Data-Driven Approach for Analyzing Hydrogeology and Groundwater Quality Across Multiple Scales

Area of Science:

• Hydrogeology
• Geochemistry
• Water Resource Management

Background:

• Statewide well databases offer opportunities to study groundwater quality and quantity dynamics.
• Large, lower-quality well datasets are often underutilized for rigorous scientific analysis.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and apply an approach for analyzing physical and geochemical groundwater aspects using well databases.
• To investigate the sources and dynamics of chloride in near-surface groundwater across the Lower Peninsula of Michigan.

Main Methods:

• Critically evaluated and analyzed nearly 500,000 static water levels (SWLs) using nonstationary kriging for basin-scale groundwater flow patterns.
• Developed multiscale SWL models to identify groundwater recharge and discharge zones.
• Calculated and compared chloride concentrations in relation to identified groundwater flow zones.

Main Results:

• Identified groundwater valleys (discharge) and mounds (recharge) across multiple scales.
• Consistently higher chloride concentrations were observed in discharge zones compared to recharge zones.
• Chloride concentrations generally increased with depth in synoptic sampling campaigns.

Conclusions:

• Deep Michigan brines are the primary source of elevated chloride in near-surface groundwater discharge areas.
• Groundwater flow patterns significantly influence the spatial distribution of chloride concentrations.
• The developed approach effectively utilizes large well databases for multiscale hydrogeological investigations.