LU gramata Highligts 2013 labota:Layout 1 17-Jan-13 13:53 Page 1 Highlights of groundwater research in the Baltic Artesian Basin LU gramata Highligts 2013 labota:Layout 1 17-Jan-13 13:53 Page 2 INVESTING IN YOUR FUTURE The book is prepared and printed with the support of European Social Fund Project No. 2009/0212/1DP/1.1.1.2.0/09/APIA/VIAA/060. Editorial board: Aija Dēliņa, Dr. geol. Andis Kalvāns, Dr. geol. Tomas Saks, Dr. geol. Uldis Bethers, Dr. phys. Valdis Vircavs, Mg. sc. geol. Language editor Uldis Verners Brūns Technical coordination Gunta Kalvāne Agnese Marnica All papers are peer reviewed. © University of Latvia, 2012 ISBN 978-9984-45-602-7 LU gramata Highligts 2013 labota:Layout 1 17-Jan-13 13:53 Page 3 CONTENTS Preface A.Kalvāns, U.Bethers, A.Dēliņa ....................................................................... 5 Geological evolution of the Baltic Artesian Basin E. Lukševičs, Ģ. Stinkulis, A. Mūrnieks, K. Popovs.......................................... 7 Script based MOSYS system for the generation of a three dimensional geological structure and the calculation of groundwater flow: case study of the Baltic Artesian Basin J. Virbulis, A. Timuhins, K. Popovs, I. Klints, J. Seņņikovs, U. Bethers........... 53 Groundwater flow beneath the Scandinavian ice sheet in the Baltic Basin T. Saks, J. Seņņikovs, A. Timuhins, A. Marandi, A. Kalvāns .......................... 75 A list of the factors controlling groundwater composition in the Baltic Artesian Basin A. Kalvāns .......................................................................................................... 91 Groundwater abstraction in the Baltic Artesian Basin I. Klints, A. Dēliņa.............................................................................................. 106 Oxygen and hydrogen stable isotope composition in the groundwater of the Baltic Artesian Basin A. Babre, A. Marandi, Ž. Skuratovič.................................................................. 123 Impact of climate change on the shallow groundwater level regime in Latvia D. Lauva, I. Grīnfelde, A. Veinbergs.................................................................. 134 Surface water-groundwater interactions in agricultural areas V. Vircavs, K. Abramenko, D. Lauva, A. Veinbergs, Z. Dimanta, A. Gailuma, I. Vītola .......................................................................................... 146 LU gramata Highligts 2013 labota:Layout 1 17-Jan-13 13:53 Page 4 LU gramata Highligts 2013 labota:Layout 1 17-Jan-13 13:53 Page 5 5 Preface The Baltic Artesian Basin (BAB) is found at the western corner of the East-Eu- ropean platform. In the east it is delimited from the much larger Moscow basin by diverging groundwater flow patterns and anticline structures. The underlying base- ment reaches the surface along the northern border of the sedimentary basin; its west- ern boundary is determined by the Teisseyre – Tornquist fault zone, whilst the southern edge – by the Byelorussian – Masurian anticline. Geographically the BAB roughly corresponds to the territories of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, the Kalin- ingrad region of the Russian Federation and the central part of the Baltic Sea reaching the island of Gotland, with its outskirts in northern Poland, north-western Byelorussia and the very west of the mainland of the Russian Federation. A detailed introduction about the geological evolution of the Baltic sedimentary basin is given in this book, followed by multidisciplinary highlights of the research evolving around groundwater issues. The compendium emerged as a result of studies performed in a multidisciplinary group brought together within the framework of a three year long project “Establish- ment of interdisciplinary scientist group and modelling system for groundwater re- search1” which was launched in 2009. A group of PhD students, recent PhD graduates and foreign scientists in the field of geology (Faculty of Geography and Earth Science of the University of Latvia) teamed up with an experienced group of modellers (Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of the University of Latvia) and engineers (Faculty of Rural Engineering, Latvian University of Agriculture) to establish a mathematical model of the Baltic Artesian Basin. The combination of knowledge found in old books and paper maps and modern information technology tools, plus a willingness to over- come multi-disciplinary and inter-organisational barriers using novel modelling meth- ods resulted in structural model and a hydrogeological model of the Baltic Artesian Basin. An insight into the model and its construction has been provided within this book. Hydrogeology is often classified as an applied science. Here we try to diverge from this somewhat restricted approach, considering groundwater as an interesting ob- ject of research per se. We took a holistic or academic look at groundwater – a slow turn-over branch of the global hydrological cycle that forms a huge in-homogeneous reservoir of water. It is inseparably confined by a matrix of even more in-homogeneous porous materials – rocks and sediments – the geological structure. This volume is intended for three groups of readers. The first group are geology students who might found this to be a valuable stepping stone for entering the realm of geological research on the region. Various paths for further reading are given in the references. The second expected group are the practitioners – hydrogeologists - work- ing in the region. For them this book may serve as an insight into recent academic de- 1 Project No. 2009/0212/1DP/1.1.1.2.0/09/APIA/VIAA/060 LU gramata Highligts 2013 labota:Layout 1 17-Jan-13 13:53 Page 6 6 velopments. The third group are fellow researchers not directly working in the field of hydrogeology: they may find either background information about the geology of the region or pathways for further information in the book. The subjective nature of this book needs to be stressed: it has a strong bias towards Latvia. The relevance of the book may decrease as the distance from the country in- creases. Estonia as a close neighbour is covered fairy well, but Lithuania as well as other territories is considered in less detail and the reconstructions are less reliable. This means that there is still room for improvement and future research! This collection of articles does not pretend to be comprehensive reference material on the Baltic Artesian Basin. The articles represent the scientific interests of their au- thors and illustrate the specifics of multidisciplinary studies. Enjoy your reading! Board of editors: Dr. geol. Aija Dēliņa Dr. geol. Andis Kalvāns Dr. geol. Tomas Saks Dr. phys. Uldis Bethers Mg. sc. geol. Valdis Vircavs. LU gramata Highligts 2013 labota:Layout 1 17-Jan-13 13:53 Page 7 7 Geological evolution of the Baltic Artesian Basin Ervīns Lukševičs ), Ģirts Stinkulis, Atis Mūrnieks, Konrāds Popovs University of Latvia, Faculty of Geography and Earth Sciences ) E-mail: [email protected] Keywords: Baltic Basin; groundwater flow; Scandinavian Ice sheet; glacial meltwater intrusion 1. Introduction The Baltic Artesian Basin (BAB) is one of the largest groundwater basins in Europe. It is spread over the Palaeozoic Baltic sedimentary basin and the whole ter- ritory of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and the Kaliningrad region of Russia, part of the Leningrad and Pskov regions of Russia, Belarus and the north-eastern part of Poland, as well as wide areas of the Baltic Sea, including Gotland Island. Its total area is 462,000 square kilometres: about 255,000 – 260,000 square kilometres being the land area with the remaining part being under the waters of the Baltic Sea. The BAB covers a vast region that spreads across the north-western part of the core of Eastern Europe and the East European Craton (EEC). The area of the EEC formed when several small continents and island arcs collided and joined to- gether about two billion years ago during the Paleoproterozoic. Precambrian meta- morphic and igneous rocks now form the stable basement of the BAB. The entire region has a low relief, reflecting more than 600 million years of relative tectonic sta- bility. During the long and complicated geological history, several regional tectonic elements formed within the area of the BAB such as the Baltic Syneclise, the Lat- vian Saddle, the southern slope of the Baltic (=Fennoscandian) Shield, and the Mazurian-Belarussian Anteclise, which is characteristic of the Cambrian – Car- boniferous time. The Middle Baltic Depression and the Polish-Lithuanian Depres- sion, formed later as well within the southern part of the Baltic Syneclise (Brangulis and Kaņevs, 2002). Throughout the Phanerozoic, the mostly low-lying territory of the Baltic States remained relatively weakly affected by the mountain-building tectonic collisions suffered by the western, northern and eastern margins of the EEC. An ex- ception is the Caledonian Orogeny during the late Silurian – Early Devonian. After this the territory of the BAB continuously received deposits from the eroding Cale- donian Mountains throughout the Devonian and Early Carboniferous. Sediments eroding from the Caledonian Mountains to the northwest washed into the sea and were deposited as layered wedges of fine debris. As sand, carbonate mud, and clays accumulated, the Devonian Baltic Basin was filled and retreated south-westward. During most of the Mesozoic Era, the territory occupied by the BAB was mainly slightly above sea level, with the exception of the Polish-Lithuanian De- pression (Paškevičius, 1997),