Theoretical head decay in closed basin aquifers: an insight into fossil groundwater and recharge events in the Andes of northern Chile
Abstract
Many small to moderate-sized, closed aquifer basins in northern Chile show a groundwater gradient indicating flow despite an apparent lack of recharge under current climatic conditions. An examination of the mechanisms that might produce such flow suggests that the only realistic possibility is head decay from an earlier higher water level caused by ancient recharge. Model studies suggest that for small basins, such recharge must have taken place within the last 1000 years and possibly within the last few hundred years, calling into question whether such resources should be labelled fossil. Recent palaeoclimatic studies of northern Chile show several pluvial periods throughout the Late Pleistocene and Holocene, inaddition to long return period storm events, which continue to the present and which might have led to a series of pulsed flushing events in aquifers. Hence, it is incorrect to label groundwater resources as either fossil or actively recharged, as there is, in reality, a continuum between the two, and all such aquifers require site-specific evaluation and new, more flexible guidelines for development.
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Pluvial events and droughts along with their timing have strong control on the inferred hydrologic conditions of a particular watershed and water allocation.
“Pluvial events and droughts along with their timing have strong control on the inferred hydrologic conditions of a particular watershed and water allocation (Ferrero & Villalba, 2019; Houston & Hart, 2004).”
From Relic Groundwater and Prolonged Drought Confound Interpretations of Water Sustainability and Lithium Extraction in Arid Lands (2022) · cites this paper as Houston & Hart, 2004
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- Authors
- Houston, J., & Hart, D.
- Affiliations
- Avda. Las Condes 10373, Of. 60, Las Condes, Santiago, Chile (e-mail: houston@entelchile.net)
- ORCID
- Houston, John
- Venue
- Quarterly Journal of Engineering Geology and Hydrogeology
- Publisher
- Geological Society of London
- Published
- 2004-05
- Volume
- 37
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 131-139
- ISSN
- 1470-9236 (ISSN-L)
- 2041-4803
- OpenAlex
- W2067493521
- Cited by
- 34
- References
- 29
- Citations by year
- 2025: 1 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 4 · 2019: 1 · 2018: 4 · 2017: 1 · 2016: 2 · 2015: 2 · 2013: 1 · 2012: 4
- FWCI
- 1.36
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Quarterly Journal of Engineering Geology and Hydrogeology (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Environmental Engineering › Groundwater flow and contamination studies
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Geochemistry and Petrology › Groundwater and Isotope Geochemistry
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Earth-Surface Processes › Karst Systems and Hydrogeology
- Keywords
- fossil groundwater, groundwater recharge, groundwater flow, Late Pleistocene, storms, groundwater age
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