Magnitude and Direction of Groundwater Seepage Velocity in Different Soil and Rock Materials

Abstract

To understand and anticipate flow in various groundwater media, the magnitude and direction of groundwater flow velocity must be deemed. The studied area which is called Halabja-Sadiq Basin is in the northeastern part of Iraq and covers an area of approximately 128,000 square hectometers. There are several groundwater aquifers in this region that supply nearly over 90% of all water needs. Subsequently, it is of highly requirement to identify various groundwater behaviors in the area. The objective of this study is to estimate the magnitude and direction of the groundwater seepage velocity with the aid of groundwater tool in Geographic Information System technology. Refer to the results of this analysis, the magnitude value of groundwater flow velocity ranged from 0 to 51 m/d, whilst the general flow movement is from the eastern part to the western part of the study area. The factor governing the direction of flow and velocity magnitude indicates the direction of dipping of the geological formation strata, the high head of groundwater in the eastern part, and the low transmissivity properties of aquifer materials in the western part.

Estimating Groundwater Flow Velocity in Shallow Volcanic Aquifers of the Ethiopian Highlands Using a Geospatial Technique

“…The use of groundwater flow velocity provides essential information to predict the arrival times of contaminants, groundwater mixing, residence times and contaminant mass flux across boundaries at various aquifers and surface water bodies [15,16,65]. Various groundwater flow velocity estimation methods have been conducted based on the single borehole applied [65][66][67][68][69] and environmental tracer test [29,31], direct velocity measurement [26,28,70] and regional scale level Darcy-based and geospatial methods [32,33,71,72].…”

“…The geospatial technique is used to estimate the groundwater velocity at a large scale depending on the four essential maps (groundwater elevation head, effective porosity, saturated thickness, transmissivity) and borehole history, and this method has been conducted in shallow unconsolidated aquifers and fissured-karst aquifers [32,33]. However, groundwater flow velocity estimation in volcanic aquifers has rarely been investigated, particularly in Ethiopian volcanic settings.…”