University of Latvia

Faculty of Geography and Earth Sciences

Programme for Geology Master Studies

Branch of Hydrogeology and Engineering Geology

Course Title

Modelling for Hydrogeology

Author:Dr.sc.ing. A.Spalviòð
Course No.:
Course duration:64 hours
Number of credits:4

Course aim:

To obtain competence on applying mathematical modelling to solving problems in hydrogeology and in related branches of environmental sciences.

Course objectives:

  1. Student should learn how to apply a hydrogeologistics skill to formulate goals, reachable by means of mathematical modelling.
  2. Student must understand essence of stages, necessary for creating hydrogeological models and for investigating the contaminant mass transport in groundwater.
  3. S/he should analyse real recent projects on modelling for hydrogeology, in order to get acquainted with novel software and methodologies, which s/he should be able to use in practice.

Course description

Summaries of themes

  1. Modelling for hydrogeology, as an interdisciplinary art. Its ties with hydrogeology, hydrography, chemistry and biochemistry of the soil, informatics, and mathematics. The role of modelling in investigation of groundwater flow dynamics and other problems related to this branch: constructing of well fields, which sparingly affect the hydrogeological environment; prognosticating of the migration of natural and human-made contaminants in groundwater; planning of remediation measures for the contaminated hydrogeological environment.

  2. Major mathematical relationships for describing dynamics of groundwater flows. Effects of the geometry and the water permeability of the hydrogeological environment on groundwater dynamics. Unconfined and confined aquifers, the van Genuhen's model for the unsaturated zone of an unconfined aquifer. How to describe discontinuous aquifers and aquitards. Steady state and transitory hydrogeological processes.

  3. Major stages (required by modern software) of creating hydrogeological models: to formulate targets of modelling; to choose the scheme for the model space approximation and the hydrogeological schematisation; to create a database; to generate a set of maps describing the model geometry; to generate digitally the maps of permeability for aquitards and aquifers; to form boundary conditions (to fix piezometric heads on chosen boundary surfaces, to draw in withdrawal rates of production wells, to obtain the infiltration rate distribution by help of the ground surface elevation map); to calibrate a model; to analyse and to apply the model results. Creating of complex models, as a teamwork including specialists from interdependent fields.

  4. Hydrogeological models used for projecting of well fields for drinking water production and for evaluation of their resources. Undisturbed and dynamic piezometric head distributions provided by the model. Modelling of depression cones and the aeral model size influence; how to choose a model buffer zone. The problem of aquifer dewatering. The effect of aquitards on groundwater resources of a well field. Computing of the model flow balance and its application for planning of well fields. Modelling of production well losses. Modelling of sanitary protection zones.

  5. Regional and local hydrogeological models. Influence of a model scale on a choice of model initial data. Methods of creating local models. Analysis of regional and local models created in Latvia; the regional hydrogeological model (REMO) "Large Riga"; regional and local models of waste pool areas, in Incukalns; the model for the Noginsk District area (Moscow region, Russia) and others.

  6. Modelling of the dissolved substance and biorganism mass transport in groundwater. Synchronisation of hydrogeological and mass transport models by means of the Groundwater Vistas code. Factors used for creating and controlling transport models: the numerical method; regimes of time; types of contaminant sources and their spatial distribution; dispersion, sorption and destruction processes of a substance; the mass balance of substances involved; creating a monitoring network, within a model; regimes of result output. The MT3D type code for investigating the migration of dissolved substances in groundwater. Analysis of projects, regarding dissolved mass transport carried out in Latvia (the models of waste pools, Incukalns; the model for the Vilnius oil storage place, etc).

  7. Modelling of the immiscible contaminant mass transport in groundwater. Specifics of modelling the migration of light and dense contaminants. Evaluation of volumes for residual and mobile fractions of light oil products. Influence of groundwater table fluctuations on the apparent thickness of light oil products in monitoring wells and on the volume of mobile oil. Major methods used for collecting light oil and software for modelling these remediation processes. The ARMOS code used for modelling the migration of light oil in groundwater. Analysis of projects carried out in Latvia by applying this code (the Rumbula airport area, the oil base of Ilukste place, the water treatment plant site, in Ventspils, etc.).

  8. A critical comparison of some modern software tools used for modelling of hydrogeological problems (Groundwater Vistas, Visual MODFLOW, REMO) Advantages and limitations of the software tools used for modelling of contaminant transport in groundwater (MT3D, ARMOS).

Teaching method:lectures, supported by transparencies, slides, and by practical demonstrations of novel modelling technologies.
Examination method:oral examination.
Prerequisites:basic knowledge of hydrogeology and of mathematics necessary, for explaining of groundwater flow dynamics; skill to make use of computers.
Literature:all items given by this list are available in the Environment Modelling Centre of the Riga Technical University (RTU); literature are grouped into the following three sections:
  1. Major literature.
  2. Journal articles, containing descriptions of hydrogeological models.
  3. Reports on practical projects, carried out by the Environment Modelling Centre, RTU (1993-1999).

1. Major literature

  1. ARMOS. 1996. Areal Multiphase Organic Simulator for Free Phase Hydrocarbon Migration - Environmental and Recovery / User and Technical Guide. Systems and Technologies, Inc.
  2. Bear J., 1979. Hydraulics of Groundwater. Mc Graw-Hills Inc., 567 p.
  3. Bindeman H., Jazvin L., 1970. Evaluation of Groundwater Resources. Moscow, Nedra, 215 p. (in Russian)
  4. Bocharev F.- editor, 1976. Design of Groundwater Well Fields. Moscow, Strojizdat, 291 p. (in Russian)
  5. Catalog of Scientific Software Group, 1997-98., Environmental Software & Publications, 1997-98., Washington, 78 p.
  6. Catalog of Scientific Software Group, 1999. Groundwater, Surface Water, Bioremediation, Geotechnical Air Pollution, and other Environmental Software, Washington, 22 p.
  7. Genuchten M. 1980. A closed-form equation for predicting the hydraulic conductivity of unsaturated soils. / SOIL SCI. Soc. Am. J., vol. 44, p. 892 - 898.
  8. Grikevitch E., 1986. Hydraulics of Groundwater Production Wells, Moscow, Nedra, 229 p. (in Russian)
  9. Groundwater Vistas. 1997. Guide to Using. - Environmental Simulations, Inc.
  10. Groundwater Vistas. 1999. Guide to Using. Version 2. - Environmental Simulations, Inc.
  11. Herbert M., Kovar K.- editors, 1998. Groundwater Quality: Remediation and Protection, IAHS Publication no. 250. Proc. of the GQ'98 conference held in Tubingen, Germany, 21-25 September 1998.
  12. Kaluarachchi J. J., Parker J. C., 1992. Multiphase Flow with a Simplified Model for Oil Entrapment, Transport in Porous Media 7: pp. 1-14.
  13. Kemblowski M. W. and Chiang C. Y., 1990. Hydrocarbon Thickness Fluctuations in Monitoring Wells, Ground Water, vol. 28, no. 2, pp. 244-252.
  14. Kooi H., 1999. Competition between Topography - and Compaction- Driven Flow in a Confined Aquifer: Some Analytical Results, Hydrogeology Journal, vol. 7, no. 3, pp. 245-250.
  15. Mathematical Simulation of an Immiscible Light Oil Product Migration in Groundwater. Training of KTH Students and Masters in Modelling Technologies and Software Used in the Projects on Rumbula Case(1998 -1999, the agreement between Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Sweden and Environment Modelling Centre of Riga Technical University), DEMO Materials on Modelling Rumbula Case;
  16. McDonald M. and A.Harbaugh. 1988. A Modular Three-Dimensional Finite-Difference Ground-Water Flow Model. - U. S. Geological Survey. Open File Report 83-875. Washington.
  17. ModelCARE 99, 1999. Calibration and Reliability in Groundwater Modelling. Proc. of International IAHS/AISH conference, Zurich, Switzerland, 20-23 September 1999, Vol. 1 and 2. 798 p.
  18. MT3D’96. Documentation and Input Instructions. - S. Papadopulos & Associates, Inc., 1996.
  19. MT3D’99. 1999. User’s Guide. - S. Papadopulos & Associates, Inc.
  20. Nyer E. et al., 1996. In Situ Treatment Technology, CRC Press, Inc., 329 p.
  21. Pollock D. 1989. Documentation of Computer Programs to Compute and Display Pathlines Using Results from the U. S. Geological Survey Modular Three-Dimensional Finite-Difference Ground-Water Flow Model. - U. S. Geological Survey. Open File Report 89-381, Reston, Virginia,
  22. Raudikivi A. and Callander R., 1976. Analysis of Groundwater Flow, London, Edward Arnold (Publishers) Ltd, 214p.
  23. Semjonovs I.- editor, 1997. Groundwater Protection in Latvia, Riga, Gandrs, 463 p. (in Latvian)
  24. Semjonovs I., 1995. Processes of Pollution and Self- puritication in Underground Waters in Latvia, Riga, Zinatne. 119 p. (in Latvian)
  25. Shestakov V., 1973. Groundwater Dynamics, Moscow, Printing house of Moscow university, 325 p. (in Russian)
  26. Spalvins A., E.Gosk, E.Grikevich, J.Tolstov (Editors). 1996. Modelling new well fields for providing Riga with drinking water. - Riga-Copenhagen, - 40 p. (Boundary Field Problem and Computers; 38-th issue).
  27. Spalvins A., R.Janbickis, J.Slangens, E.Gosk, I.Lace, Z.Viksne, J.Atruskievics, N.Levina, J.Tolstovs. 1996. Hydrogeological Model "Large Riga". Atlas of Maps. - Riga-Copenhagen,. 102 p. (Boundary Field Problem and Computers; 37-th issue; bilingual: Latvian and English).
  28. Spalvins A., Slangens J., Janbickis R. 1998. Preprocessing of Initial Data for Creating Hydrogeological Models / Proceedings of the 9th International Symposyum on "System-Modelling-Control". - April 27 - May 1, 1998, - Zakopane, Poland, 7 p.
  29. Spalvins A.,I.Lace. 1997. Estimating of Free and Trapped Oil Volumes for Light Hydrocarbon Plumes in Groundwater / Environment Modelling Technologies. - Riga: Riga Technical University, p. 50-59. (Boundary Field Problems and Computers; 40-th issue).
  30. Spalvins A.. Mass Transport Modelling in Groundwater Studies. Achievements of Latvian Scientists / F.Fonnum, B.Paukstys, B.A.Zeeb and K.J.Reimer(eds.), 1998 Environmental Contamination and Remediation Practices at Former and Present Military Bases.- NATO Science Series 2: Environmental Security - Vol.48, - Kluwer Academic Publishers, Printed in the Netherlands, p.123-142.
  31. Toth. J., 1999. Groundwater as a Geological Agent: An Overview of the Causes, Processes, and Manifestations. Hydrogeology Journal, vol. 7, - Springer, p. 1 - 14.
  32. Visual MODFLOW. 1998. User’s Manual. -Waterloo Hydrogeologic.
  33. Voss C. I., 1998. Editor's Message Groundwater modeling: Simply powerful,

2. Journal articles, containing descriptions of hydrogeological models

  1. Birkle P., Torres Rodriquez V., Gonzalez Partida E., 1998. The Water Balance for the Basin of the Valley of Mexico and Implications for Future Water Consumption, Hydrogeology Journal, v. 6, no. 4, pp. 500-517.
  2. Garven G., Appold M. S., Toptygina V. I., Hazlett T. J., 1999. Hydrogeologic Modeling of the Genesis of Carbonate-Hosted Lead-Zinc Ores, Hydrogeology Journal, v. 7, no. 1, pp. 108-126.
  3. Ghssemi F., Jakeman A. J., Jacobson G. and Howard K. W. F., 1996. Simulation of Seawater Intrusion with 2D and 3D Models: Nauru Island Case Study, Hydrogeology Journal, v. 4, no. 3, pp. 4-22.
  4. Holman H.-Y. and Javandel I., 1996. Evaluation of Transient Dissolution of Slightly Water-Soluble Compounds from a Light Nonaqueous Phase Liquid Pool, , Water Resources Research, vol. 32, no. 4, pp. 915-923.
  5. Johnston Richard H., 1997. Sources of Water Supplying Pumpage from Regional Aquifer Systems of the United States, Hydrogeology Journal, v. 5, no. 2, pp. 54-63.
  6. Lahvis M. A. and Baeher A. L., 1996. Estimation of Rates of Aerobic Hydrocarbon Biodegration by Simulation of Gas Transport in the Unsatured Zone, Water Resources Research, vol. 32, no. 7, pp. 2231-2249.
  7. Marechal J. C., Perrochet P., Tacher L., 1999. Long-Term Simulations of Thermal and Hydraulic Characteristics in a Mountain Massif: The Mont Blanc Case Study, French and Italian Alps, Hydrogeology Journal, v. 7, no. 4, pp. 341-354.
  8. Medina M. A., Jacobs Jr. and T. L., Lin W. and Lin K.-C., 1996. Ground Water Solute Transport, Optimal Remediation Planning, and Decision Making under Uncertainty, Water Resources Bulletin, vol. 32, no. 1, pp. 1-12.
  9. Nishikava T., 1997. Testing Alternative Conceptual Models of Seawater Intrusion in a Coastal Aquifer Using Computer Simulation, Southern California, USA, Hydrogeological Journal, v. 5, no. 3, pp. 60-74.
  10. Nortz P. E., Ward A., Bair E. S., White D., 1994. Interactions Between an Alluvial-Aquifer Wellfield and the Scioto River, Ohio, USA, Applied Hydrogeology, v. 2, no. 4, pp. 23-34.
  11. Pistiner A. and Shapiro M., 1996. A Model of Groundwater Pollution from an Underground Source, Water Resources Research, vol. 32, no. 7, pp. 2311-2314.
  12. Sonnenborg T. O., Engesgaard P. and Rosbjerg D., 1996. Contaminant Transport at a Waste Residue Deposit: 1. Inverse Flow and Nonreactive Transport Modeling, , Water Resources Research, vol. 32, no. 4, pp. 925-938.
  13. Toth J., Sheng G., 1996. Enhancing Safety of Nuclear Waste Disposal by Exploiting Regional Groundwater Flow: the Recharge Area Concept, Hydrogeology Journal, v. 4, no. 4, pp. 4-25.
  14. Wagner R. A., Tisdale T. S. And Zhang J., 1996. A Framework for Phosphorus Transport Modeling in the Lake Okeechobee Watershed, Water Resources Bulletin, vol. 32, no. 1, pp. 57-73.
  15. Weinberger G., Rosenthal E., 1998. Reconstruction of Natural Groundwater Flow Paths in the Multiple Aquifer System of the Northern Negev (Israel), Based on Lithological and Structual Evidence, Hydrogeology Journal, v. 6, no. 3, pp. 421- 440.
  16. Zurmuhl T. and Durner W., 1996. Modeling Transient Water and Solute Transport in a Biporous Soil, Water Resources Research, vol. 32, no. 4, pp. 819-829.

3. Reports on practical projects, carried out by the Environment Modelling centre, RTU (1993-1999)

  1. Creating of Hydrogeological and Contaminant Transport Models for Noginsk District, Moscow Region, Russia. / 1999. Report of contract between EMC, RTU and Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland, within the Danish-Russian Project: Groundwater Protection and Remediation in Noginsk District, Moscow Region; 130. p.
  2. Modelling of Hydraulics in the Groundwater Clean-up System. / 1999.Report of contract between EMC,RTU and INGAAS GmbH, Berlin; 18 p.
  3. Modelling of Groundwater Flow Dynamics and Contamination Transport Processes at Area of Vilnius Oil Storage / 1998. Report of contract between the EMC, RTU and the Hydrogeological Company "Grota"; 148. p.
  4. Mathematical Processing of Data Obtained During the Free oil Phase Recovery at the b6 Spill Area of the Rumbula Airport Site / 1998. Report of contract between the EMC, RTU and the Baltec Associates, Inc., within the Latvian-Danish project: Remediation of the b6 Spill Area at the Rumbula Airport Site; 72 p.
  5. Development of Contaminant Transport Models for Sulphuric Acid Tar Waste Disposal Sites in Incukalns / 1998. Report of contract between the EMC, RTU and the Ministry of Regional development and environment protection of Latvia; 130. p. (in Latvian)
  6. Modelling of Environmental Impact of Groundwater Withdrawal in the Vidzgiris Well Field, Lithuania /. 1998. Report of contract between the EMC, RTU and the Hydrogeological Company "Grota"; 42. p.
  7. Evaluation of the Total Mass of Dissolved Petroleum Hydrocarbons and Creating of Necessary Digital Maps / 1998. Report of contract between the EMC, RTU and the Baltec Associates, Inc.; 20.p.
  8. Simulation of Oil Contamination Migration in Area of Sewage Water Treatment Plant of Ventspils Seaport / 1998. Report of contract between the EMC, RTU and SIA VentEKO; 56.p. (in Latvian)
  9. Modelling of the Contaminant Transport and Remedy for the Ilukste Oil Terminal /.1997. Report of contract between the the EMC, RTU and Baltec Associates, Inc.; 67. p. (in Latvian)
  10. Modelling the Groundwater Flow Dynamics and the Contaminant Movement for the Rumbula Airbase Place by SpillCAD, ARMOS and BioTRANS / 1996. Report of contract between the EMC, RTU and the Baltec Associates, Inc. within the Latvian-Danish project: Cooperation between Latvia and Denmark on transfer and know-how concerning investigation and remedy of oil pollution in groundwater; 113.p.
  11. Modelling of Free Oil Contaminant Migration at Area of Vudison Oil Terminal, Riga Seaport / 1997. Report of contract between the EMC, RTU and the Baltec Associates; 93.p. (in Latvian)
  12. Modelling of Thermal Groundwater Problems /. 1993, Report of contract between the EMC, RTU and the State Geological Survey of Latvia, within the Baltec Geothermal energy project; (in Latvian)