Abstract
The work describes the construction of a 3D finite difference groundwater flow model of the Aosta plain (northern Italy), both in steady state and in transient solution. The model takes into account the relation between groundwater and the Dora Baltea river, which crosses the valley from west to east. It has been designed to provide the Regional Agency for Environmental Protection of the Valle d’Aosta Region (ARPA VdA) with tools able to assess quantitative groundwater management. The studied aquifer system is composed by quaternary gravelly and sandy deposits 80 m thick (western side) and 50 m thick (eastern side), overlaying silty lacustrine deposits. Locally silty layers separate the unconfined aquifer from a semi confined aquifer. The mathematical model, implemented with USGS finite-difference code Modflow2005, consists in 27 layers, 655 columns and 243 rows, with 20 × 20 m2 cell size. Stratigraphic logs have been coded and stored in TANGRAM© (www.tangram.samit.unimib.it) well database; it has linked to hydraulic conductivity and effective porosity values interpolated within a 3D geostatistical approach to rebuild the complex heterogeneity of the system. The surface-water network has been modelled by means of the StreamFlow-Routing Package (SFR2). The model considers all the items of the groundwater balance, such as recharge, evapotranspiration, snowmelt and well withdrawals. A total number of 26 groundwater head targets and one river flux target were used. Following a successful calibration of the model in a steady state simulation (January 2009), a transient simulation has been developed, on a period of 2 years (2009–2010) with 24 monthly time-step.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Bonomi T (2009) Database development and 3D modeling of textural variations in heterogeneous, unconsolidated aquifer media: application to the Milan plain. Comput Geosci 35:134–145, ISSN: 0098-3004. doi: 10.1016/j.cageo.2007.09.006
Bonomi T, Cavallin A, Stelluti G, (2001) 3-D aquifer characteristics analysis using a well database and GOCAD. In: Gehrels H et al. (ed) Impact of human activity on groundwater dynamics, vol 269. IAHS Publication, Maastricht, pp 89–93
Bonomi T, Fumagalli ML, Benastini V, Rotiroti M, Capodaglio P, Simonetto F (2013) Modellazione preliminare del flusso idrico sotterraneo e delle interazioni con le acque superficiali: piana di Aosta. Acque sotterranee. 2:31–45, ISSN: 1828-454X. doi: 10.7343/AS-017-13-0041
De Luca D, Masciocco L, Motta EV, Tonussi M (2004) Studio geologico finalizzato alla definizione delle aree di salvaguardia dei pozzi di acquedotto del comune di Aosta, Università degli Studi di Torino e Comune di Aosta
De Maio M (2010) Indagine idrogeologica sul bacino della Dora Baltea da Villeneuve a Nus: studio sui potenziali rischi di inquinamento delle acque sotterranee nonché identificazione dei siti potenzialmente pericolosi e valutazione della vulnerabilità degli acquiferi. Report finale relazione DITAG Politecnico di Torino
Niswonger RG, Prudic DE (2005) Documentation of the Streamflow-Routing (SFR2) package to include unsaturated flow beneath streams A modification to SFR1. U.S. Geol Surv Tech Methods 6-A13:50
P.I.A.H.V.A. (1992, 1994, 1996) Programme International d’Action Hydrogeologique en Val d’Aoste (1992, 1994, 1996). Universités d’Avignon, Chambéry, Turin, Centre de Recherches Géodynamiques de Tholon—Univ. Paris 6—Ecole Polytecnique de Lausanne (GEOLEP)
Pollicini F (1994) Geologia ed idrogeologia della piana di Aosta (Geology and hydrogeology of the Aosta plain). Tesi di Laurea. Dipartimento di Scienze Geologiche, Università degli Studi di Torino
Triganon A, Dzikowski M, Novel JP, Dray M, Zuppi GM, Parriaux A (2003) Échanges nappe–rivière en vallée alpine: quantification et modélisation (Vallée d’Aoste, Italie). Can J Earth Sci 40(5):775–786. doi:10.1139/E03-017
Acknowledgments
Regione Autonoma Valle d´Aosta, Department of Land and Environment, is the developer and owner of the used data.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2015 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this paper
Cite this paper
Bonomi, T., Fumagalli, M.L., Rotiroti, M., Perego, R., Simonetto, F., Capodaglio, P. (2015). Groundwater Flow Modelling of the Aosta Plain in Northern Italy. In: Lollino, G., Arattano, M., Rinaldi, M., Giustolisi, O., Marechal, JC., Grant, G. (eds) Engineering Geology for Society and Territory - Volume 3. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-09054-2_46
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-09054-2_46
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-09053-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-09054-2
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)