Based on analysis of groundwater hydrogeochemical and isotopic data, this study aims to identify the recharge sources and understand geochemical evolution of groundwater along the downstream section of the Shule River, northwest China, including two sub-basins. Groundwater samples from the Tashi sub-basin show markedly depleted stable isotopes compared to those in the Guazhou sub-basin. This difference suggests that groundwater in the Tashi sub-basin mainly originates from meltwater in the Qilian Mountains, while the groundwater in the Guazhou sub-basin may be recharged by seepage of the Shule River water. During the groundwater flow process in the Tashi sub-basin, minerals within the aquifer material (e.g., halite, calcite, dolomite, gypsum) dissolve in groundwater. Mineral dissolution leads to strongly linear relationships between Na⁺ and Cl⁻ and between Mg²⁺+ Ca²⁺ and SO₄ ²⁻ + HCO₃ ⁻, with stoichiometry ratios of approximately 1:1 in both cases. The ion-exchange reaction plays a dominant role in hydrogeochemical evolution of groundwater in the Guazhou sub-basin and causes a good linear relationship between (Mg²⁺+ Ca²⁺)–(SO₄ ²⁻ + HCO₃ ⁻) and (Na⁺+ K⁺)–Cl⁻ with a slope of −0.89 and also results in positive chloroalkaline indices CAI 1 and CAI 2. The scientific results have implications for groundwater management in the downstream section of Shule River. As an important irrigation district in Hexi Corridor, groundwater in the Guazhou sub-basin should be used sustainably and rationally because its recharge source is not as abundant as expected. It is recommended that the surface water should be used efficiently and routinely, while groundwater exploitation should be limited as much as possible.

More than 2,600 relict rock glaciers are known in the Austrian Alps but the knowledge of their hydraulic properties is severely limited. The relict Schöneben Rock Glacier (Niedere Tauern Range, Austria), with an extension of 0.17 km², was investigated based on spring data (2006–2014) and seismic refraction survey. Spring-discharge hydrographs and natural and artificial tracer data suggest a heterogeneous aquifer with a layered internal structure for the relict rock glacier. The discharge behavior exhibits a fast and a delayed flow component. The spring discharge responds to recharge events within a few hours but a mean residence time of several months can also be observed. The internal structure of the rock glacier (up to several tens of meters thick) consists of: an upper blocky layer with a few meters of thickness, which lacks fine-grained sediments; a main middle layer with coarse and finer-grained sediments, allowing for fast flow; and an approximately 10-m-thick basal till layer as the main aquifer body responsible for the base flow. The base-flow component is controlled by (fine) sandy to silty sediments with low hydraulic conductivity and high storage capacity, exhibiting a difference in hydraulic conductivity to the upper layer of about three orders of magnitude. The high storage capacity of relict rock glaciers has an impact on water resources management in alpine catchments and potentially regulates the risk of natural hazards such as floods and related debris flows. Thus, the results highlight the importance of such aquifer systems in alpine catchments.

A preliminary conceptual model of groundwater flow was developed for the Serra Geral fractured basalt aquifer in order to assess the recharge to the underlying sandstone Guarani Aquifer System, one of the main aquifer systems in Brazil, which supplies water to millions of people. Detailed geological investigations included macroscopic description of the basalt flow units and the underlying sandstone. Petrographic and chemical analyzes were conducted on rock samples from outcrops and from five drilled boreholes. Detailed fracture surveys were accomplished at outcrops to characterize fracture sets and their potential to transmit water in the current tectonic context. Four basalt flows were identified in the Ribeirao Preto area and were named B1, B2, B3 and B4 (from oldest to youngest). The cooling process in flow B3 led to the generation of large sub-horizontal fractures at the contacts B2/B3 and B3-C/B3-E, which are the most transmissive structures. Groundwater flow in the basalt appears to be of the stratabound type because fractures, in general, do not propagate through the basalt vesicular layers, which behave as a regional hydraulic barrier for the vertical groundwater flow. However, it is proposed that the localized, continuous and closely spaced subvertical tectonic fractures, the only features that have the potential to crosscut the vesicular layers and the intertrappe sediments, can vertically connect the sub-horizontal transmissive fractures. Weathering and water seepage, observed in rock exposures, indicate that subvertical NE-trending fractures would be the most transmissive in the Ribeirao Preto area.

The rapid expansion of agriculture, industries and urbanization has triggered unplanned groundwater development leading to severe stress on groundwater resources in crystalline rocks of India. With depleting resources from shallow aquifers, end users have developed resources from deeper aquifers, which have proved to be counterproductive economically and ecologically. An integrated hydrogeological study has been undertaken in the semi-arid Madharam watershed (95 km²) in Telangana State, which is underlain by granites. The results reveal two aquifer systems: a weathered zone (maximum 30 m depth) and a fractured zone (30–85 m depth). The weathered zone is unsaturated to its maximum extent, forcing users to tap groundwater from deeper aquifers. Higher orders of transmissivity, specific yield and infiltration rates are observed in the recharge zone, while moderate orders are observed in an intermediate zone, and lower orders in the discharge zone. This is due to the large weathering-zone thickness and a higher sand content in the recharge zone than in the discharge zone, where the weathered residuum contains more clay. The NO₃ ⁻ concentration is high in shallow irrigation wells, and F⁻ is high in deeper wells. Positive correlation is observed between F⁻ and depth in the recharge zone and its proximity. Nearly 50 % of groundwater samples are unfit for human consumption and the majority of irrigation-well samples are classed as medium to high risk for plant growth. Both supply-side and demand-side measures are recommended for sustainable development and management of this groundwater resource. The findings can be up-scaled to other similar environments.

Discharge-area groundwater in Jinan, a typical karst region in northern China, was investigated by studying both the hydrological and chemical processes evolving from the recharge in mountainous terrains to the karst-spring outflows in the metropolitan area. Large-scale exploitation of karst groundwater has led to a disturbing trend in the ever-decreasing spring outflow rates and groundwater level. There is insufficient information about the Jinan karst aquifers, which provide the main water sources to meet human demand and to sustain spring outflow. The coupling of hydrological and chemical processes quantifies the flow system through aqueous chemistry characterization of the water sources. This approach is used to study the groundwater flow discharges in different locations and geological settings. The potentiometric data indicated limited vertical connectivity between distinct hydrogeological units and alteration of the recharge regime by the faults and by artificial exploitation. Shallow groundwater primarily belongs to the local flow system, with high nitrate concentration and enriched stable isotopic contents. Thermal groundwater has high concentrations of chloride and total dissolved solids, derived from a regional flow system with the highest recharge altitudes and long residence time. Non-thermal karst water may be attributed to the intermediate flow system, with uniform HCO₃–Ca(Mg) facies and low nitrate concentration. This work highlighted discharge as a fingerprint of groundwater flow conditions and provides a better insight into the hydrogeological system.

With respect to model parameterization and sensitivity analysis, this work uses a practical example to suggest that methods that start with simple models and use computationally frugal model analysis methods remain valuable in any toolbox of model development methods. In this work, groundwater model calibration starts with a simple parameterization that evolves into a moderately complex model. The model is developed for a water management study of the Tivoli-Guidonia basin (Rome, Italy) where surface mining has been conducted in conjunction with substantial dewatering. The approach to model development used in this work employs repeated analysis using sensitivity and inverse methods, including use of a new observation-stacked parameter importance graph. The methods are highly parallelizable and require few model runs, which make the repeated analyses and attendant insights possible. The success of a model development design can be measured by insights attained and demonstrated model accuracy relevant to predictions. Example insights were obtained: (1) A long-held belief that, except for a few distinct fractures, the travertine is homogeneous was found to be inadequate, and (2) The dewatering pumping rate is more critical to model accuracy than expected. The latter insight motivated additional data collection and improved pumpage estimates. Validation tests using three other recharge and pumpage conditions suggest good accuracy for the predictions considered. The model was used to evaluate management scenarios and showed that similar dewatering results could be achieved using 20 % less pumped water, but would require installing newly positioned wells and cooperation between mine owners.

Groundwater response to stream stage fluctuations was studied in two unconfined alluvial aquifers using a year-long time series of stream stages from two pools along a regulated stream in West Virginia, USA. The purpose was to analyze spatial and temporal variations in groundwater/surface-water interaction and to estimate induced infiltration rate and cumulative bank storage during an annual cycle of stream stage fluctuation. A convolution-integral method was used to simulate aquifer head at different distances from the stream caused by stream stage fluctuations and to estimate fluxes across the stream–aquifer boundary. Aquifer diffusivities were estimated by wiggle-matching time and amplitude of modeled response to multiple observed storm events. The peak lag time between observed stream and aquifer stage peaks ranged between 14 and 95 hour. Transient modeled diffusivity ranged from 1,000 to 7,500 m²/day and deviated from the measured and calculated single-peak stage-ratio diffusivity by 14–82 %. Stream stage fluctuation displayed more primary control over groundwater levels than recharge, especially during high-flow periods. Dam operations locally altered groundwater flow paths and velocity. The aquifer is more prone to surface-water control in the upper reaches of the pools where stream stage fluctuations are more pronounced than in the lower reaches. This method could be a useful tool for quick assessment of induced infiltration rate and bank storage related to contamination investigations or well-field management.

The Sacramento Mountains and the adjacent Roswell Artesian Basin, in south-central New Mexico (USA), comprise a regional hydrologic system, wherein recharge in the mountains ultimately supplies water to the confined basin aquifer. Geologic, hydrologic, geochemical, and climatologic data were used to delineate the area of recharge in the southern Sacramento Mountains. The water-table fluctuation and chloride mass-balance methods were used to quantify recharge over a range of spatial and temporal scales. Extrapolation of the quantitative recharge estimates to the entire Sacramento Mountains region allowed comparison with previous recharge estimates for the northern Sacramento Mountains and the Roswell Artesian Basin. Recharge in the Sacramento Mountains is estimated to range from 159.86 × 10⁶ to 209.42 × 10⁶ m³/year. Both the location of recharge and range in estimates is consistent with previous work that suggests that ~75 % of the recharge to the confined aquifer in the Roswell Artesian Basin has moved downgradient through the Yeso Formation from distal recharge areas in the Sacramento Mountains. A smaller recharge component is derived from infiltration of streamflow beneath the major drainages that cross the Pecos Slope, but in the southern Sacramento Mountains much of this water is ultimately derived from spring discharge. Direct recharge across the Pecos Slope between the mountains and the confined basin aquifer is much smaller than either of the other two components.

The New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources (USA) has conducted a regional investigation of groundwater residence time within the southern Sacramento Mountains aquifer system using multiple environmental tracers. Results of the tracer surveys indicate that groundwater in the southern Sacramento Mountains ranges in age from less than 1 year to greater than 50 years, although the calculated ages contain uncertainties and vary significantly depending on which tracer is used. A distinctive feature of the results is discordance among the methods used to date groundwater in the study area. This apparent ambiguity results from the effects of a thick unsaturated zone, which produces non-conservative behavior among the dissolved gas tracers, and the heterogeneous character and semi-karstic nature of the aquifer system, which may yield water from matrix porosity, fractures, solution-enlarged conduits, or a combination of the three. The data also indicate mixing of groundwater from two or more sources, including recent recharge originating from precipitation at high elevations, old groundwater stored in the matrix, and pre-modern groundwater upwelling along fault zones. The tracer data have also been influenced by surface-water/groundwater exchange via losing streams and lower elevation springs (groundwater recycling). This study highlights the importance of using multiple tracers when conducting large-scale investigations of a heterogeneous aquifer system, and sheds light on characteristics of groundwater flow systems that can produce discrepancies in calculations of groundwater age.

Investigation of the evolution of the groundwater system and its mechanisms is critical to the sustainable management of water in river basins. Temporal and spatial distributions and characteristics of groundwater have undergone a tremendous change with the intensity of human activities in the middle reaches of the Heihe River Basin (HRB), the second largest arid inland river basin in northwestern China. Based on groundwater observation data, hydrogeological data, meteorological data and irrigation statistical data, combined with geostatistical analyses and groundwater storage estimation, the basin-scaled evolution of the groundwater levels and storage (from 1985 to 2013) were investigated. The results showed that the unbalanced allocation of water sources and expanded cropland by policy-based human activities resulted in the over-abstraction of groundwater, which induced a general decrease in the water table and groundwater storage. The groundwater level has generally fallen from 4.92 to 11.49 m from 1985 to 2013, especially in the upper and middle parts of the alluvial fan (zone I), and reached a maximum depth of 17.41 m. The total groundwater storage decreased by 177.52 × 10⁸ m³; zone I accounted for about 94.7 % of the total decrease. The groundwater balance was disrupted and the groundwater system was in a severe negative balance; it was noted that the groundwater/surface-water interaction was also deeply affected. It is essential to develop a rational plan for integration and management of surface water and groundwater resources in the HRB.