Lecture Packet #5: Groundwater Flow Patterns

1.
72, Groundwater Hydrology

Prof. Charles Harvey
Lecture Packet #5: Groundwater Flow Patterns
Local Flow System

10,000 feet
Intermediate Flow System
Regional Flow System
20,000 feet
Hydrologic section showing local, intermediate and regional groundwater

flow systems determined from an analytical solution to the groundwater
flow equation
1.72, Groundwater Hydrology Lecture Packet 5

Prof. Charles Harvey Page 1 of 8
Conceptual picture based on Hubbert’s potentials
Recharge Zone between two streams.

Discharge Zone (generally 5% to 30% of a watershed)
Beneath ridge and valley one gets Groundwater Divide, an imaginary impermeable
boundary.
• Recharge area – saturated flow is directed away from the water table.
• Discharge area – a component of flow upward and saturated flow is toward
the water table.
Streamlines exist for steady-state systems. Is this realistic?
Pathlines can be constructed for transient systems. A pathline is the trajectory a

particle would travel over time.
Discharge Area Recharge Area
Midline Water table

Groundwater Flow Patterns in Homogeneous Aquifers
From flow nets we know that:
• Equipotential lines corresponding to the water table reflect the elevation head.
• Equipotential lines beneath the water table are curvilinear and reflect both
pressure and elevation.
Note: artesian conditions can be geologically controlled or topographically

controlled.
Water Table
F
Flow Line Equipotential Water Table
Line
Effects of Geology or Regional Flow (contrasts in K)

Three most influential factors affected head distribution:
1. Ratio of basin depth to extent.
2. Configuration of the water table.
3. Variations in hydraulic conductivity.
Layered systems: lower layer 10 times the hydraulic conductivity.
If thelower layer increased to 100 times the hydraulic conductivity:

• Lower gradient in lower aquifer.
• More flow through the system (less bottom impedance).
• Lower aquifer acts like a pirating agent for flow creating near vertical flow
through upper aquifer.
• Large discharge area in upper aquifer for water to get out.

Groundwater-Lake Interactions
• Lake type
o Surface water dominated
Most of the lake water was originally surface water
Lake has an inlet and an outlet (rivers)
o Groundwater dominated
Most of the lake is groundwater
• Seepage Distribution
o Recharge Lake.
o Discharge Lake.
o Flow-through Lake.
o Combinations of the above.
• Seepage depends on groundwater-lake communication, which depends on the
“Darcy parameters”
o Thickness and permeability of lake sediments.
o Hydraulic gradient across lake sediments.
o But lake is in the context of a regional flow system.
Discharge Lake Recharge Lake
Flow-through Lake

Numerical Modeling of Groundwater-Lake Interactions
• Winter (1976) presents numerical model of lake flow systems

• The focus of the study is the effect on the position and head value of
stagnation point of
o Height of water table relative to lake level
o Kh/Kv
o Position and size of aquifers
o Lake depth
The Model
• Boundary Conditions
o Aquifer base is impermeable
o Vertical no-flow boundaries on sides
• Major topographic high on upslope side
• Major drain (stream) on downslope side
o Upper boundary is the water table
• Parameters chosen to be consistent with lakes and glacial terrain.
o Silty till
o Sand
o Ratios of Kh/Kv = 100 and 1000 based on field observations
Stagnation Point
• A location where flow is zero (stagnant)
• Complex flow systems show one or more stagnation points
• The point of lowest head on dividing streamline is a stagnation point
o There is a head value at the location of the stagnation point
o For lake systems occurs under the shoreline on the downslope side of
the lake
o If the head at the stagnation point is higher than the head in a lake,
flow is toward the lake (no water flows out the bottom of the lake)
Groundwater-Lake Flow Systems

• Flow systems exist on different scales
o Local
o Intermediate
o Regional
• Flow systems are separated by dividing streamlines
o Separation of flow systems explains chemical differences between
nearby lakes
o More minerals dissolve the longer water is in flow system
o Water in intermediate and regional flow systems has a higher mineral
content

Geologic Processes Controlling Regional Flow
Flow controlled by single or coupled processes:
Uplifted Foreland
2 km
Maximum flow rate: 1-10 m/yr
200 km
1) Topographically driven flow (gravity driven)

• Dominant mechanism for shallow and deep groundwater flow systems
• Water table subdued replica of landscape
• Deep groundwater migrates 1 to 10 m/y in aquifers and much less in
aquitards
• Key factors: topography, conductivity, heterogeneity, anisotropy, and basin
geometry
Intracratonic Sag or Rift
Aquitard
2 km
200 km
Maximum flow rate: 0.1-1 m/yr
2) Free convection
• Circulation cells develop with or without regional horizontal flow (can coexist
with gravity-driven flow)
• Driven by buoyancy forces associated with thermal and salinity fields
• Flow rates are on the order of 1 m/y
• Key factors: fluid-density gradient, aquifer thickness, and conductivity

Thrust Terrane
Compression
2 km
Maximum flow rate: 0.1-1 m/yr
50 km
3) Tectonically-driven flow
• Compression and thrusting during mountain building produces large
overpressures in orogenic belts
• Regime characteristic of accretionary wedges (subduction zones) with flow
rate of cm/y
• Theoretical flow (high) rates of 0.5 m/y
Rapidly Subsiding Margin
Strongly Overpressured
Maximum flow rate: 0.1-1 cm/yr 4 km
200 km
4) Overpressure buried continental margin

• Fluid pressures can approach weight of overburden (lithostatic load)
• Overpressuring typically occurs in young, low K basins
• Also contributing to overpressure are: dehydration reactions and hydrocarbon
generation
• Flow rates generally < 1 cm/y (due to low K shales)

Seismic Pumping in Rift
5 km
Earthquake Focus 5 km
Normal fault
5) Seismic pumping
• Catastrophic faulting vents overpressure
Pressure Compartments
P5
P4 No flow between
P1 P2 compartments
2 km
P3
200 km
No flow boundary
6) Pressure compartments
• Permanent impermeable barrier maintains pressures forever; seals into
isolated compartments
• Not believed by most hydrogeologists who feel there is always some
permeability and flow over geologic time


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1.

72, Groundwater Hydrology

Local Flow System

Intermediate Flow System

Regional Flow System

Hydrologic section showing local, intermediate and regional groundwater

1.72, Groundwater Hydrology Lecture Packet 5

Recharge Zone between two streams.

Streamlines exist for steady-state systems. Is this realistic?

Pathlines can be constructed for transient systems. A pathline is the trajectory a

Discharge Area Recharge Area

Midline Water table

1.72, Groundwater Hydrology Lecture Packet 5

Note: artesian conditions can be geologically controlled or topographically

Effects of Geology or Regional Flow (contrasts in K)

Layered systems: lower layer 10 times the hydraulic conductivity.

If thelower layer increased to 100 times the hydraulic conductivity:

1.72, Groundwater Hydrology Lecture Packet 5

Discharge Lake Recharge Lake

1.72, Groundwater Hydrology Lecture Packet 5

• Winter (1976) presents numerical model of lake flow systems

Groundwater-Lake Flow Systems

1.72, Groundwater Hydrology Lecture Packet 5

Flow controlled by single or coupled processes:

1) Topographically driven flow (gravity driven)

1.72, Groundwater Hydrology Lecture Packet 5

Rapidly Subsiding Margin

Maximum flow rate: 0.1-1 cm/yr 4 km

4) Overpressure buried continental margin

1.72, Groundwater Hydrology Lecture Packet 5

1.72, Groundwater Hydrology Lecture Packet 5

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