Aquifer Systems Characterization

for Groundwater Management

Aquifer Systems Characterization for Groundwater Management
Objective
• Introduction to groundwater system characterization for water
resource managers, with special emphasis on understanding :
 Importance of aquifer characterization in groundwater
resources management
 Key properties of aquifers for better groundwater management
 The different hydrogeological environments in relation to
groundwater development
 Groundwater occurrence, and interactions between
groundwater and surface water
Aquifer Systems Characterization for Groundwater Management
• Groundwater differs from surface water as a result of the
different physical and chemical environment in which it is found.
• Some groundwater occurs in most geological formations with
sediments and rocks in effect forming a subsurface reservoir or
aquifer in which groundwater can be accumulated and
transmitted
• The hydrogeological properties, porosity and permeability, of
geological layers and their spatial distribution vary for many
reasons, including the tectonic structure, the position in the
depositional basin, the type of sedimentary basin, the depth of
burial and the lithology.
• The availability of groundwater depends on hydrogeological
setting, which may be very variable, even within a single litholog
 Aquifer Systems Characterization for Groundwater Management

• Subsurface water vs groundwater

• Aquifer vs groundwater
• Groundwater vs Capillary water
• Infiltration/percloation vs recharge
Profile of subsurface water
 Groundwater
Water existing for long periods below the Earth's surface completely fill the
pore spaces and fractures of rock formations.

Water discharged from atmosphere

Infiltration

Percolation

Recharge to groundwater Groundwater discharge: The movement of water

Groundwater flow underground
Underground stored water as part of out of the ground
the water cycle
Recharge Area Discharge area
Flow of GW
Flow of rainwater and/or • To stream
surface water down to GW • To well
• As spring
 Flow is downward  Flow is upward
 Deep water table  Shallow water table
The water table
 GW is fresh (slightly mineralized)  Mineralized GW
 GW has fast velocity  GW has slow velocity
 Aquifer Characterization
a. Physical characterization
1. Porosity:
• Primary or inter-granular porosity, made up
from individual grains
• Secondary porosity or fracture porosity,
2. Permeability
• Inter-connectivity of porosity
• The rate at which water flows through a rock
mass depends on its permeability
 Aquifer Characterization

b. Geological materials
 Volcanic
 Sedimentary
 Crystalline
 Depositional/Alluvial
 Aquifer Characterization
c. Hydrochemical/Water quality Characterization
 Based on type and degree of concentration of chemical elements
 Slightly mineralized
 Moderately mineralized
 Highly mineralized
 Hydrochemical/Water quality Characterization

Rainwater
Contains low concentration
of dissolved solids

Slightly
mineralized

Moderatly
mineralized
Highly mineralized
 d. Form/Occurrence of Aquifer
Unconfined aquifers are sometimes also called water table or phreatic aquifers,
because their upper boundary is the water table or phreatic surface.

Confined aquifers are aquifers sandwitched between two confining bed

Semi confined aquifers are aquifers overlain by semi-permeable layer

Gravel
Water table
Unconfined aquifer
Fractured layer

Semi-confined aquifer

Massive layer

Confined aquifer

Massive layer
For which aquifer type management is more important?
Why?
e. Scale/extent of Aquifer
Scale/extent of Aquifer
Aquifer Characterization based on Scale of areal extent
• Hydrogeological basins that correspond closely to the
topographic boundaries of river basins; these typically occur in
crystalline rock terrains and may be comprised of several sub-
basins.
• Groundwater basins that are smaller than and contained
entirely within a hydrological basin; these are usually local
sedimentary basins, or alluvial systems related to the present
day hydrology
• Aquifer or hydrogeological units that extend beyond the
borders of the hydrogeological basin; typically these are large
depositional basins that pre-date the present day drainage and
the present day climate (e.g., Nubian Aquifer)
 Most common aquifer types.

KCL

VF

VF
Volcanic Formation

Consolidated Fractured Aquifers Unconsolidated porous Aquifers

 Functions of Aquifers
Two important functions:
1. Groundwater storage expressed through
storativity (storage coefficient) or specific yield; Confined Aquifer
 The Porous Aquifers

Unconfined Aquifer
2. Transmit groundwater flow by gravity or pressure,
which can be expressed as transmissivity
 The Fractured Aquifers
 Nomenclature of Water Bearing Formations

1. Aquifer
 A geological formation/s that contains
saturated material of sufficient/economical
water to yield to wells and/or springs.
2. Aquitard
 Low permeable formation
3. Aquiclude
 Virtually impermeable formation
 Aquifer productivity
Productivity’ of an aquifer depends on combination of:
 Porosity
 Permeability of the aquifer materials, and
 The ‘size’ of the aquifer

The most significant elements of Aquifers diversity are:

a. Aquifer storage capacity (porosity / storativity):-
 ranging between unconsolidatedgranular sediments and highly-
consolidated fractured rocks;
b. Aquifer transmissivity (hydraulic conductivity/permeability):-
 ranging between cavernous limestone and dense clays and solid intact
crystalline rocks;
c. Aquifer flow potential:-
 Aquifer areal extent and saturated thickness based on geological
environments ranging from weathered regolith in crystalline rocks, to
shallow alluvial sediments to deep and extended volcanic or sedimentary
basins, resulting in a wide range of both groundwater in storage and
(transmissivity).
Major Ethiopian Aquifers
 Major Ethiopian Aquifers
1. Volcanic Aquifers
 Extensive aquifer in Central Ethiopia including thiopian Plateau, West ,
North West and Ethiopian Rift valley

 Typical rocks include basalt (the major one) which becomes

scoraceous at depth, ignimbrite, trachyte and few volcanic
ejects (pyroclastics)

 The yield of groundwater from this volcanic aquifers is very

high (from 30-200 l/s) with yield increasing with depth of
penetration

 The aquifer is mainly semi-confined with some artesian

flow in specific localities.

 In most of the cases, the increment of Porosity is in abnormal way,

as it more opens rather than close-up with depth (Central Region)
 Volcanic Aquifers Cont’d
 The thickness of the aquifer ranges from 30 to 600
meters or >? with thickness increases towards the Central
Ethiopia

 High discharge of groundwater lies within 200-500m

 Groundwater temperature ranges from 18-700c with T

increases towards Rift Valley

 The pH is almost neutral (6.8-7.5) with Ca (Mg)-HCO3

type water (Central plateau), but in rift valley the pH rise
up to 9 where it is Na-HCO3/Cl water type
 Major Ethiopian Aquifers
2. Sedimentary Aquifers
 Extensive aquifers in East and North part of Ethiopia

 Groundwater from these formations is generally

mineralized and hard water with Ca-Mg-HCO3 type water

 pH is 6.5-7.5 and groundwater T is between 20-300c.

 Depth of groundwater circulation is b/n 100 to 600m.

 Sandstone is the most productive aquifer but it lies at

deep below 500m and water from this is often fresh but
groundwater from limestone (which is the upper aquifer)
is often brackish.
 Major Ethiopian Aquifers
3. Crystalline Aquifers

 Very stiff formations if not fractured or weathered

 Weathered Part sharply drops with depth, but exceptions in

Metasediment in some localities (where drilling more than 200m is not
uncommon in this unit,

 Localized aquifer in south, south west and north periphery of the

country

 Groundwater in this formation occurs in shallow depths within 30-100

m and limited to fractures with yield not more than 30 l/s

 Groundwater is Na-HCO3/Cl type and commonly saline where it is

from high grade metamorphic aquifer

 pH is within 6.5-8 and temperature below 250c

FOSSIL GROUNDWATER AND NONRENEWABLE RESOURCES
• Groundwater stored (and sometimes still flowing) in large
sedimentary formations was recharged by late Pleistocene and early
Holocene rainfall (>5,000 yrs), when the climate in the areas
concerned was cooler and wetter, referred as “fossil groundwater”
• If very little contemporary rainfall is infiltrating (say < 10 mm/a),
current groundwater recharge will be responsible for (at most) only a
tiny fraction of the groundwater stored in such aquifers
• This groundwater storage is thus sensibly treated as a “non-
renewable resource”, since it will not be replenished fully in the
time-frame of current development.

How to Know Fossil groundwater and nonrenewable resources?

Fossil groundwater :- Isotope dating
Nonrenewable:- Hydrochemical and Isotope
 Groundwater and Surface water interaction
• Nearly all surface water bodies (rivers, lakes, reservoirs, and wetlands)
interact with groundwater.
• These interactions take many forms, in some cases surface water bodies
gain water or/and solutes from groundwater systems and in others they
may be a source of groundwater recharge and may affect groundwater
quality.
• The interaction of surface water and groundwater is requently a major
concern for RBAs since they are strongly focused on surface water
management and such interactions impact directly on the surface water
resources that they have quantified and allocated
• The contribution of groundwater to total water surface flow varies widely
among streams, but it is estimated (average) somewhere between 40 and
50 %
• As concerns for water resources and the environment increase, it is
important to consider groundwater and surface water as a single resource.
• Therefore understanding their interaction is crucial for water resource
management in river and lake basins, even if it is difficult to observe or to
measure these exchanges
Mode of groundwater-Surface water interaction

River gaining/Groundwater losing

Groundwater head/table is above
Lake surface

River losing/Groundwater gaining

Groundwater head/table is below
Lake surface

River/Groundwater gaing in one

side while losing in other side

Groundwater head/table is
higher than lake surface in one
side while lower in other side
How to identify groundwater-surface water interaction?
• Isotope method
• Hydrochemical method
• Geophysical method (in particular, imaging)
• Numerical modelling Method (most robust,
with quantification)
Adama-Wonji- Basin, Water Balance Model
Groundwater -surface water interactions
Anthropogenic Impact
In addition to the naturally occurring interactions, there are also many groundwater -
surface water interactions that are either enhanced or created by a variety of human
activities
 Anthropogenic Impact
• RBAs managers need to be aware of these fluxes and
their impacts.
• Such flows not only transfer water between the
ground and surface water systems, but also impact
on water quality by transferring dissolved chemicals
and pollutants.
• In urban and industrial environments the flux of
polluted water between groundwater and surface
water is often a critical management problem that
needs to be resolved by improved waste
management practices and control and monitoring
of agro-industrial practices and processes.
 Sensitive Hydrogeological Settings

1. Karst Terrains
Dissolution of portions of a limestone or dolomite by
water flowing through the pores and fractures
Polluted river

Generates preferential pathways of

flow

Contaminated
groundwater
Advantage of karst aquifers :
Offer the possibility of enormous withdrawals of
groundwater
Disadvantage
Excessive withdrawals from karst aquifers can be
highly destructive. A sinkhole is one possible result. Caverns in limestone
The ready movement of large amounts of
groundwater within karst aquifers, coupled with the Identification of recharger and discharge areas in Krast systems
presence of preferential pathways of flow, can make From remote sensing through mapping of geomorphic features such as
groundwater contamination spread quickly and  sinkholes
often in unpredictable patterns.  stream networks
 Vegetation patterns defining fracture traces.
 2. Unconsolidated Deposits
Unconsolidated aquifers occur as alluvium, colluvium, and glacial drift deposits.
Typically composed of sand or sand and gravel, often intermixed with finer-grained sediments.

Alluvial aquifers generally occur along rivers

and streams and were deposited
as coarse-grained sediments by streams.

Because unconsolidated aquifers are generally

shallow and well connected to surface water,
knowledge of groundwater/surface water
interactions is critical to understanding these
aquifers.
Those same characteristics also make
unconsolidated aquifers often highly
susceptible to contamination.
Susceptible zone to groundwater
contamination
Characterizing unconsolidated aquifers is generally straightforward
because much of the theoretical basis for quantification of
groundwater flow was developed from studies of these types of
deposits. Aquifer tests and computer modeling are well-suited to
analysis of unconsolidated aquifers because porous-media flow is
commonly a reasonable assumption
 3. Volcanic Terrains and Fractured-rock Settings
Volcanic rocks retain porosity associated with lava-flow features and
pyroclastic deposition

 Hydraulic conductivity can be quite high through fracture and joint system
 Polluted surface waters and wastewater discharge from industry and factory
can seep deep into volcanic aquifers and contaminate extensive area of
groundwater

A weathered zone of soil a few meters to tens of meters Polluted river

thick may exist. Sources of recharge largely involve diffuse
infiltration of precipitation, and leakage from surface
waters.

Surface waters inflow into groundwater flows through

pores and fractures

Contaminated aquifer
Summary: Critical issues in Aquifer characterization
Groundwater management should be based on good understanding of the
characteristics of the aquifer system, including its interaction with surface water
bodies (rivers, lakes and wetlands).

Aquifer characterization involves a number of issues namely:

 Quantification of the rate of recharge.
 Identification of main areas of recharge, in context of land use and pollution
load sites.
 Understanding the nature and mechanisms of interactions between
groundwater
 and surface water, and
 Assessment of impacts of groundwater pumping on the groundwater system.
 Summary: Critical issues in Aquifer characterization

 The characterization of the groundwater system may be verified by

undertaking aquifer system water balances to check the understanding of
the inflows and outflows

 Groundwater modelling is useful to predict the impacts of interactions

between groundwater and surface water and inform effective groundwater
development and management
 Need for a mechanism to provide suitable groundwater resources
information for sustainable groundwater development and protection at
policy level.
 This will involve establishing appropriate policies, strategies and regulatory
frameworks, and will require an adequate understanding the groundwate
system by acquiring information on the distribution of aquifer units and
knowledge of the aquifer properties.
 Management of aquifers also requires creating mechanisms for involvement
of key stakeholders in water demand and water allocation management
THANKS