Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Modeling Groundwater Flow and Quality

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Essentials of Medical Geology

Abstract

In most areas, rocks in the subsurface are saturated with water at relatively shallow depths. The top of the saturated zone—the water table—typically occurs anywhere from just below land surface to hundreds of feet below the land surface. Groundwater generally fills all pore spaces below the water table and is part of a continuous dynamic flow system, in which the fluid is moving at velocities ranging from feet per millennia to feet per day (Fig. 33.1). While the water is in close contact with the surfaces of various minerals in the rock material, geochemical interactions between the water and the rock can affect the chemical quality of the water, including pH, dissolved solids composition, and trace-elements content. Thus, flowing groundwater is a major mechanism for the transport of chemicals from buried rocks to the accessible environment, as well as a major pathway from rocks to human exposure and consumption. Because the mineral composition of rocks is highly variable, as is the solubility of various minerals, the human-health effects of groundwater consumption will be highly variable.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 129.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 219.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Alley WM, Reilly TE, Franke OL (1999) Sustainability of ground-water resources, U.S. Geological Survey Circular 1186. U.S. Geological Survey, Reston

    Google Scholar 

  • Anderson MP, Woessner WW (1992) Applied groundwater modeling: simulation of flow and advective transport. Academic, San Diego

    Google Scholar 

  • Ball JW, Nordstrom DK (1991) User’s manual for WATEQ4F, with revised thermodynamic database and test cases for calculating speciation of major, trace and redox elements in natural waters. U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, Open-File Report 91-183

    Google Scholar 

  • Bear J (1979) Hydraulics of groundwater. McGraw-Hill, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Belitz K, Phillips SP (1992) Simulation of water-table response to management alternatives, central part of the western San Joaquin Valley, California. U.S. Geological Survey Water-Resources Investigations Report 91-4193

    Google Scholar 

  • Belitz K, Phillips SP, Gronberg JM (1993) Numerical simulation of ground-water flow in the central part of the western San Joaquin Valley, California. U.S. Geological Survey Water-Supply Paper 2396

    Google Scholar 

  • Bredehoeft JD (2005) The conceptualization model problem–surprise. Hydrogeol J 13:37–46

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Burgess WG, Hoque MA, Michael HA, Voss CI, Breit GN, Ahmed KM (2010) Vulnerability of deep groundwater in the Bengal aquifer system to contamination by arsenic. Nat Geosci 3:83–87. doi:10.1038/ngeo750

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clement TP (1997) RT3D—A modular computer code for simulating reactive multi-species transport in 3-dimensional groundwater aquifers, Report PNNL-11720, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, Washington

    Google Scholar 

  • Cuthbert MO, Burgess WG, Connell L (2002) Constraints on sustainable development of arsenic-bearing aquifers in southern Bangladesh. Part 2: preliminary models of arsenic variability in pumped groundwater. In: Hiscock KM, Rivett MO, Davison RM (eds) Sustainable groundwater development, Geological Society Special Publication 193. The Geological Society of London, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Deverel SJ, Gilliom RJ, Fujii R, Izbicki JA, Fields JC (1984) Areal distribution of selenium and other inorganic constituents in shallow ground water of the San Luis Drain service area, San Joaquin Valley, California—a preliminary study. U.S. Geological Survey Water-Resources Investigations Report 84-4319

    Google Scholar 

  • Doherty J (2010) PEST, model-independent parameter estimation—user manual, 5th edn. Watermark Numerical Computing, Brisbane

    Google Scholar 

  • Dowdle PR, Laverman AM, Oremland RS (1996) Bacterial dissimilatory reduction of arsenic (V) to arsenic (III) in anoxic sediments. Appl Environ Microbiol 62:1664–1669

    Google Scholar 

  • Drever JI (1997) The geochemistry of natural waters: surface and groundwater environments, 3rd edn. Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River

    Google Scholar 

  • El-Kadi AI, Plummer LN, Aggarwal PK (2011) NETPATH-WIN: an interactive user version of NETPATH, a geochemical and isotopic mass-balance model. Ground Water 49(4):593–599

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Essaid HI, Bekins BA (1997) BIOMOC, a multispecies solute-transport model with biodegradation. U.S. Geological Survey, Reston Water-Resources Investigations Report 97-4022

    Google Scholar 

  • Fang Y, Scheibe TD, Mahadevan R, Garg S, Long PE, Lovley DR (2011) Direct coupling of a genome-scale microbial in Silico model and a groundwater reactive transport model. J Contam Hydrol 122:96–103. doi:10.1016/j.jconhyd.2010.11.007

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Feder GL, Radovanovic Z, Finkelman RB (1991) Relationship between weathered coal deposits and the etiology of Balkan endemic nephropathy. Kidney Int 40(suppl 34):S9–S11

    Google Scholar 

  • Franke OL, Reilly TE (1987) The effects of boundary conditions on the steady-state response of three hypothetical ground-water systems—results and implications of numerical experiments, U.S. Geological Survey Water-Supply Paper 2315. U.S. Geological Survey, Reston

    Google Scholar 

  • Franke OL, Reilly TE, Pollock DW, LaBaugh JW (1998) Estimating areas contributing recharge to wells: lessons from previous studies, U.S. Geological Survey Circular 1174. U.S. Geological Survey, Reston

    Google Scholar 

  • Gelhar LW, Welty C, Rehfeldt KR (1992) A critical review of data on field-scale dispersion in aquifers. Water Resour Res 28:1955–1974

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Glynn PD (2000) Solid-solution solubilities and thermodynamics: sulfates, carbonates and halides. In: Alpers CN, Jambor JL, Nordstrom DK (eds) Sulfate minerals, crystallography, geochemistry and environmental significance. Rev Mineral Geochem, Mineralogical Society of America, Washington, D.C. 40:481–511, chap. 10

    Google Scholar 

  • Glynn PD (2003) Modeling Np and Pu transport with a surface complexation model and spatially variant sorption capacities: implications for reactive transport modeling and performance assessments of nuclear waste disposal site. Comput Geosci 29:331–349

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Glynn PD, Brown JG (1996) Reactive transport modeling of acidic metal-contaminated ground water at a site with sparse spatial information. In: Steefel CI, Lichtner P, Oelkers E (eds) Reactive transport in porous media, vol 34, Reviews in mineralogy. Mineralogical Society of America, Washington, DC, pp 377–438, chap. 9

    Google Scholar 

  • Glynn PD, Brown JG (2012) Integrating field observations and inverse and forward modeling: application at a site with acidic, heavy-metal-contaminated groundwater. In: Bundschuh J, Zilberbrand M (eds) Geochemical modeling of groundwater, vadose and geothermal systems. CRC Press, Leiden, pp 181–234, chap. 8

    Google Scholar 

  • Grant WD, Gemmell RT, McGenity TJ (1998) Halophiles. In: Horikoshi K, Grant WD (eds) Extremophiles: microbial life in extreme environments, Wiley series in ecological and applied microbiology. Wiley-Liss, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Haitjema HM (1995) Analytic element modeling of groundwater flow. Academic, San Diego

    Google Scholar 

  • Harbaugh AW (2005) MODFLOW-2005, The U.S. Geological Survey modular ground-water model—the ground-water flow process. U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, Techniques and Methods 6-A16

    Google Scholar 

  • Harbaugh AW, Banta ER, Hill MC, McDonald MG (2000) MODFLOW-2000, The U.S. Geological Survey modular ground-water model—user guide to modularization concepts and the ground-water flow process. U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, Open-File Report 00-92

    Google Scholar 

  • Hem JD (1992) Study and interpretation of the chemical characteristics of natural water, 3rd edn, U.S. Geological Survey Water-Supply Paper 2254. U.S. Geological Survey, Reston

    Google Scholar 

  • Hill MC, Tiedeman CR (2007) Effective groundwater model calibration, with analysis of data, sensitivities, predictions, and uncertainty. Wiley, New York

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Hopps HC, Feder GL (1986) Chemical qualities of water that contribute to human health in a postive Way. Sci Total Environ 54:207–216

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Huyakorn PS, Pinder GF (1983) Computational methods in subsurface flow. Academic, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Ibaraki M, Therrien R (eds) (2001) Practical applications of coupled process models in subsurface environments. J Contam Hydrol 52

    Google Scholar 

  • Johnson CD, Truex MJ, Clement TP (2006) Natural and enhanced attenuation of chlorinated solvents using RT3D, Report PNNL-15937 Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, Washington

    Google Scholar 

  • Keller WD (1978) Drinking water: a geochemical factor in human health. Geol Soc Am Bull 89:334–336

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kenny JF, Barber NL, Hutson SS, Linsey KS, Lovelace JK, Maupin MA (2009) Estimated use of water in the United States in 2005, U.S. Geological Survey Circular 1344. U.S. Geological Survey, Reston

    Google Scholar 

  • Kipp KL Jr (1997) Guide to the revised heat and solute transport simulator, HST3D—version 2. U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, Water-Resources Investigations Report 97-4157

    Google Scholar 

  • Konikow LF (2011) The secret to successful solute-transport modeling. Ground Water 49:144–159. doi:10.1111/j.1745-6584.2010.00764.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Konikow LF, Bredehoeft JD (1992) Ground-water models cannot be validated. Adv Water Resour 15:75–83

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Konikow LF, Reilly TE (1998) Groundwater modeling. In: Delleur JW (ed) The handbook of groundwater engineering. CRC Press, Boca Raton

    Google Scholar 

  • Konikow LF, Goode DJ, Hornberger GZ (1996) A three-dimensional method of characteristics solute-transport model (MOC3D). U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, Water-Resources Investigations Report 96-4267

    Google Scholar 

  • Lichtner PC, Steefel CI, Oelkers EH (eds) (1996) Reviews in mineralogy, vol 34. Mineralogical Society of America, Washington, DC

    Google Scholar 

  • Lovley DR, Phillips EJP, Gorby Y, Landa ER (1991) Microbial reduction of uranium. Nature 35:413–416

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McDonald MG, Harbaugh AW (1988) A modular three-dimensional finite-difference ground-water flow model. U.S. Geological Survey Techniques of Water-Resources Investigations, chap. A1

    Google Scholar 

  • Michael HA, Voss CI (2008) Evaluation of the sustainability of deep groundwater as an arsenic-safe resource in the Bengal basin. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 105:8531–8536

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nordstrom DK (1994) On the evaluation and application of geochemical models. In: Proceedings of the 5th CEC natural analogue working group and alligator rivers analogue project, Report EUR 15176EN, 375–385

    Google Scholar 

  • Nordstrom DK, Munoz JL (1994) Geochemical thermodynamics, 2nd edn. Commission of the European Community, Brussels

    Google Scholar 

  • Parkhurst DL (1995) User’s guide to PHREEQC—a computer program for speciation, reaction-path, advective-transport, and inverse geochemical calculations. U.S. Geological Survey, Water-Resources Investigations Report 95-4227

    Google Scholar 

  • Parkhurst DL, Appelo CAJ (1999) User’s guide to PHREEQC (version 2)—a computer program for speciation, batch-reaction, one-dimensional transport, and inverse geochemical calculations. U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, Water-Resources Investigations Report 99-4259

    Google Scholar 

  • Parkhurst DL, Charlton SR (2008) NetpathXL-An Excel® interface to the program NETPATH. U.S. Geological Survey Techniques and Methods 6-A26 (Any use of trade, product, or firm names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government)

    Google Scholar 

  • Parkhurst DL, Christenson S, Breit GN (1993) Ground-water-quality assessment of the central Oklahoma Aquifer, Oklahoma: geochemical and geohydrologic investigations. U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, Open-File Report 92-642

    Google Scholar 

  • Parkhurst DL, Kipp KL, Charlton SR (2010) PHAST version 2—a program for simulating groundwater flow, solute transport, and multicomponent geochemical reactions. U.S. Geological Survey Techniques and Methods 6–A35

    Google Scholar 

  • Pedersen K (1993) The deep subterranean biosphere. Earth Sci Rev 34:243–260

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Plummer LN, Jones BF, Truesdell AH (1976) WATEQF–A FORTRAN IV version of WATEQ, a computer program for calculating chemical equilibrium of natural waters, U.S. Geological Survey, Reston Water-Resources Investigations Report 76-13 (revised 1984)

    Google Scholar 

  • Plummer LN, Prestemon EC, Parkhurst DL (1994) An interactive code (NETPATH) for modeling NET geochemical reactions along a flow PATH—version 2.0. U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, Water-Resources Investigations Report 94-4169

    Google Scholar 

  • Pollock DW (1989) Documentation of computer programs to compute and display pathlines using results from the U.S. Geological Survey modular three-dimensional finite-difference ground-water flow model. U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, Open-File Report 89-381

    Google Scholar 

  • Presser TS, Barnes I (1985) Dissolved constituents including selenium in waters in the vicinity of Kesterson National Wildlife Refuge and the west grassland, Fresno and Merced Counties, California. U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, Water-Resources Investigations Report 84-4220

    Google Scholar 

  • Presser TS, Swain WC, Tidball RR, Severson RC (1990) Geologic sources, mobilization, and transport of selenium from the California coast ranges to the Western San Joaquin Valley: a reconnaissance study. U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, Water-Resources Investigations Report 90-4070

    Google Scholar 

  • Radloff KA, Zheng Y, Michael HA, Stute M, Bostick BC, Mihajlov I, Bounds M, Huq MR, Choudhury I, Rahman MW, Schlosser P, Ahmed KM, van Geen A (2011) Arsenic migration to deep groundwater in Bangladesh influenced by adsorption and water demand. Nat Geosci. doi:10.1038/NGEO1283

  • Reilly TE, Harbaugh AW (2004) Guidelines for evaluating ground-water flow models. U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, Scientific Investigations Report 2004-5038

    Google Scholar 

  • Scheibe TD, Mahadevan R, Fang Y, Garg S, Long PE, Lovley DR (2009) Coupling a genome-scale metabolic model with a reactive transport model to describe in situ uranium bioremediation. Microb Biotechnol 2(2):274–286. doi:10.1111/j.1751-7915.2009.00087.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schlottmann JL, Mosier EL, Breit GN (1998) Arsenic, chromium, selenium, and uranium in the central Oklahoma aquifer. In: Christenson S, Havens JS (eds) Ground-water-quality assessment of the central Oklahoma aquifer, Oklahoma: results of investigations, U.S. Geological Survey Water-Supply Paper 2357A. U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, pp 119–179

    Google Scholar 

  • Schwarzenbach RP, Gschwend PM, Imboden DM (1993) Environmental organic chemistry. Wiley, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Stetter KO (1998) Hyperthermophiles: isolation, classification and properties. In: Horikoshi K, Grant WD (eds) Extremophiles: microbial life in extreme environments, Wiley series in ecological and applied microbiology. Wiley-Liss, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Switzer Blum J, Stolz JF, Oren A, Oremland RS (2001) Selenihalanaerobacter shriftii gen. nov., sp. nov., a halophilic anaerobe from dead sea sediments that respires selenate. Arch Microbiol 175:208–219

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Voss CI, Provost AM (2002) SUTRA, a model for saturated-unsaturated variable-density ground-water flow with solute or energy transport. U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, Water-Resources Investigations Report 02-4231

    Google Scholar 

  • Wang HF, Anderson MP (1982) Introduction to groundwater modeling. Freeman, San Francisco

    Google Scholar 

  • Winter TC, Harvey JW, Franke OL, Alley WM (1998) Ground water and surface water: a single resource, U.S. Geological Survey Circular 1139. U.S. Geological Survey, Reston

    Google Scholar 

  • Wolery TJ (1992) EQ3/6, a software package for geochemical modeling of aqueous systems: package overview and installation guide (Version 7.0), UCRL-MA-110662 pt. 1, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California

    Google Scholar 

  • Zack AL (1980) Geochemistry of fluoride in the Black Creek aquifer system of Horry and Georgetown Counties, South Carolina–and its physiological implications, U.S. Geological Survey Water-Supply Paper 2067. U.S. Geological Survey, Washington, DC

    Google Scholar 

  • Zack AL, Roberts I (1988) The geochemical evolution of aqueous sodium in the Black Creek aquifer, Horry and Georgetown Counties, South Carolina, U.S. Geological Survey Water-Supply Paper 2324. U.S. Geological Survey, Reston

    Google Scholar 

  • Zheng C (2006) MT3DMS v5.2 supplemental user’s guide: technical report to the U.S. army engineer research and development center. Department of Geological Sciences, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa

    Google Scholar 

  • Zheng C, Bennett GD (2002) Applied contaminant transport modeling, 2nd edn. Wiley-Interscience, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Zheng C, Wang PP (1999) MT3DMS: a modular three-dimensional multispecies model for simulation of advection, dispersion and chemical reactions of contaminants in groundwater systems; documentation and user’s guide. Report SERDP-99-1. U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center, Vicksburg, MS

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. United States Department of the Interior, United States Geological Survey, Reston, VA, 20192, USA

    Leonard F. Konikow & Pierre D. Glynn

Authors
  1. Leonard F. Konikow
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Pierre D. Glynn
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Leonard F. Konikow .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Geological Survey of Sweden, Uppsala, Sweden

    Olle Selinus

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2013 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Konikow, L.F., Glynn, P.D. (2013). Modeling Groundwater Flow and Quality. In: Selinus, O. (eds) Essentials of Medical Geology. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-4375-5_33

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation