Abstract
Data on the hydrologic properties of aquifers are frequently not available or are spatially limited; additionally, their determination through aquifer tests is often logistically complicated and economically expensive. This study aimed to estimate aquifer properties by analyzing the water level response for the effects of barometric pressure and earth tide. Harmonic analysis of the time series of water level and barometric pressure recorded in three boreholes in the Mexicali aquifer provided reasonable values of porosity, specific storage, transmissivity, and compressibility of the rock materials that constitute the alluvial aquifer. The representative values of porosity (14–20%), specific storage (1.74–6.23 × 10−6 m–1), transmissivity (8.57–8.66 × 10−7 m2·s–1), and compressibility (3.90–8.21 × 10−10 Pa–1) were obtained. These values were consistent with the sediment types identified in the proximity of the wells analyzed. The results of this study show that the analysis of water level response to natural phenomena is a low-cost tool that provides reasonable estimates of aquifer properties. This advantage is particularly relevant in the study of aquifers where the available hydrological information is insufficient.
Highlights
The detailed recording and analysis of the water-table level fluctuations in monitoring wells in response to natural and anthropogenic phenomena is an essential tool for hydrogeologists and geophysicists since their response mainly depends on the properties of the rock materials that constitute the aquifer
Under conditions of perfect confinement and high lateral permeability of the aquifer, fluctuations in the water level related to earth tides and barometric pressure variations are expressed through two constants, known as tidal sensitivity and barometric efficiency, respectively [8]
The low-frequency trend was removed from the water level and barometric pressure data to ensure that time series were stationary
Summary
The detailed recording and analysis of the water-table level fluctuations in monitoring wells in response to natural and anthropogenic phenomena is an essential tool for hydrogeologists and geophysicists since their response mainly depends on the properties of the rock materials that constitute the aquifer. The water level in a well is highly sensitive to different processes such as precipitation seepage, evapotranspiration and induced recharge, regional flow and pumping, barometric pressure variations, earth tides, and seismic activity [1,2,3,4,5,6,7] Some of these phenomena are responsible for inducing enough stress to deform the structure of the aquifer. Under conditions of perfect confinement and high lateral permeability of the aquifer, fluctuations in the water level related to earth tides and barometric pressure variations are expressed through two constants, known as tidal sensitivity and barometric efficiency, respectively [8] These parameters can be used to estimate geohydrological and poroelastic properties of aquifer materials [1,3,4,6].
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