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Publications > Slater and others, 2010.

Examination of groundwater-surface water interaction at the Hanford 300 Area using time-lapse resistivity imaging and distributed temperature sensing

L.D. Slater (lslater@andromeda.rutgers.edu)
Rutgers-Newark, Newark, NJ, USA

F.D. Day-Lewis (daylewis@usgs.gov)
U.S. Geological Survey, Storrs, CT, USA

D. Ntarlagiannis (dimntar@andromeda.rutgers.edu)
Rutgers-Newark, Newark, NJ, USA

K.E. Mwakanyamale (kisam@pegasus.rutgers.edu)
Rutgers-Newark, Newark, NJ, USA

T.C. Johnson (timothy.johnson@inl.gov)
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, USA

M.H. Alwasif (Mehrez@andromeda.rutgers.edu)
Rutgers-Newark, Newark, NJ, USA

A.L. Ward (andy.ward@pnl.gov)
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, USA

R. Versteeg (Roelof.Versteeg@skyresearch.com)
Sky Research, Etna, NH, USA

A. Binley (a.binley@lancaster.ac.uk)
Lancaster University, Lancaster, United Kingdom

J.W. Lane, Jr. (jwlane@usgs.gov)
U.S. Geological Survey, Storrs, CT, USA

Abstract

Groundwater-surface water interaction strongly influences transport of uranium-contaminated groundwater to the Columbia River at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Hanford 300 Area, Hanford, WA. Continuous resistivity (using static cables on land) and fiber-optic distributed temperature sensing (DTS) have been performed along ~1 km of the Columbia River corridor centered on the Hanford 300 Area Integrated Field Challenge (IFC) site. Strong natural contrasts in temperature and specific conductance of river water compared to groundwater at this site have been exploited to yield new insights into the dynamics of groundwater-surface water interaction. Whereas DTS datasets have provided meter-scale measurements of focused groundwater discharge at the riverbed along the corridor, continuous resistivity monitoring has non-invasively imaged spatiotemporal variation in the extent of groundwater-surface water mixing within the aquifer. Time-frequency analysis of the DTS datasets and cross correlation with time series of river stage and groundwater levels has provided insights into the role of forcing variables, such as daily dam operations on the river, in regulating the occurrence of focused exchange at the riverbed. In contrast, time-lapse inversion of continuous resistivity imaging datasets has provided insights into the lateral and vertical extent of groundwater-surface water mixing in the aquifer, as well as the connectivity of this mixing to the points of focused discharge identified with DTS on the riverbed. Our findings suggest that the simultaneous acquisition of time-lapse resistivity and DTS datasets is a promising approach for improving the understanding of groundwater-surface water interaction along river corridors, offering unique opportunities to connect groundwater discharge observed with DTS on the riverbed to the extent of mixing within the aquifer due to both recharge and discharge events.

Final copy as submitted to the American Geophysical Union for publication as: Slater, L., Day-Lewis, F.D., Ntarlagiannis, D., Mwakanyamale, K., Johnson, T., Elwaseif, M., Ward, A., Versteeg, R., Binley, A., and Lane, J.W., Jr., 2010, Examination of groundwater-surface water interaction at the Hanford 300 Area using time-lapse resistivity imaging and distributed temperature sensing [abs.], in 2010 Fall Meeting, San Francisco, California, 13-17 December 2010, proceedings: American Geophysical Union, Washington, D.C., abstract H34A-03 (invited).