Estimating the specific yield of the Pampeano aquifer, Argentina, using superconducting gravimeter data
- PDF / 1,916,665 Bytes
- 11 Pages / 595.276 x 790.866 pts Page_size
- 96 Downloads / 143 Views
PAPER
Estimating the specific yield of the Pampeano aquifer, Argentina, using superconducting gravimeter data Jonatan E. Pendiuk 1,2 & Luis Guarracino 1,2,3 & Marvin Reich 4 & Claudio Brunini 2,6 & Andreas Güntner 4,5 Received: 14 November 2019 / Accepted: 10 July 2020 # Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract Specific yield is a key parameter for the sustainable management of unconfined aquifers, since it relates water-table fluctuations to aquifer storage-changes and thus impacts water supply. However, estimating specific yield is still a challenge due to theoretical and methodological limitations. Water-storage changes in the aquifer and in the overlying unsaturated soil profile cause local changes in gravity that can be recorded by high-precision superconducting gravimeters. In this work, a novel methodology to estimate specific yield from superconducting gravimeter data is presented. The proposed methodology is based on a hydrogravimetric model that estimates the gravity response due to the loss and gain of water mass in the soil profile using rainfall, water-table and air-temperature data. The model is applied to a study site of the Pampeano aquifer in Argentina where a continuous 1-year record of superconducting gravimeter measurements is available. The specific yield value obtained using this methodology is 0.11 ± 0.039, which is validated by means of a long-term pumping test performed at the study site. The proposed method constitutes a promising alternative to the available tools for estimating specific yield, by taking advantage of superconducting gravity data. Keywords Specific yield . Superconducting gravimeter . Gravity variations . Geophysical methods . Argentina
Introduction Specific yield (Sy) is a key parameter in hydrology and water management, as it allows quantification of the available water resources of unconfined aquifers. Hydrological applications of this parameter include assessments of groundwaterstorage changes and recharge, drainage of agriculture lands,
and groundwater modelling, among others (e.g. Dettmann and Bechtold 2016; Chinnasamya et al. 2018; Gribovszk 2018; Seraphine et al. 2018). Although Sy appears to be a simple hydrogeological concept, its formal definition is not straightforward. Freeze and Cherry (1979) define the specific yield as the volume of water that an aquifer releases from or takes into storage per unit aquifer area per unit change in water-table depth. Some authors express Sy as (Meinzer 1923; Healy and Cook 2002; Crosbie et al. 2005):
* Jonatan E. Pendiuk [email protected]
S y ¼ ϕ−S r
1
CONICET, Godoy Cruz, 2290 Caba, Argentina
2
Facultad de Ciencias Astronómicas y Geofísicas, Paseo del bosque s/n, UNLP, La Plata, Argentina
3
Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo, UNLP, Avenida 122 y 60, La Plata, Argentina
4
Helmholtz Centre Potsdam GFZ German Research Centre For Geosciences, Telegrafenberg, Potsdam, Germany
5
University of Potsdam, Institute of Environmental Science and Geography, 14476 Potsdam, Germany
Data Loading...
