Estimation of depression-focussed groundwater recharge using chloride mass balance: problems and solutions across scales

Pavlovskii, Igor; Cey, Edwin E.

doi:10.1007/s10040-019-01993-2

Cited by 18 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…Studies that have looked at similar aquifers in the North American Pleistocene glacial till have reported different answers to this question. Some works show significant 3 H values in aquifers at depths of 20–60 m bgl (Bacon & Keller, ; Fortin et al, ; Gleeson et al, ; Pavlovskii et al, ). Other studies have reported groundwater and pore water at 30–46 m depths with an age of 20,000 years, but these aquifers generally were located within very thick glacial till aquitards with very low K (Fortin et al, ; Hendry & Wassenaar, ; Keller et al, ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Water that infiltrates into the ground below the pond can either contribute to deeper groundwater recharge or be lost laterally to transpiration from the riparian zone (Berthold & Hayashi, 2004;Hayashi et al, 1998a;Millar, 1971;Parsons et al, 2004;Siegel, 1988;van der Kamp & Hayashi, 2009). In the early spring, evaporation and transpiration rates are at their minimum, and thus, groundwater recharge is at its maximum at the time when the pond isotopic signal is the same as that of snow melt with little or no evaporative enrichment (Mohammed et al, 2019;Pavlovskii et al, 2019). As time progresses, the amount of transpiration increases as riparian vegetation becomes active, meaning less of this water that infiltrates below the pond becomes deep groundwater recharge.…”

Section: Ephemeral Versus Permanent Pondsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is also possible that the permanent ponds supply disproportionately lower rates of groundwater recharge due to differences in the hydraulic properties. Studies have shown that infiltration rates are higher under the ephemeral ponds (Bam & Ireson, 2018; 10.1029/2019WR026640 Millar, 1971;Mohammed et al, 2019;Pavlovskii et al, 2019;Rehm et al, 1982;Shjeflo, 1968;Sloan, 1972), and suggest that large permanent ponds accumulate considerably more low-K sediments (Richardson et al, 1994).…”

Section: Ephemeral Versus Permanent Pondsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Care should be taken in generalizing these findings to the wider prairie region, and in particular, the relative importance of ephemeral ponds and upland areas in supplying recharge is still uncertain. Pavlovskii et al (2019) and Mohammed et al (2019) studied infiltration and recharge processes at various prairie sites in Alberta using tracer and physical hydrological observations. Both studies concluded that recharge was depression focused, consistent with our findings, but that preferential infiltration of snowmelt into frozen soils was highly significant.…”

Section: The Refined Hypothesismentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Water percolates slowly through these aquitards to recharge the intertill aquifers. The recharge rates to the intertill aquifers have been estimated by Darcy flux calculations as "a few mm to a few tens of mm per year" (Hayashi et al, 1998b;van der Kamp & Hayashi, 2009), and between 10 and 60 mm/year based on vertical flux estimates of pond hydrographs, groundwater recharge modeling, and chloride mass balance methods (Meyboom, 1966;Noorduijn et al, 2018;Pavlovskii et al, 2019;Rehm et al, 1982;Trudell, 1994;Zebarth & De Jong, 1989). The uplands of the depressions, by contrast, are scoured of snow by the wind, and snowmelt and rainfall infiltration are absorbed by the clay-rich soil which has a large water-holding capacity so that & Hayashi, 2009), showing the location of St. Denis National Wildlife Area and the city of Saskatoon in Saskatchewan, Canada.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Ephemeral Ponds: Are They the Dominant Source of Depression‐Focused Groundwater Recharge?

Bam

Ireson

Kamp

et al. 2020

Water Resources Research

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Depression‐focused recharge is a concept proposed to explain groundwater recharge in the prairie regions of North America. Topographic depressions in this hummocky landscape collect blowing snow and snowmelt, and occasional runoff during rainfall events. Wetland ponds that form in these depressions lose water to evaporation and infiltration. Some of this infiltration contributes to groundwater recharge, both to shallow aquifers in the weathered near‐surface, and to underlying confined intertill aquifers. Here we focus on understanding recharge to the confined aquifers, which supply water for farms and rural communities. The isotopic composition of water in these aquifers shows little or no evaporative enrichment and is inconsistent with the average isotopic composition of the ponds. This observation appears to contradict the depression‐focused recharge model. In this field study, we examine the isotopic composition of diverse types of wetland ponds and groundwater at the St. Denis National Wildlife Area, Saskatchewan, Canada. We use hydraulic head data to identify potential recharge and discharge ponds. Water in permanent recharge ponds that do not dry out every year have distinctly different isotopic signatures from the aquifers, suggesting that they cannot be the dominant source of recharge. Water in ephemeral recharge ponds, which are small and dry out quickly, have isotopic signatures identical to those of aquifers. We propose that ephemeral recharge ponds are the dominant source of depression‐focused groundwater recharge in the prairies. We discuss why permanent recharge ponds may not be the main source of groundwater recharge and summarize our findings in a revised conceptual model.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Ephemeral Versus Permanent Pondsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Ephemeral Versus Permanent Pondsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Refined Hypothesismentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Ephemeral Ponds: Are They the Dominant Source of Depression‐Focused Groundwater Recharge?

Bam

Ireson

Kamp

et al. 2020

Water Resources Research

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Effects of antecedent moisture and macroporosity on infiltration and water flow in frozen soil

Pittman

Mohammed

Cey

2019

Hydrological Processes

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Land‐use comparison of depression‐focussed groundwater recharge in the Canadian prairies

Morgan

Cey

2021

Hydrological Processes

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In the cold semiarid Canadian prairies, groundwater recharge is focussed under numerous topographic depressions, in which snowmelt runoff converges. Agricultural land uses on the uplands surrounding the depressions affect snow accumulation, snowmelt infiltration, evapotranspiration (ET) and soil moisture dynamics, thereby influencing snowmelt runoff and depression-focussed recharge. The objective of this study is to compare the differences in hydrological processes under two common land uses in the Canadian prairies, namely grazed grass and annual crop, and examine how they affect groundwater recharge. A short-term (3 years) paired catchment study was used for detailed observation of hydrological processes in two depressions, supplemented by a longer-term (17 years) data set covering a larger scale to quantify the differences in snowmelt runoff between the two land uses. Compared to the grazed grassland, the cropland had a shorter and more intense period of ET, and root water uptake restricted to the shallower (top 0-80 cm) soil zone. The amount of snowmelt runoff was greater in the grazed grassland primarily due to a higher amount of snow accumulation, which was dictated by differences in topography. This finding was contrary to previous studies in the Canadian prairies that indicated substantially smaller snowmelt runoff in ungrazed grassland, but was consistent with the larger-scale remote sensing results, which showed only a marginal difference between grazed grasslands and croplands. Groundwater recharge rates were estimated using the chloride mass balance method for the present condition using "modern" pore water containing tritium. The rates were similar between the grazed grassland and croplands, implying similarity in snowmelt runoff characteristics.These results suggest that groundwater recharge will continue to be focussed under depressions in the future, though the amount and seasonality of recharge may be influenced by warmer winters.

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Estimation of depression-focussed groundwater recharge using chloride mass balance: problems and solutions across scales

Cited by 18 publications

References 36 publications

Ephemeral Ponds: Are They the Dominant Source of Depression‐Focused Groundwater Recharge?

Ephemeral Ponds: Are They the Dominant Source of Depression‐Focused Groundwater Recharge?

Effects of antecedent moisture and macroporosity on infiltration and water flow in frozen soil

Land‐use comparison of depression‐focussed groundwater recharge in the Canadian prairies

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