Abstract
Groundwater modelling is a commonly used technique to determine the influence of surficial processes on subsurface aquifers. In this study, a groundwater monitoring study was conducted on an agricultural field adjacent to a large drainage canal to determine the effects of the canal's operation as it relates to soil salinity during periods around flood events. The groundwater monitoring program consisted of twenty standpipes instrumented with groundwater pressure transducers that took four daily measurements. A finite element model was generated using data collected from the 2017 flood year to determine the effect of the flood on the local groundwater regime within one area consisting of four standpipes. The analysis of the model calibration yielded good to excellent results using the Nash–Sutcliffe Model Efficiency technique, with three of the four standpipes. The salt content within the model area was primarily gypsum initially derived from the underlying till and bedrock units. Model analysis indicated that various processes might impact soil salinity, including canal seepage, evapotranspiration and excessive snowmelt/recharge. The largest flood event on record for the canal was used in the calibrated model to determine the maximum extent of influence the canal has on the adjacent lands. The maximum extent of impact was found to be 112 m in the alluvial sediments and 240 m in the surficial sand structure.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Explore related subjects
Discover the latest articles and news from researchers in related subjects, suggested using machine learning.References
Alexander MD, MacQuarrie KTB (2005) The measurement of groundwater temperature in shallow piezometers and standpipes. Can Geotech J 42:1377–1390. https://doi.org/10.1139/t05-061
Allen RG, Pereira LS, Raes D, Smith M (1998) FAO Irrigation and Drainage Paper No. 56—Crop Evapotranspiration
Allen RG, Walter IA, Elliott R et al (2005) The ASCE standardized reference evapotranspiration equation. Task Committee on Standardization of Reference Evapotranspiration Environment and Water Resources Institute of the ASCE. Am. Soc. Civ. Eng.
Araki T, Yasutake D, Wang W et al (2011) Saline water seepage from drainage canals induces soil salinization and growth depression in the adjacent cornfields in the Upper Yellow River Basin.pdf. Environ Control Biol 49:127–132
ASTM Method D4448-01 (2013) Standard guide for sampling groundwater monitoring wells. West Conshohocken, Pennsylvania ((reapproved))
Bates PD, Stewart MD, Desitter A et al (2000) Numerical simulation of floodplain hydrology. Water Resour Res 36:2517–2529. https://doi.org/10.1029/2000WR900102
Betcher R, Grove G, Pupp C (1995) Groundwater in Manitoba, hydrogeology, quality concerns, management. Environment Canada, Saskatoon
Bonta JV, Müller M (1999) Evaluation de la méthode Glugla pour estimer l’évapotranspiration et la recharge de la nappe phréatique. Hydrol Sci J 44:743–761. https://doi.org/10.1080/02626669909492271
Bormann H, Holländer HM, Blume T et al (2011) Comparative discharge prediction from a small artificial catchment without model calibration: representation of initial hydrological catchment development. Bodenkultur 62:23–29
Bouwer H, Rice RC (1976) A slug test for determining hydraulic conductivity of unconfined aquifers with completely or partially penetrating wells. Water Resour Res 12:6115–6119. https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.201800887
Brümmer C, Black TA, Jassal RS et al (2012) How climate and vegetation type influence evapotranspiration and water use efficiency in Canadian forest, peatland and grassland ecosystems. Agric For Meteorol 153:14–30. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agrformet.2011.04.008
Budhu M (2011) Soil mechanics and foundations, 3rd edn. Wiley, Hoboken
Canadell J, Jackson RB, Ehleringer JR et al (1996) Maximum rooting depth of vegetation types at the global scale. Oceologia 108:583–595
Carter DL (1982) Salinity and plant productivity. In: Rechcigl M Jr (ed) CRC handbook of agricultural productivity. CRC series in nutrition and food, vol 1. CRC Press, Boca Raton, pp 117–133
Chang C, Kozub GC, Mackay DC (1985) Soil salinity status and its relation to some of the soil and land properties of three irrigation districts in southern Alberta. Can J Soil Sci 65:187–193
Cherry JA, Beswick BT, Clister WE, Lutchman M (1971) Flow patterns and hydrochemistry of two shallow groundwater regimes in the Lake Agassiz Basin, Southern Manitoba. In: Geoscience studies in Manitoba, Geological Association of Canada, Special Paper 9, pp 321–332
Czitrom V (2015) One-factor-at-a-time versus designed experiments. Am Stat 53:126–131
Environment Canada (2019a) Daily data report 2009–2019. https://climate.weather.gc.ca/climate_data/daily_data_e.html?hlyRange=%7C&dlyRange=2007-01-01%7C2020-04-17&mlyRange=2007-01-01%7C2007-11-01&StationID=45987&Prov=MB&urlExtension=_e.html&searchType=stnName&optLimit=yearRange&StartYear=1840&EndYear=2020&selR. Accessed 23 Nov 2019
Environment Canada (2019b) Historical data. https://climate.weather.gc.ca/climate_data/daily_data_e.html?hlyRange=%7C&dlyRange=2007-01-01%7C2020-04-13&mlyRange=2007-01-01%7C2007-11-01&StationID=45987&Prov=MB&urlExtension=_e.html&searchType=stnName&optLimit=yearRange&StartYear=1840&EndYear=2020&selR. Accessed 20 Sept 2019
Fang X, Minke A, Pomeroy JW et al (2007) A review of Canadian prairie hydrology: principles, modelling and response to land use and drainage change. Center for Hydrology Report No. 2. Technical Report October, University of Saskatchewan—Center for Hydrology, Saskatoon
Fenton MM (1970) The Pleistocene stratigraphy and surficial geology of the Assiniboine River to Lake Manitoba area. University of Manitoba, Manitoba
Fenton MM, Anderson DT (1971) Pleistocene stratigraphy of the Portage la Prairie Area, Manitoba. Geol. Assoc. Canada Spec. Pap. Number 9
Fetter CW (2001) Applied hydrogeology, 4th edn. Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River
Gartley K (2011) Recommended methods for measuring soluble salts in soils. In: Recommended soil procedures for the northeastern United States. Cooperative bulletin 493. University of Delaware Cooperative Extension, Newark, pp 87–94
Gilliland J (1965) Geological and groundwater investigation for the portage diversion. Department of Water Control and Conservation, Province of Manitoba
Glugla G, Jankiewicz P, Rachimow C et al (2003) BAGLUVA—Wasserhaushaltsverfahren zur Berechnung vieljähriger Mittelwerte der tatsächlichen Verdunstung und des Gesamtabflusses. Koblenz, Germany
Grasby SE (2000) Saline spring geochemistry, west-central Manitoba. In: Report of activities
Grasby SE, Betcher RN (2002) Regional hydrogeochemistry of the carbonate rock aquifer, southern Manitoba. Can J Earth Sci 39:1053–1063. https://doi.org/10.1139/e02-021
Greenway H, Munns R (1980) Mechanisms of salt tolerance in nonhalophytes. Annu Rev Plant Physiol 31:149–190. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.pp.31.060180.001053
Hem JD (1985) Study and interpretation of the chemical characteristics of natural water, 3rd edn. US Geological Survey, Water-Supply Paper 2254
Hogeboom RHJ, Van OPR, Krol MS, Booij MJ (2015) Modelling the influence of groundwater abstractions on the water level of Lake Naivasha, Kenya under data-scarce conditions. Water Resour Manag. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11269-015-1069-9
Holländer HM, Blume T, Bormann H et al (2009) Comparative predictions of discharge from an artificial catchment (Chicken Creek) using sparse data. Hydrol Earth Syst Sci 13:2069–2094
Holländer HM, Bormann H, Blume T et al (2014) Impact of modellers’ decisions on hydrological a priori predictions. Hydrol Earth Syst Sci 18:2065–2085. https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-18-2065-2014
Holländer H, Wang Z, Assefa KA, Woodbury AD (2016) Improved recharge estimation from portable, low-cost weather stations. Groundwater. https://doi.org/10.1111/gwat.12346
Ireson A, Makropoulos C, Maksimovic C (2006) Water resources modelling under data scarcity: coupling MIKE BASIN and ASM groundwater model. Water Resour Manag 20:567–590. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11269-006-3085-2
Jackson EK, Roberts W, Nelsen B et al (2019) Introductory overview: error metrics for hydrologic modelling—a review of common practices and an open source library to facilitate use and adoption. Environ Model Softw 119:32–48. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsoft.2019.05.001
Jain MK, Kothyari UC, Ranga Raju KG (2004) A GIS based distributed rainfall–runoff model. J Hydrol 299:107–135. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2004.04.024
Kim HS, Kim KR, Lee SH et al (2018) Effect of gypsum on exchangeable sodium percentage and electrical conductivity in the Daeho reclaimed tidal land soil in Korea—a field scale study. J Soils Sediments 18:336–341. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-016-1446-x
Kottek M, Grieser J, Beck C et al (2006) World Map of the Köppen-Geiger climate classification updated. Meteorol Zeitschrift 15:259–263
Lekakis EH, Antonopoulos VZ (2015) Modeling the effects of different irrigation water salinity on soil water movement, uptake and multicomponent solute transport. J Hydrol 530:431–446. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2015.09.070
Hatch Ltd (2015) If and as required hydrotechnical services—2011 flood, Winnipeg
McFarlane DJ, George RJ, Barrett-Lennard EG, Gilfedder M (2016) Innovations in dryland agriculture. Innovations in dryland agriculture. Springer, Cham, pp 521–547
Meyer PA, Brouwers M, Martin PJ (2014) A three-dimensional groundwater flow model of the Waterloo Moraine for water resource management. Can Water Resour J 39:167–180. https://doi.org/10.1080/07011784.2014.914800
Michalyna W, Smith RE (1972) Soils of the Portage la Prairie area. Manitoba Department of Agriculture, Winnipeg
Moriasi DN, Arnold JG, Van LMW et al (2007) Model evaluation guidelines for systematic quantification of accuracy in watershed simulations. Trans Am Soc Agric Biol Eng 50:885–900
Nash JE, Sutcliffe JV (1970) River flow forecasting through conceptual models part I—a discussion of principles. J Hydrol 10:282–290
Ndomba P, Mtalo F, Killingtveit A (2008) SWAT model application in a data scarce tropical complex catchment in Tanzania. Phys Chem Earth 33:626–632. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pce.2008.06.013
Parkhurst DL, Appelo CAJ (2013) Description of input and examples for PHREEQC version 3—a computer program for speciation, batch-reaction, one-dimensional transport, and inverse geochemical calculations. US Geological Survey Techniques and Methods, book 6, chapter A43, p 497
Peel MC, Finlayson BL, McMahon TA (2007) Updated world map of the Köppen-Geiger climate classification. Hydrol Earth Syst Sci 11:1633–1644. https://doi.org/10.1002/ppp.421
Plummer LN, Parkhurst DL, Fleming GW, Dunkle SA (1988) A computer program incorporating Pitzer’s equations for calculation of geochemical reactions in brines. US Geological Survey Water-Resources Investigation Report 88-4153
Rannie WF, Thorleifson LH, Teller JT (1989) Holocene evolution of the Assiniboine River paleochannels and Portage la Prairie alluvial fan. Can J Earth Sci 26:1834–1841. https://doi.org/10.1139/e89-156
Reilly BTE, Harbaugh AW (2004) Guidelines for evaluating groundwater flow models, United States Geological Survey, Scientific Investigation 2004-5038. Reston
Rhoades JD, Chanduvi F, Lesch S (1999) Soil salinity assessment: methods and interpretation of electrical conductivity measurements. FAO Irrig Drain Pap
Seelig BD (2000) Salinity and sodicity in North Dakota soils. In: North Dakota State University Extension, pp 1–16
Shewchuk J (2014) Reprint of: Delaunay refinement algorithms for triangular mesh generation. Comput Geom Theory Appl 47:741–778. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.comgeo.2014.02.005
Singh J, Knapp HV, Demissie M (2004) Hydrological modeling of the Iroquois River watershed using HSPF and SWAT. In: Illinois State Water Surv. Contract Rep. 2004-08. https://swat.tamu.edu/media/90101/singh.pdf
Skaggs RW, Youssef MA, Chescheir GM (2012) Drainmod: model use, calibration, and validation. Trans Am Soc Agric Biol Eng 55:1509–1522
Skarie RL, Richardson JL, Maianu A, Clambey GK (1986) Soil and groundwater salinity along drainage ditches in eastern North Dakota. J Environ Qual 15:335–340. https://doi.org/10.2134/jeq1986.00472425001500040004x
Song X, Zhang J, Zhan C et al (2015) Global sensitivity analysis in hydrological modeling: review of concepts, methods, theoretical framework, and applications. J Hydrol 523:739–757. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2015.02.013
Sperling T, Munro WK, Freeze RA (1989) Groundwater control at Highland Valley Copper. Int J Surf Min Reclam Environ 3:167–174. https://doi.org/10.1080/09208118908944271
Stein R, Schwartz FW (1990) On the origin of saline soils at Blackspring Ridge, Alberta, Canada. J Hydrol 117:99–131. https://doi.org/10.1016/0022-1694(90)90088-F
Steppuhn H (2013) Principles and crop yield response to root-zone salinity. Prairie Soils Crop J 6:40–51
Sturm M, Taras B, Liston GE et al (2010) Estimating snow water equivalent using snow depth data and climate classes. J Hydrometerol 11:1380–1394. https://doi.org/10.1175/2010JHM1202.1
Switzman H, Coulibaly P, Adeel Z (2015) Modeling the impacts of dryland agricultural reclamation on groundwater resources in Northern Egypt using sparse data. J Hydrol 520:420–438. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2014.10.064
Tanji KK, Kielen NC (2002) Agricultural drainage water management in arid and semi-arid areas. In: Irrigation and Drainage Paper No. 61. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome
US Department of Agriculture NRCS (2019) National soil survey handbook, title 430-VI. https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/detail/soils/ref/?cid=nrcs142p2_054240
USDA (2019) Saturated hydraulic conductivity in relation to soil texture. https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/detail/soils/survey/office/ssr10/tr/?cid=nrcs144p2_074846
Visconti F, de Paz JM, Rubio JL (2010) Calcite and gypsum solubility products in water-saturated salt-affected soil samples at 25 °C and at least up to 14 dS m−1. Eur J Soil Sci 61:255–270. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2389.2009.01214.x
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to express their gratitude to all those involved in this study, including Manitoba Infrastructure for providing the funding, the agricultural producers within the study area who allowed this work to be conducted on their private lands and the anonymous reviewer(s) whose comments and suggestions led to improvements of the manuscript.
Funding
Funding for this study was provided by the Manitoba Infrastructure–Water Management and Structures Division in the Manitoba Government.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Rentz, J.W., Sri Ranjan, R. & Holländer, H.M. Hydrogeological investigation of soil salinity adjacent to a flood protection infrastructure. Environ Earth Sci 80, 19 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-020-09297-5
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-020-09297-5