Recharge and Residence Times in an Arid Area Aquifer

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Recharge and Residence Times in an Arid Area Aquifer Recharge and residence times in an arid area aquifer Dissertation zur Erlangung des akademischen Grades Doktoringenieur (Dr.-Ing.) vorgelegt von M¨uller, Thomas, Dipl.-Ing. Gutachter: Herr Prof. Dr. Rudolf Liedl Technische Universit¨atDresden Herr Prof. Dr. Werner Aeschbach-Hertig Universit¨atHeidelberg Herr Prof. Dr. Johannes Barth Universit¨atErlangen-N¨urnberg Dresden, 13. Dezember 2012 Erkl¨arung Erkl¨arungdes Promovenden Die Ubereinstimmung¨ dieses Exemplars mit dem Original der Disser- tation zum Thema: Recharge and residence times in an arid area aquifer wird hiermit best¨atigt. ........................................ Ort, Datum ........................................ Unterschrift (Vorname Name) ii COMITTEE Head of the Committee: Herr Prof. Dr. Christian Bernhofer Technische Universit¨atDresden 1. Reviewer: Herr Prof. Dr. Rudolf Liedl Technische Universit¨atDresden 2. Reviewer: Herr Prof. Dr. Werner Aeschbach-Hertig Universit¨atHeidelberg 3. Reviewer: Herr Prof. Dr. Johannes Barth Universit¨atErlangen-N¨urnberg Day of the defense: 19.04.2013 Signature of the head of the PhD committee: iv Still, it was worth it. vi Acknowledgements First and foremost, I would like to thank Dr. Gerhard Strauch for the last three and a half years of working together. Thank you, especially for taking responsibility, for always giving me support and for encour- aging me throughout the dissertation (but also for ignoring me when becoming too fundamental with my criticism!). I hope I will never forget your ability to look ahead with enthusiasm and curiosity. Outstanding was the time at the USGS in Reston. Even it was only 3 months, the experiences I made there were of crucial importance for this work. By working together with Ward Sanford I had the chance to learn a lot about groundwater modelling and age dating, but also about how to do science in general and what good scientific practice is. Thank you Ward. I would also like to thank Professor Rudolf Liedl for his willingness to become the supervisor of this work, even though I was already half-way into my dissertation. The discussions and meetings we had were very valuable for me. During many visits in Oman I had the chance to experience the warm hospitality of the Omani people which I hope I will always remember. Many people supported my data collection and field work. Dr. Khalid Al-Mashaikhi, Dr. Abduallah Al-Bawain, Dr. Tariq Helmi and Dr. Abdulaziz Ali-Al-Mashaikhi shall be named here in representation of the Ministry of Regional Municipalities and Water Resources and of all those involved. For the critical reviews and discussions on the dating section I would like to thank Dr. Stephan Weise and Dr. Karsten Osenbr¨uck. Also, the discussions with Professor Peter Fritz, Professor Werner Aeschbach- Hertig and Dr. Wolfgang Gossel have been very valuable for me. Thank you for that. Thanks also to Edda, Jan and Jan, Andreas and Christian for giving me feedback to parts of this thesis. This work was funded through the Federal German Ministry of Educa- tion and Research (BMBF). So, many thanks go out to our society, the taxpayers, but also to our educational system wich provides opportuni- ties for personal development. Many thanks to the team International Postgraduate Studies in Water and Technology (IPSWaT) for their fi- nancial support and benefits without which this work would not have been possible. Thanks to Stefan Pavetich for the analysis and discussion of the 36Cl- data. Thanks also to David Huenlich and Jessica Plummer for correc- tions to my English. Many others have been helpful in different ways: Armin and Agnes for sure, Nico and Fred. Thanks also to the Helmholtz-Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ and here especially the Department of Hydrogeology for allowing me an enormous amount of freedom and independence, and for provid- ing financial and technical support when necessary. The Helmholtz Interdisciplinary Graduate School for Environmental Research (HI- GRADE) gave me the chance to participate in lectures and seminars which helped to expand my horizon beyond the water and modelling sector. Thanks for that and for the uncomplicated handling of financial support. How can I express my gratitude to the people important in my life? My sister Grit, Anton und Paula, my friends Ines, Christian and Martin? You all know how happy I am to have you - but it probably won’t hurt to say that again. Sorry for my difficulties to properly set my priorities. Sarah, that I met you during this PhD journey was the best that could happen. While the PhD is (almost) over, we can go on. Isn’t this just great? Thesen 1. Rain and surface water flow occur from time to time in the arid climate of today’s Najd. They are possible sources for groundwa- ter recharge. 2. Modern groundwater recharge to the deep groundwaters - the lower Umm Er Radhuma aquifers - in the Najd does occur. 3. The deep Najd groundwaters are part of an active flow system. Modern recharge must exist to maintain the observed groundwater levels in the Najd. 4. Calculations of the mean groundwater residence times based on radiocarbon data underestimate the groundwater residence times of the deep Najd groundwaters. 5. 36Cl and 4He proove to be more robust tracers for the age dating of the deep aquifers in the Najd. 6. The mean groundwater residence times of the lower Umm Er Rad- huma aquifers in the central Najd are in the range of 550,000 years. The resulting flow velocities are below 0.5 m a−1. x Thesen 1. Regen und Oberfl¨achenabfluss treten im heutigen ariden Najd in unregelm¨assigenAbst¨andenauf. Damit steht Wasser f¨urGrund- wasserneubildung zur Verf¨ugung. 2. Es erfolgt eine Grundwasserneubildung in die tiefen Grundwasser- leiter der Umm Er Radhuma Formation im Najd. 3. Die tiefen Grundwasserleiter im Najd sind Teil eines aktiven Fließ- systems. Rezente Grundwasserneubildung ist notwendig um die aktuell gemessenen Grundwasserst¨andein den tiefen Grundwasser- leitern zu halten. 4. Die Berechnungen der Grundwasseralter basierend auf C-14 Daten untersch¨atzendie mittleren Verweilzeiten der tiefen Grundwasser im Najd. 5. Chlor-36 und Helium-4 erscheinen im Vergleich mit C-14 die zu- verl¨assigerenTracer f¨urdie Datierung der tiefen Grundwasser im Najd zu sein. 6. Im zentralen Najd k¨onnendie Grundwasseralter im tiefen Umm Er Radhuma Grundwasserleiter im Bereich bis zu 550 000 Jahren liegen. Damit ergeben sich Fließgeschwindigkeiten unterhalb 0,5 m a−1. xii Abstract Deteriorating water quality in the face of a rising demand for agricul- tural products triggered interest in the groundwater resources of the Najd dessert, an arid region of southern Oman. Groundwater in this area usually is abstracted from one of the largest aquifers on the Arabian Peninsula, the Umm Er Radhuma aquifer. Increased discharge stands in contrast to limited precipitation: the monsoon is an annual event but it is regionally limited; cyclones in- frequently occur within the range of three to seven years. Both are possible sources for groundwater recharge in the Najd. With these preconditions in mind, the present study investigates recharge to the Najd groundwaters as part of an active flow system and eval- uates the mean residence time in the deep groundwaters. The tools of choice are a groundwater flow model combined with environmental isotope tracer data. The two-dimensional flow model replicates the characteristics of the aquifer system from the potential recharge area in the south (Dhofar Mountains) to the discharge area in the north (Sabkha Umm as Sam- mim). The south-to-north gradients and the observed artesian heads in the confined aquifer are reproduced. Simulation results indicate that changes between wet and dry periods caused transient responses in heads and head gradients lasting for several thousand years. Based on the used parameters the model calibration indicated, that a recharge rate of around 4 mm a−1 is sufficient to reproduce current groundwater levels. Since rising groundwater levels were documented after cyclone Keila in November 2011, modern recharge evidently oc- curs. xiv 36Cl concentrations and dissolved-helium concentrations indicate that the deep groundwaters in the central Najd are up to 550,000 years old. Thus, radiocarbon values indicating groundwater residence times for the central Najd up to 20,000 years and the northern Najd up to 35,000 years underestimate the groundwater residence times and seem to have been strongly affected by mixing during sampling. Decreasing 36Cl and increasing 4He concentrations confirm the expected trend in the direction of groundwater flow and prove to be more robust tracers for age dating of Najd groundwaters. Backward pathline tracking was used to simulate the groundwater ages. The tracking results show that a total porosity value between 15 and 20 % is consistent with the range of the observed chlorine-36 and heli- umbased ages. The results and parameters obtained in the present study provide the basis for future 3D-groundwater models designed to evaluate the water resources available to the Najd’s agricultural complex. In addition, the developed 2D-model allows for studies of paleoclimate scenarios and their influence on the groundwater regime. xv Kurzfassung Ein steigender Bedarf nach landwirtschaftlichen Produkten - und damit Wasser - bei gleichzeitiger Abnahme des verf¨ugbarenWassers in Qualit¨at und Menge in den bisherigen Anbaugebieten, f¨uhrtzu einer inteniven Nutzung der Grundwasserressourcen der ariden Najd-Region in der Provinz Dhofar, im S¨udendes Sultanats Oman. Als Quelle dienen die Grundwasservorr¨atedes Umm Er Radhuma-Aquifers, einer der Haup- taquifere auf der arabischen Halbinsel. Der steigenden Nutzung ste- hen mit dem j¨ahrlichen Monsoon, der regional limitiert ist, und un- rgelm¨assigen,zwischen 3 und 7 Jahren auftretenden Unwettern (Zyk- lonniederschlag) nur begrenzte Niederschlagsmengen als Quellen f¨ur eine m¨ogliche Zufuhr von Wasser (Grundwasserneubildung) zum Aquifer- system gegen¨uber. Der Ansatz der vorliegenden Arbeit besteht darin, mit Hilfe eines Grundwassermodells und der Einbeziehung von Umweltisotopen das tiefe und zur Nutzung gef¨orderteGrundwasser in der Najd-Region als Teil eines aktiven Fließsystemes zu untersuchen und mittlere Ver- weilzeiten des Grundwassers abzuleiten.
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