TY - JOUR
T1 - Flow and transport model of a polder area in the Belgian coastal plain: example of data integration
AU - Vandenbohede, Alexander
AU - Hinsby, Klaus
AU - Courtens, Carolien
AU - Lebbe, Luc
N1 - Funding Information:
AVDB is supported by the Fund for Scientific Research–Flanders (Belgium) where he is currently a postdoctoral fellow. The authors acknowledge the Flemish Environment Agency and the Flemish Land Use Agency for allowing the use of their data. Part of the research was done in the framework of the CLIWAT project partly financed by the InterReg IVB North Sea Region, the European Regional Development Fund. We acknowledge Werner Aeschbach-Hertig for helping to evaluate the effect of degassing on groundwater age estimates by the H/He method. Ward Sanford and two anonymous reviewers are acknowledged for their valuable comments. Finally, we would like to thank all the land owners—without their enthusiastic cooperation, the fieldwork would not have been possible. 3 3
PY - 2011/12
Y1 - 2011/12
N2 - Tracer data can serve to derive parameters related to groundwater systems or can be used in the calibration of transport and flow models. Temperature, 3H/3He (age dating) and hydrochemical data, together with head measurements, borehole logs and an aquifer test, were used to obtain insight into the flow and transport of a Quaternary aquifer system located in the Belgian polder area. Flow and transport model code SEAWAT acted as the integration medium for the different data. Each type of data has its own interpretation technique and adds components to the model. Additionally, different types of data aid in verification of the results. For instance, fluxes from temperature logs (used with the SEAWAT model), and water quality and age dating all provide information on flow to and velocities in the vicinity of drainage ditches. Different data also provide information on different scales. Temperature logs and aquifer tests act on a small scale, groundwater age is influenced by larger-scale flow, and water quality is determined by the general flow of the area. Integration of different kinds of geological, hydrological, geophysical and geochemical data is shown to be an important way forward in the efforts to model real-world cases.
AB - Tracer data can serve to derive parameters related to groundwater systems or can be used in the calibration of transport and flow models. Temperature, 3H/3He (age dating) and hydrochemical data, together with head measurements, borehole logs and an aquifer test, were used to obtain insight into the flow and transport of a Quaternary aquifer system located in the Belgian polder area. Flow and transport model code SEAWAT acted as the integration medium for the different data. Each type of data has its own interpretation technique and adds components to the model. Additionally, different types of data aid in verification of the results. For instance, fluxes from temperature logs (used with the SEAWAT model), and water quality and age dating all provide information on flow to and velocities in the vicinity of drainage ditches. Different data also provide information on different scales. Temperature logs and aquifer tests act on a small scale, groundwater age is influenced by larger-scale flow, and water quality is determined by the general flow of the area. Integration of different kinds of geological, hydrological, geophysical and geochemical data is shown to be an important way forward in the efforts to model real-world cases.
KW - Belgium
KW - Environmental tracers
KW - Hydrochemistry
KW - Numerical modeling
KW - Temperature data
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=81255140935&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s10040-011-0781-7
DO - 10.1007/s10040-011-0781-7
M3 - Article
SN - 1431-2174
VL - 19
SP - 1599
EP - 1615
JO - Hydrogeology Journal
JF - Hydrogeology Journal
IS - 8
ER -