Characterizing a ground water basin in a New England mountain and valley terrain

Groundwater
By: , and 

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Abstract

A ground water basin is defined as the volume of subsurface through which ground water flows from the water table to a specified discharge location. Delineating the topographically defined surface water basin and extending it vertically downward does not always define the ground water basin. Instead, a ground water basin is more appropriately delineated by tracking ground water flowpaths with a calibrated, three‐dimensional ground water flow model. To determine hydrologic and chemical budgets of the basin, it is also necessary to quantify flow through each hydrogeologic unit in the basin. In particular, partitioning ground water flow through unconsolidated deposits versus bedrock is of significant interest to hillslope hydrologic studies. To address these issues, a model is developed and calibrated to simulate ground water flow through glacial deposits and fractured crystalline bedrock in the vicinity of Mirror Lake, New Hampshire. Tracking of ground water flowpaths suggests that Mirror Lake and its inlet streams drain a ground water recharge area that is about 1.5 times the area of the surface water basin. Calculation of the ground water budget suggests that, of the recharge that enters the Mirror Lake ground water basin, about 40% travels through the basin along flowpaths that stay exclusively in the glacial deposits, and about 60% travels along flowpaths that involve movement in bedrock.

Publication type Article
Publication Subtype Journal Article
Title Characterizing a ground water basin in a New England mountain and valley terrain
Series title Groundwater
DOI 10.1111/j.1745-6584.1998.tb02835.x
Volume 36
Issue 4
Year Published 1998
Language English
Publisher NGWA
Contributing office(s) Pennsylvania Water Science Center, Toxic Substances Hydrology Program
Description 10 p.
First page 611
Last page 620
Country United States
State New Hampshire
Other Geospatial Mirror Lake
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