MODFLOW-NWT and MODPATH6 models used to simulate contributing areas in hypothetical sedimentary rock aquifers under extreme recharge events

MODFLOW-NWT groundwater flow models and MODPATH6 particle tracking simulations were developed to determine contributing areas (CAs) for and advective travel times to domestic wells under extreme recharge events in a small hypothetical watershed underlain by dipping sedimentary rocks. The hypothetical models are based on hydrogeologic conditions in the Newark Basin, located in New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania, USA. During extreme recharge events, groundwater supply wells have increased vulnerability to contaminants or pathogens originating at land surface that are flushed into the subsurface. Fractured-rock aquifers are particularly vulnerable because transport to wells can be very fast owing to preferential flow paths through [...]