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The position of the water table within a volcanic edifice has significant implications for volcano hazards, geothermal energy, and epithermal mineralization. We have modified the HYDROTHERM numerical simulator to allow for a free-surface (water table) upper boundary condition and a wide range of recharge rates, heat input rates, and thermodynamic conditions representative of continental volcano-hydrothermal systems. An extensive set of simulations was performed on a hypothetical stratovolcano system with unconfined groundwater flow. Simulation results suggest that the permeability structure of the volcanic edifice and underlying material is the dominant control on water table elevation and the distribution of pressures,...
The late Eocene Chesapeake Bay impact structure is a well-preserved example of one of Earth's largest impact craters, and its continental-shelf setting and relatively shallow burial make it an excellent target for study. Since the discovery of the structure over a decade ago [Edwards et al., 2004; Poag et al., 2004], test drilling by U.S. federal and state agencies has been limited to the structure's annular trough (Figure 1). In May 2004, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) drilled the first scientific test hole into the central crater of the Chesapeake Bay impact structure in Cape Charies,Virginia (Figure 1). This partially cored test hole, the deepest to date, penetrated postimpact sediments and impact breccias...
Dispersive transport of groundwater solutes was investigated as part of a multispecies reactive tracer test conducted under spatially variable chemical conditions in an unconfined, sewage-contaminated sand and gravel aquifer on Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Transport of the nonreactive tracer bromide (Br) reflected physical and hydrologic processes. Transport of the reactive tracer nickel (Ni) complexed with an organic ligand (NiEDTA) varied in response to pH and other chemical conditions within the aquifer. A loss of about 14% of the Ni mass was calculated from the distribution of tracers through time. This loss is consistent with reversible adsorption of NiEDTA onto the iron and aluminum oxyhydroxide coatings on the...
Hydraulic head was overpressured at middepth in a 4.2-m thick raised bog in the Glacial Lake Agassiz peatlands of northern Minnesota, and fluctuated in response to atmospheric pressure. Barometric efficiency (BE), determined by calculating ratios of change in hydraulic head to change in atmospheric pressure, ranged from 0.05 to 0.15 during July through November of both 1997 and 1998. The overpressuring and a BE response were caused by free-phase gas contained primarily in the center of the peat column between two or more semielastic, semiconfining layers of more competent peat. Two methods were used to determine the volume of gas bubbles contained in the peat, one using the degree of overpressuring in the middepth...
Field data from Upper Geyser Basin, Yellowstone, indicate that geyser frequency is less sensitive to elastic deformation than might be surmised from a review of the literature. Earth-tide influences are not identifiable in any of the geysers we monitored. Though atmospheric-pressure influences are observed, only long-period variations on the order of 5 mBars or greater seem to influence geyser frequency. Long-distance interconnections between geysers are common and add to the difficulty of identifying strain influences. Additional variations in geyser periodicity may be governed by the internal dynamics of the geysers rather than external influences.
Flowmeter-measured hydraulic conductivities from the heterogeneous MADE site have been used predictively in advection-dispersion models. Resulting simulated concentrations failed to reproduce even major plume characteristics and some have concluded that other mechanisms, such as dual porosity, are important. Here an alternative possibility is investigated: that the small-scale flowmeter measurements are too noisy and possibly too biased to use so directly in site-scale models and that the hydraulic head and transport data are more suitable for site-scale characterization. Using a calibrated finite element model of the site and a new framework to evaluate random and systematic model and measurement errors, the following...
Conceptual and mathematical models are presented that explain tracer breakthrough tailing in the absence of significant matrix diffusion. Model predictions are compared to field results from radially convergent, weak-dipole, and push-pull tracer experiments conducted in a saturated crystalline bedrock. The models are based upon the assumption that flow is highly channelized, that the mass of tracer in a channel is proportional to the cube of the mean channel aperture, and the mean transport time in the channel is related to the square of the mean channel aperture. These models predict the consistent −2 straight line power law slope observed in breakthrough from radially convergent and weak-dipole tracer experiments...
The Chicot aquifer system underlies an area of approximately 9,500 mi2 in southwestern Louisiana and is located within the Gulf Coastal Plain physiographic province. The region includes all or parts of 15 parishes -- Vernon, Rapides, Evangeline, Allen, Beauregard, Calcasieu, Jefferson Davis, Acadia, St. Landry, Lafayette, St. Martin, Cameron, Iberia, Vermilion, and St. Mary. The Chicot aquifer system is a major source of groundwater for southwestern Louisiana, accounts for approximately 48 percent of all groundwater use in the State, and provides freshwater for public supply, industry, agriculture, and aquaculture (Collier and Sargent, 2018). Withdrawals of groundwater have created water-level gradients favorable...
Categories: Data; Types: Downloadable, Map Service, OGC WFS Layer, OGC WMS Layer, Shapefile; Tags: Acadia Parish, Allen Parish, Beauregard Parish, CLAS, Calcasieu Parish, All tags...
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Comprehensive sampling of peat, underlying lakebed sediments, and coexisting waters of a naturally uraniferous montane wetland are combined with hydrologic measurements to define the important controls on uranium (U) supply and uptake. The major source of U to the wetland is groundwater flowing through locally fractured and faulted granite gneiss of Proterozoic age. Dissolved U concentrations in four springs and one seep ranged from 20 to 83 ppb (µg/l). Maximum U concentrations are ~300 ppm (mg/kg) in lakebed sediments and >3000 ppm in peat. This study documents the conditions and processes controlling the efficient uptake of U in a relatively remote, natural wetland that is absent of reported U occurrences, mining...
The position of the water table within a volcanic edifice has significant implications for volcano hazards, geothermal energy, and epithermal mineralization. We have modified the HYDROTHERM numerical simulator to allow for a free-surface (water table) upper boundary condition and a wide range of recharge rates, heat input rates, and thermodynamic conditions representative of continental volcano-hydrothermal systems. An extensive set of simulations was performed on a hypothetical stratovolcano system with unconfined groundwater flow. Simulation results suggest that the permeability structure of the volcanic edifice and underlying material is the dominant control on water table elevation and the distribution of pressures,...
We tested three models of mixing between old interbasin groundwater flow (IGF) and young, locally derived groundwater in a lowland rain forest in Costa Rica using a large suite of environmental tracers. We focus on the young fraction of water using the transient tracers CFC-11, CFC-12, CFC-113, SF6, 3H, and bomb 14C. We measured 3He, but 3H/3He dating is generally problematic due to the presence of mantle 3He. Because of their unique concentration histories in the atmosphere, combinations of transient tracers are sensitive not only to subsurface travel times but also to mixing between waters having different travel times. Samples fall into three distinct categories: (1) young waters that plot along a piston flow...
Hydraulic head was overpressured at middepth in a 4.2-m thick raised bog in the Glacial Lake Agassiz peatlands of northern Minnesota, and fluctuated in response to atmospheric pressure. Barometric efficiency (BE), determined by calculating ratios of change in hydraulic head to change in atmospheric pressure, ranged from 0.05 to 0.15 during July through November of both 1997 and 1998. The overpressuring and a BE response were caused by free-phase gas contained primarily in the center of the peat column between two or more semielastic, semiconfining layers of more competent peat. Two methods were used to determine the volume of gas bubbles contained in the peat, one using the degree of overpressuring in the middepth...
Fractures that begin and end in the unsaturated zone, or isolated fractures, have been ignored in previous studies because they were generally assumed to behave as capillary barriers and remain nonconductive. We conducted a series of experiments using Berea sandstone samples to examine the physical mechanisms controlling flow in a rock containing a single isolated fracture. The input fluxes and fracture orientation were varied in these experiments. Visualization experiments using dyed water in a thin vertical slab of rock were conducted to identify flow mechanisms occurring due to the presence of the isolated fracture. Two mechanisms occurred: (1) localized flow through the rock matrix in the vicinity of the isolated...
The late Eocene Chesapeake Bay impact structure is a well-preserved example of one of Earth's largest impact craters, and its continental-shelf setting and relatively shallow burial make it an excellent target for study. Since the discovery of the structure over a decade ago [Edwards et al., 2004; Poag et al., 2004], test drilling by U.S. federal and state agencies has been limited to the structure's annular trough (Figure 1). In May 2004, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) drilled the first scientific test hole into the central crater of the Chesapeake Bay impact structure in Cape Charies,Virginia (Figure 1). This partially cored test hole, the deepest to date, penetrated postimpact sediments and impact breccias...


    map background search result map search result map Stratigraphic, geochemical, and hydrologic data for the Boston Peak wetland, Larimer County, CO, USA Chicot Aquifer System Extent in Southwestern Louisiana, October 2020 Stratigraphic, geochemical, and hydrologic data for the Boston Peak wetland, Larimer County, CO, USA Chicot Aquifer System Extent in Southwestern Louisiana, October 2020