hydrological process is the interaction between rivers and aquifers. However, accurately determining this interaction from one method alone is difficult. At a point, the water exchange in the riverbed can be determined using temperature variations over depth. Over the river reach, differential gauging can be used to determine averaged losses or gains. This study combines these two methods and applies them to a 34 km reach of a semiarid river in eastern Australia under highly transient conditions. It is found that high and low river flows translate into high and low riverbed Darcy fluxes, and that these are strongly losing during high flows, and only slightly losing or gaining for low flows. The spatial variability in riverbed Darcy fluxes may be explained by riverbed heterogeneity, with higher variability at greater spatial scales. Although the river-aquifer gradient is the main driver of riverbed Darcy flux at high flows, considerable uncertainty in both the flux magnitude and direction estimates were found during low flows. The reachscale results demonstrate that high-flow events account for 64% of the reach loss (or 43% if overbank events are excluded) despite occurring only 11% of the time. By examining the relationship between total flow volume, river stage and duration for in-channel flows, we find the loss ratio (flow loss/total flow) can be greater for smaller flows than larger flows with similar duration. Implications of the study for the modeling and management of connected water resources are also discussed.

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Direct measurements of floodwater infiltration into shallow alluvial aquifers

Cited by 112 publications

References 42 publications

Monitoring and modeling infiltration–recharge dynamics of managed aquifer recharge with desalinated seawater

Monitoring and modeling infiltration–recharge dynamics of managed aquifer recharge with desalinated seawater

A channel transmission losses model for different dryland rivers

River‐aquifer interactions in a semiarid environment investigated using point and reach measurements

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