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Estimating recharge based on long-term groundwater table fluctuation monitoring in a shallow aquifer of Malaysian tropical rainforest catchment

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Abstract

A practical and reliable approach was applied to investigate the groundwater dynamics and obtain natural direct recharge based on the time series of water table fluctuation in moderately flat coastal area with a shallow water table and tropical rainforest weather. Drainage rate was about 0.034 m/day in the study area as estimated by falling groundwater table in period of no rainfall and specific yield values ranged between 0.11 and 0.23 by calculating depth-dependent specific yield based on soil water storage for layering soils. The method was applied to the monthly data of shallow aquifer at eight field sites in north Kelantan river catchment in the period of 1991–2011. The cross-correlation and partial cross-correlation reveal the acceptable correlation between the water table fluctuation and the rainfall data assuming the time lag from precipitation to water table response is negligible due to shallow water table. Recharge rates vary with the field sites and mainly depend on soil type and rainfall rather than surface geology. Although computer simulation (with MRCR code) was implemented with limited data (two series), still results are just slightly greater than the field data which indicated the method successfully employed and can be applied in areas with similar conditions in future.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported primarily through the grant research reference PV112-2012A from University of Malaya. The effort of Mohamad Yusof Che Sulaiman and Abd. Rashid Ahmad from Minerals and Geoscience Department Malaysia and Abdul Aziz Abdullah from Faculty of Agriculture, University of Putra Malaysia is appreciated for their assistance with technical consultation as well as various analyses and data collection associated with this paper. The authors wish to thank Dr. Mark O. Cuthbert from University of Birmingham and Dr. Russell S. Crosbie from CSIRO Land and Water for valuable comments on earlier versions of this paper. The authors also thank all the technical reviewers and editors of this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geology, University of Malaya, 50603, Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, Malaysia

    Seyed Reza Saghravani & Ismail Yusoff

  2. Malaysian Nuclear Agency, Bangi, 43000, Kajang, Selangor, Malaysia

    Wan Zakaria Wan Md Tahir

  3. Faculty of Human Sciences, University Pendidikan Sultan Idris, 35900, Tanjung Malam, Perak, Malaysia

    Zainudin Othman

Authors
  1. Seyed Reza Saghravani
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  2. Ismail Yusoff
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  3. Wan Zakaria Wan Md Tahir
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  4. Zainudin Othman
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Correspondence to Seyed Reza Saghravani.

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Saghravani, S.R., Yusoff, I., Wan Md Tahir, W. et al. Estimating recharge based on long-term groundwater table fluctuation monitoring in a shallow aquifer of Malaysian tropical rainforest catchment. Environ Earth Sci 74, 4577–4587 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-015-4387-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-015-4387-6

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