Chemical water types and their distribution in space and time in the Amsterdam dune-water catchment area with artificial recharge

Abstract

The geology, hydrology and types of groundwater exploitation of the Amsterdam dune-water catchment area with artificial recharge of water from the river Rhine are briefly introduced. A classification of natural and artificial watertypes in the catchment is presented together with their genesis and distribution in space and time. The natural, vertical, hydrochemical zonation in fresh, brackish and salt groundwaters has been disturbed by decades of overdraft and the subsequent start of artificial recharge since 1957. Various mixed-water types resulted. A detailed case study of a part of the catchment area (around the Barnaart-Schuster Canal) covers a period of about 50 years. The decisive influence of geological inhomogeneities on the patterns of saltwater encroachment during the period of overdraft and on the patterns of infiltration of river water into the deep aquifer after the start of artificial recharge are demonstrated. The shifts in the subsurface positions of the various water types due to changes in the groundwater management of the catchment area are elucidated. They give an example of displacement and dispersion phenomena under field conditions.