173 D7. Groundwater - Surface Water Interactions: from Sediment-water Interface to Watersheds and Responses to Climate, Landuse, and Other Changes (Posters)

Tuesday, 24 September 2024
8:00 AM - 5:30 PM
Hall D

WATERSHED-SCALE RESPONSE OF GROUNDWATER FLOW SYSTEM TO DECADAL FLUCTUATIONS OF METEOROLOGICAL CONDITION

Paper number: 173-13
Program: Technical Sessions
Time: 8:00 AM – 5:30 PM

Authors

Abstract

A groundwater flow system can be seen as a continuum consisting of recharge by precipitation inputs, storage in aquifers, and discharge to streams. Surface water (SW)-groundwater (GW) interaction plays important roles in both recharge and discharge ends of the flow system. In the Canadian prairies characterized by cold, semi-arid climate and glaciated terrain, groundwater recharge is strongly influenced by SW-GW interaction in topographic depressions. Decadal-scale fluctuations of precipitation inputs cause fluctuations of recharge fluxes, which in turn cause fluctuations of aquifer storage and stream baseflow. Using a unique citizen-science approach, groundwater levels in bedrock aquifers have been monitored for nearly two decades in a small (250 km2) prairie watershed in Alberta, Canada. The water level data are analyzed together with long-term baseflow data and groundwater recharge time series simulated by a numerical model of depression-focussed recharge. The results demonstrate the watershed-scale response of the groundwater flow system to meteorological fluctuations and its resilience over a multi-decadal period.

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. Vol. 56, No. 5

doi: 10.1130/abs/2024AM-405254

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