Abstract
To date, studies on the geological conditions in inland aquifers leading to pathways for upwelling deep saline groundwater due to pumping have not been published yet. Therefore, this paper conducted a theoretical modeling study to raise two hypotheses about deep saline-groundwater pathways leading to saltwater upconing below a pumping well in an inland aquifer based on the field situation at the Beelitzhof waterworks in southwestern Berlin (Germany), defined as follows: (1) there are windows in the Rupelian clay caused by glacial erosion, where their locations are uncertain, and (2) there are no windows in the clay, but the clay is partially thinned out but not completely removed by glacial erosion, so salt can merely come through the clay upward by diffusion and eventually accumulate on its top. These hypotheses were tested to demonstrate the impact of the lateral distance between windows in the clay and the well, as well as salt diffusion through the clay depending on its thickness on saltwater intrusion in the pumping well, respectively, using a density-dependent groundwater flow and solute transport model. Hypothesis 1 was validated with four scenarios that windows could occur in the clay at the site, and their locations under some conditions could significantly cause saltwater intrusion, while hypothesis 2 could be excluded, because salt diffusion through the clay with thickness greater than 1 m at the site was not able to cause saltwater intrusion.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Assmann, P., & Gandert, O. F. (1957). Der geologische Aufbau der Gegend von Berlin zugleich als Erläuterung zur geologischen Karte und Baugrundkarte von Berlin (West) im Maßstab 1:10 000. Berlin: Berlin Senator für Bau- und Wohnungswesen.
Berliner Wasserbetriebe (2013). Water for Berlin. http://www.bwb.de/content/language2/downloads/WFB_en_eBook.pdf. Accessed 27 Oct 2014.
Bower, J. W., Motz, L. H., & Durden, D. W. (1999). Analytical solution for determining the critical condition of saltwater upconing in a leaky artesian aquifer. Journal of Hydrology, 221(1–2), 43–54.
Cai, J., Taute, T., Hamann, E., & Schneider, M. (2014). An integrated laboratory method to measure and verify directional hydraulic conductivity in fine-to-medium sandy sediments. Ground Water. doi:10.1111/gwat.12156.
Chandler, R., & McWhorter, D. (1975). Upconing of the salt-water-fresh-water interface beneath a pumping well. Ground Water, 13(4), 354–359.
Freeze, R. A., & Cherry, J. A. (1979). Groundwater. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall.
Garabedian, S. P. (2013). Estimation of saltwater upconing using a steady-state solution for partial completion of a pumped well. Ground Water, 51(6), 927–934.
Goswami, R. R., & Clement, T. P. (2007). Laboratory-scale investigation of saltwater intrusion dynamics. Water Resources Research, 43, W04418. doi:10.1029/2006WR005151.
Haubold, R. G. (1975). Approximation for steady interface beneath a well pumping fresh water overlying salt water. Ground Water, 13(3), 254–259.
Jakovovic, D., Werner, A. D., & Simmons, C. T. (2011). Numerical modelling of saltwater up-coning: comparison with experimental laboratory observations. Journal of Hydrology, 402(3–4), 261–273.
Johannsen, K., Kinzelbach, W., Oswald, S., & Wittum, G. (2002). The saltpool benchmark problem—numerical simulation of saltwater upconing in a porous medium. Advances in Water Resources, 25(3), 335–348.
Konz, M., Ackerer, P., Younes, A., Huggenberger, P., & Zechner, E. (2009). Two-dimensional stable-layered laboratory-scale experiments for testing density-coupled flow models. Water Resources Research, 45, W02404. doi:10.1029/2008WR007118.
Langevin, C. D., Thorne, D. T., Dausman, A. M., Sukop, M. C., & Guo, W. (2007). SEAWAT version 4: a computer program for simulation of multi-species solute and heat transport: U.S. Geological Survey Techniques of Water Resources Investigations Book 6, Chapter A22. Reston: U.S. Geological Survey.
Massmann, G., Simmons, C., Love, A., Ward, J., & James-Smith, J. (2006). On variable density surface water-groundwater interaction: a theoretical analysis of mixed convection in a stably-stratified fresh surface water saline groundwater discharge zone. Journal of Hydrology, 329(3–4), 390–402.
Masters, G. M., & Ela, W. P. (2008). Introduction to environmental engineering and science (3rd ed.). Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall.
Motz, L. H. (1992). Salt-water upconing in an aquifer overlain by a leaky confining bed. Ground Water, 30(2), 192–198.
Oswald, S.E. (1998). Density-driven flow in porous media: three-dimensional experiments and modelling. Dissertation, ETH Zurich.
Oswald, S. E., & Kinzelbach, W. (2004). Three-dimensional physical benchmark experiments to test variable-density flow models. Journal of Hydrology, 290(1–2), 22–42.
Panday, S., Huyakorn, P. S., Robertson, J. B., & Mcgurk, B. (1993). A density-dependent flow and transport analysis of the effects of groundwater development in a freshwater lens of limited areal extent—the Geneva area (Florida, USA) case study. Journal of Contaminant Hydrology, 12(4), 329–354.
Reilly, T. E., & Goodman, A. S. (1987). Analysis of saltwater upconing beneath a pumping well. Journal of Hydrology, 89(3–4), 169–204.
Reilly, T. E., Frimpter, M. H., Leblanc, D. R., & Goodman, A. S. (1987). Analysis of steady-state salt-water upconing with application at Truro well field, Cape-Cod, Massachusetts. Ground Water, 25(2), 194–206.
Schmorak, S., & Mercado, A. (1969). Upconing of fresh water—sea water interface below pumping wells, field study. Water Resources Research, 5(6), 1290–1311.
Werner, A. D., Jakovovic, D., & Simmons, C. T. (2009). Experimental observations of saltwater up-coning. Journal of Hydrology, 373(1–2), 230–241.
WHO (2003). Total dissolved solids in Drinking-water. Background document for development of WHO Guidelines for Drinking-water Quality, http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/dwq/chemicals/tds.pdf. Accessed 27 Oct 2014.
Wirojanagud, P., & Charbeneau, R. J. (1985). Saltwater upconing in unconfined aquifers. Journal of Hydraulic Engineering, 111(3), 417–434.
Wurl, J. (1995). Die geologischen, hydraulischen und hydrochemischen Verhältnisse in den südwestlichen Stadtbezirken. Berlin: Freie Universität Berlin.
Zheng, C., & Bennett, G. D. (2002). Applied contaminant transport modeling (2nd ed.). New York: Wiley-Interscience.
Zhou, Q. L., Bear, J., & Bensabat, J. (2005). Saltwater upconing and decay beneath a well pumping above an interface zone. Transport in Porous Media, 61(3), 337–363.
Acknowledgments
We sincerely thank Dr. E. Hamann for his extensive discussions as well as Dr. L. Thomas and two anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments. We also thank Dr. E. Verbruggen for reading the manuscript. The first author is sponsored by the ERASMUS MUNDUS External Cooperation Window Programme at Freie Universität Berlin (Project Lund, Lot 14a—China).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Cai, J., Taute, T. & Schneider, M. Saltwater Upconing Below a Pumping Well in an Inland Aquifer: a Theoretical Modeling Study on Testing Different Scenarios of Deep Saline-Groundwater Pathways. Water Air Soil Pollut 225, 2203 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-014-2203-7
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-014-2203-7