HR: 1340h
AN: H13B-1341    [Abstracts]
TI: Coupling Between Periodic Fluctuations in Stream Water Temperature and Groundwater Elevation, Central New Mexico
AU: * Jakubowski, R T
EM: ryanj@nmt.edu
AF: New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, Department of Earth and Environmental Science, 801 Leroy Place, Socorro, NM 87801
AU: Bowman, R S
EM: bowman@nmt.edu
AF: New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, Department of Earth and Environmental Science, 801 Leroy Place, Socorro, NM 87801
AB: Diurnal (24-hour) fluctuations in groundwater levels are often observed in riparian areas. They are generally attributed to periodic changes in barometric pressure, evapotranspirative demand, and recharge events. For losing streams located along semi-arid riparian corridors infiltration of surface water and advection of heat can strongly influence the subsurface hydrogeology. In fact, hourly head and temperature measurements in wells adjacent to the Rio Grande, New Mexico, have revealed diurnal groundwater fluctuations that correlate with diurnal changes in river temperature. We hypothesize that a periodic change in the streambed hydraulic conductivity modulated by variations in temperature may produce a transient flux (pressure wave) into the underlying shallow aquifer. The presence of a streambed restricting layer, diurnal changes in river temperature, limited riparian vegetation, and patterns in head during no-flow conditions in the Rio Grande support a scenario in which variable groundwater recharge from the river contributes to the diurnal head change in the aquifer. We model coupled heat and mass transport to evaluate the potential significance of the hypothesized hydrodynamic interactions.
DE: 1818 Evapotranspiration
DE: 1829 Groundwater hydrology
DE: 1830 Groundwater/surface water interaction
SC: Hydrology [H]
MN: Fall Meeting 2005