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Simulation of groundwater flow system in alluvium and fractured weathered bedrock zone: Sand Lick watershed, Boone County, West Virginia, USA

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Abstract

The Appalachian Plateau is characterized by relatively flat-laying but intensely eroded bedrock, comprising cyclical sequences of Pennsylvanian age sedimentary bedrock dominated by sandstone, siltstone, shale, coal, claystone and occasionally limestone. Fractured/weathered sandstone is potentially the main groundwater transmitting zone. Conventional field or laboratory methods of estimating the hydraulic properties in selected points within such fractured and weathered bedrock groundwater transmitting zones are seldom representative or feasible because of their heterogeneity, anisotropy and irregular aquifer geometry. Therefore, the objectives of our study is to determine the “bulk” hydraulic properties of a weathered/fractured zone in a valley located within the Appalachian Plateau Geomorphic Province as well as recharge and evapotranspiration rates by inverse numerical simulation of groundwater flow.

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Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge invaluable help rendered to us in field work by Bobby Mitchell of Charleson WV.

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Author notes

  1. Ramin Safaei Jazi

    Present address: Earth and Atmospheric Sciences Department, University of Alberta, 1-26 Earth Science Building, Edmonton, AB, T6G 2E3, Canada

  2. Yoram Eckstein

    Present address: Eckstein & Associates, Inc., P.O. Box 3026, Kent, OH, 44240, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geology, Kent State University, Kent, OH, 44242, USA

    Ramin Safaei Jazi & Yoram Eckstein

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  1. Ramin Safaei Jazi
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  2. Yoram Eckstein
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Correspondence to Yoram Eckstein.

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Jazi, R.S., Eckstein, Y. Simulation of groundwater flow system in alluvium and fractured weathered bedrock zone: Sand Lick watershed, Boone County, West Virginia, USA. Environ Earth Sci 74, 2247–2258 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-015-4216-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-015-4216-y

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