• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.12 no.5
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• pp.19-32
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• 2007

In Korea, there have been various methods of estimating groundwater recharge which generally can be subdivided into three types: baseflow separation method by means of groundwater recession curve, water budget analysis based on lumped conceptual model in watershed, and water table fluctuation method (WTF) by using the data from groundwater monitoring wells. However, groundwater recharge rate shows the spatial-temporal variability due to climatic condition, land use and hydrogeological heterogeneity, so these methods have various limits to deal with these characteristics. To overcome these limitations, we present a new method of estimating recharge based on water balance components from the SWAT-MODFLOW which is an integrated surface-ground water model. Groundwater levels in the interest area close to the stream have dynamics similar to stream flow, whereas levels further upslope respond to precipitation with a delay. As these behaviours are related to the physical process of recharge, it is needed to account for the time delay in aquifer recharge once the water exits the soil profile to represent these features. In SWAT, a single linear reservoir storage module with an exponential decay weighting function is used to compute the recharge from soil to aquifer on a given day. However, this module has some limitations expressing recharge variation when the delay time is too long and transient recharge trend does not match to the groundwater table time series, the multi-reservoir storage routing module which represents more realistic time delay through vadose zone is newly suggested in this study. In this module, the parameter related to the delay time should be optimized by checking the correlation between simulated recharge and observed groundwater levels. The final step of this procedure is to compare simulated groundwater table with observed one as well as to compare simulated watershed runoff with observed one. This method is applied to Mihocheon watershed in Korea for the purpose of testing the procedure of proper estimation of spatio-temporal groundwater recharge distribution. As the newly suggested method of estimating recharge has the advantages of effectiveness of watershed model as well as the accuracy of WTF method, the estimated daily recharge rate would be an advanced quantity reflecting the heterogeneity of hydrogeology, climatic condition, land use as well as physical behaviour of water in soil layers and aquifers.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.8-21
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• 2008

A series of three-dimensional numerical simulations using a hydrodynamic dispersion numerical model is performed to analyze quantitatively impacts of layered heterogeneity of geologic media and groundwater pumping schemes on groundwater flow and salt transport in coastal aquifer systems. A two-layer heterogeneous coastal aquifer system composed of a lower sand layer (aquifer) and an upper clay layer (aquitard) and a corresponding single-layer homogeneous coastal aquifer system composed of an equivalent lumped material are simulated to evaluate impacts of layered heterogeneity on seawater intrusion. In addition, a continuous groundwater pumping scheme and two different periodical groundwater pumping schemes, which withdraw the same amount of groundwater during the total simulation time, are applied to the above two coastal aquifer systems to evaluate impacts of groundwater pumping schemes on seawater intrusion. The results of the numerical simulations show that the periodical groundwater pumping schemes have more significant adverse influences on groundwater flow and salt transport not only in the lower sand layer but also in the upper clay layer, and groundwater salinization becomes more intensified spatially and temporally as the pumping intensity is higher under the periodical groundwater pumping schemes. These imply that the continuous groundwater pumping scheme may be more suitable to minimize groundwater salinization due to seawater intrusion. The results of the numerical simulations also show that groundwater salinization in the upper clay layer occurs significantly different from that in the lower sand layer under the periodical groundwater pumping schemes. Such differences in groundwater salinization between the two adjacent layers may result from layered heterogeneity of the layered coastal aquifer system.