Hydrogeology of an alpine talus aquifer: Cordillera Blanca, Peru

Glas, Robin; Lautz, Laura K.; McKenzie, Jeffrey M.; Moucha, R.; Chavez, Daniel; Mark, Bryan G.; Lane, John W.

doi:10.1007/s10040-019-01982-5

Cited by 13 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 74 publications

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“…Finally, these results highlight the dominant role of Quaternary deposits to store water. The mechanisms explaining the importance of Quaternary deposits are the combination of moraine and talus with different permeabilities allowing the storage of enough water to release it slowly during drier years, as stated in the publications of Cochand et al (2019), Glas et al (2019), Hayashi (2020), and Christensen et al (2020). The high permeability of talus allows for the rapid infiltration of water and its connection to lower permeability moraine leads to deeper infiltration and a slower release of groundwater to streams, ensuring year‐round streamflow down‐gradient.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The recent review of Hayashi (2020) illustrated the importance of Quaternary deposit units (such as talus, moraines, meadows or rock glaciers) to store groundwater in alpine areas, as shown by the previous studies of Roy and Hayashi (2009) and Langston, Bentley, Hayashi, McClymont, and Pidlisecky (2011) for talus and moraines, Glas et al (2019) for talus and meadows and Pauritsch, Wagner, Winkler, and Birk (2016) for relict rock glaciers. Cochand, Christe, Ornstein, and Hunkeler (2019) proposed a conceptual model highlighting the combination of different unconsolidated aquifer units to store groundwater.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 90%

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Characterizing seasonal groundwater storage in alpine catchments using time‐lapse gravimetry, water stable isotopes and water balance methods

Arnoux

Halloran

Berdat

et al. 2020

Hydrological Processes

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Alpine areas play a major role in water supply in downstream valleys by releasing water during warm and dry periods. However, the hydrogeology of alpine catchments, which are particularly exposed to the effects of climate change, is currently not well understood. Increasing our knowledge of alpine hydrogeological processes is thus of considerable importance for any forward-looking hydrological investigations in alpine areas. The objectives of this study are to quantify seasonal groundwater storage variations in a small Swiss alpine catchment and to evaluate the capabilities of time-lapse gravimetry in the identification of zones of high groundwater storage fluctuations. Time-lapse gravimetric measurements enable rapid localisation of zones of dynamic groundwater storage changes and help to highlight aquifers with a higher storage decrease. Temperature sensors enable measurement of the temporal trend in stream and spring drying in the post-snowmelt period. Stable isotope measurements allow us to identify the origin of surface water exiting the catchment. The results improve our comprehension of a conceptual schema highlighting two different hydrogeological systems: (a) a shallow, rapidly depleted one fed directly by snowmelt and (b) a deeper one, with a slower recession, fed by main recharge during peak snowmelt and emerging at the lower part of the catchment below the talus and moraine of the catchment where bedrock is exposed. These dynamics confirm the high variability of storage in the talus and moraine aquifers and highlight the dominant role of Quaternary deposits and their connectivity to store water over seasonal and multi-year timescales. The mechanisms explaining the importance of Quaternary deposits are the combination of moraine and talus with different permeabilities allowing the storage of sufficient quantities of water permitting continuous release during drier periods of the year.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 90%

Characterizing seasonal groundwater storage in alpine catchments using time‐lapse gravimetry, water stable isotopes and water balance methods

Arnoux

Halloran

Berdat

et al. 2020

Hydrological Processes

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“…Water sampling of existing wells, springs and surface waters is a relatively low‐cost way to investigate groundwater processes in remote high mountains and new information continues to emerge from innovative applications of natural and artificial tracers (Frisbee et al, 2017; Gremaud et al, 2009). Furthermore, geophysical investigations can help to visualize complex subsurface structures and improve our understanding of groundwater storage and flow in high mountains (Glas et al, 2019; Harrington et al, 2018; Ó Dochartaigh et al, 2019).…”

Section: Conclusion and Future Research Directionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A review of groundwater in high mountain environments

2020

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Mountain water resources are of particular importance for downstream populations but are threatened by decreasing water storage in snowpack and glaciers. Groundwater contribution to mountain streamflow, once assumed to be relatively small, is now understood to represent an important water source to streams. This review presents an overview of research on groundwater in high mountain environments (As classified by Meybeck et al. (2001) as very high, high, and mid-altitude mountains). Coarse geomorphic units, like talus, alluvium, and moraines, are important stores and conduits for high mountain groundwater. Bedrock aquifers contribute to catchment streamflow through shallow, weathered bedrock but also to higher order streams and central valley aquifers through deep fracture flow and mountain-block recharge. Tracer and water balance studies have shown that groundwater contributes substantially to streamflow in many high mountain catchments, particularly during lowflow periods. The percentage of streamflow attributable to groundwater varies greatly through time and between watersheds depending on the geology, topography, climate, and spatial scale. Recharge to high mountain aquifers is spatially variable and comes from a combination of infiltration from rain, snowmelt, and glacier melt, as well as concentrated recharge beneath losing streams, or through fractures and swallow holes. Recent advances suggest that high mountain groundwater may provide some resilience-at least temporarily-to climate-driven glacier and snowpack recession. A paucity of field data and the heterogeneity of alpine landscapes remain important challenges, but new data sources, tracers, and modeling methods continue to expand our understanding of high mountain groundwater flow.

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“…First arrival times were picked and data modeled to determine the subsurface velocities using Geogiggas DW TOMO™ codes. DW TOMO is commonly used in the geophysical community (Glas and others, 2019; Claes and others, 2021; Huang and others, 2021). Geogiga's DW TOMO begins with an initial velocity model and iteratively performs inversions reducing the model's misfit to the observed arrival time.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Application of first arrival seismic tomography in a glaciated basin: implications for paleo-ice stream development

2022

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Ice streams are sites of ice-sheet drainage and together with other processes, such as calving, have an impact on deglaciation rates and ice-sheet mass balance. Proglacial lake deposits provide records of ice-sheet deglaciation and have the potential to supplement other paleoclimate records. Oneida Lake, northeastern USA, contains a thick proglacial lake sequence that buries evidence of ice streaming and a paleo-calving margin that developed during retreat of the Laurentide Ice Sheet. Previous high-resolution digital elevation models identified the Oneida Ice Stream from glacial landforms northwest of the lake. In this study, we utilize seismic refractions from a multichannel seismic (MCS) reflection dataset to estimate the thickness of glacial deposits using seismic tomography. With this method we constrain the depth to top of Paleozoic strata, especially in areas where the reflection data yielded poor outcomes and validate our reflection data in regions of good coverage. We demonstrate that where long offset seismic data are available, the first-arrival tomography method is useful in studies of formerly glaciated basins. Our study identifies a ~108 m thick sedimentary section and potentially long paleoclimate record in Oneida Lake, and identifies a paleotopographic low that likely encouraged formation of the Oneida Ice Stream.

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Hydrogeology of an alpine talus aquifer: Cordillera Blanca, Peru

Cited by 13 publications

References 74 publications

Characterizing seasonal groundwater storage in alpine catchments using time‐lapse gravimetry, water stable isotopes and water balance methods

Characterizing seasonal groundwater storage in alpine catchments using time‐lapse gravimetry, water stable isotopes and water balance methods

A review of groundwater in high mountain environments

Application of first arrival seismic tomography in a glaciated basin: implications for paleo-ice stream development

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