Vertical Wellbore Flow Monitoring for Assessing Spatial and Temporal Flow Relationships with a Dynamic River Boundary
A useful tool for identifying the temporal and spatial ambient wellbore flow relationships near a dynamic river boundary is to continuously monitor ambient vertical wellbore flow with an electromagnetic borehole flowmeter (EBF). This is important because the presence of the wellbore can result in significant mixing or exchange of groundwater vertically across the aquifer. Mixing or exchanging groundwater within the well-screen section can have significant impacts on the distribution of contaminants within the aquifer and adverse effects on the representativeness of groundwater samples collected from the monitoring well. EBF monitoring data collected from long, fully screened wells at Hanford’s 300-Area Integrated Field Research Challenge (IFRC) site, located ~260 to 290 m from the Columbia River, demonstrate that ambient vertical wellbore flow exhibits both a positive (direct) and inverse temporal relationship with periodic river-stage fluctuations over short distances. The ambient flow monitoring wells fully penetrate a highly transmissive unconfined aquifer that consists of unconsolidated coarse sediments of the Hanford formation. The spatial distribution of ambient vertical wellbore flows across the IFRC’s ~2,200 m2 well-field size indicates two general regions of inverse ambient wellbore flow behavior. The western region of the IFRC site is characterized by ambient vertical wellbore flows that are positively related to river-stage fluctuations. In contrast, the eastern region of the site exhibits ambient wellbore flows that are inversely related to river-stage fluctuations. The cause of this opposite relationship between ambient wellbore flows and river-stage changes is not completely understood; however, the positive relationships appear to be associated with high-energy Hanford formation flood deposits. These flood deposits have a well-defined northwest-southeast trend and are believed to coincide with a local paleochannel. This local paleochannel bisects the site and connects to larger, more regionally developed flood paleochannels that laterally connect to the north and south across the 300 Area and the Hanford Site. The inverse relationships are attributed to an erosional, subsurface high in the Hanford/Ringold formation contact between the IFRC site and the Columbia River. Under these complex hydrogeologic and hydrodynamic conditions, the behavior of ambient vertical wellbore flow in monitoring wells near a dynamic river boundary can have important implications for collecting groundwater-quality samples, for contributing to contaminant distribution and transport within an aquifer system, and for implementing effective remediation strategies.
- Research Organization:
- Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC05-76RL01830
- OSTI ID:
- 1012302
- Report Number(s):
- PNNL-SA-71859; KP1702030; TRN: US201109%%773
- Journal Information:
- Ground Water Monitoring and Remediation, 30(4):123-135, Vol. 30, Issue 4; ISSN 1069-3629
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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