Groundwater recharge assessment in an upland sandstone aquifer of southern California

Abstract

The Chloride Mass Balance (CMB) method was used to obtain long-term recharge values for the Santa Susana Field Laboratory (SSFL) site, which features a groundwater flow system beneath an upland ridge formed of sandstone and shale beds in the Simi Hills, Ventura County, southern California. This application relied on the availability of on-site measurements of bulk atmospheric chloride deposition comprised of dry fallout and wet concentration, a large number of groundwater samples (∼1490) collected over three decades from 206 wells spanning a depth range from 10 to 360m, and measurements of chloride in surface runoff during rain events. The use of the CMB method is suited to the assessment of recharge for the study area because the mean chloride values in groundwater show minimal spatial trends, indicating no sources other than atmospheric. In addition, the Cl/Br ratio was used to exclude wells with possible anthropogenic chloride. The site-wide average recharge ranges between 1.8 and 9.5% of the mean annual precipitation (455mm) with a mean value of 4.2%. The measured surface runoff varies from 2.3 to 10.2% with mean value of 6.1% (28 mm) and, therefore, the volume of water lost to evapotranspiration is between 95.9 and 80.3% with a mean value of 89.6% (408mm). The long-term recharge calculated using the CMB method is consistent with tritium distribution based on a subset of groundwater monitoring wells and with an analysis of steady flow in the groundwater mound beneath the SSFL. Furthermore, the recharge value matches those in the literature for sandstone aquifers in arid and semi-arid climates. This recharge estimate has important relevance for site characterization in terms of constraining the volumetric groundwater flow rates and water balance and understanding the mechanisms of transport towards the water table. Moreover, this is the first application of the CMB in an upland area of California. Hence, the method is demonstrated to be robust and applicable to many upland bedrock areas in southern California and similar regions around the world, and can be used to quantify groundwater flow rates and supplies relevant to water resource management.