Nature and Origin of Pristine Groundwater in Confined Glacial Aquifers in the Simcoe Lowland, Ontario

安大略省锡姆科低地受限冰川含水层原始地下水的性质和来源

• 批准号: RGPIN-2019-06204
• 负责人: Cherry, John
• 金额: $ 2.19万
• 依托单位: University of Guelph
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2021-01-01 至 2022-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=738772
• 关键词: Nature; Origin; Pristine; Groundwater; Confined

This project concerns a study of groundwater in sand/ gravel aquifers in part of Simcoe County ON, centred around the Village of Elmvale, 10 km east of Georgian Bay. Groundwater in this area has exceptional characteristics, most notably, many flowing artesian wells at depths between 15 and 70 m. Most of these wells yield water that is fresh, potable and pristine, meaning that there are no chemical constituents in the water derived from human activities including agriculture (i.e. no anthropogenic chemicals), and only very low trace elements. Fresh pristine groundwater is extremely rare in Canada and elsewhere. This study is aimed at determining origins and chemical characteristics of such anthropogenically pristine water and of the other water in the aquifers in the area. One possibility is that the pristine water is in part remnant glacial-age water many thousands of years old, so an objective will be to estimate how many decades will pass before the pristine water disappears, replaced by new younger-aged groundwater. The pristine groundwater is discharging from flowing artesian wells, groundwater is pumped from many other wells in serving the rural population and Elmvale. The aquifers are replenished by infiltration from rainfall and snowmelt in an upland forested area of sand and gravel deposits within a few km of the artesian area. Another possibility for the pristine groundwater is that it is not glacial age but acquires its pristine characteristics by purification processes as it flows in the ground. This study will assess these two possibilities. This project will apply new types of devices, one of which has a patent application submitted in October 2018, to be installed in drill holes for sampling and for monitoring pressure and temperature distribution in the groundwater. These devices will provide, at relatively low cost, much more information than conventional monitoring wells. In addition to answering questions about origin of the rare type of groundwater in Elmvale area, this study will provide an assessment of the value of this new approach to groundwater monitoring. This is important because generally groundwater in Canada and the world at large is poorly monitored, which severely limits prospects for science- based groundwater management. The Elmvale area is most appropriate for this study because other researchers have previously conducted other types of related investigations that serve well to set the stage for this proposed work.

该项目涉及对安大略省Simcoe县部分地区砂/砾石含水层中的地下水进行研究，该地区以格鲁吉亚湾以东10公里的Elmvale村为中心。该地区的地下水具有特殊的特征，最值得注意的是，许多自流威尔斯井的深度在15至70米之间。大多数这些威尔斯井产出的水是新鲜的、可饮用的和原始的，这意味着水中没有来自人类活动（包括农业）的化学成分（即没有人为化学物质），只有非常低的微量元素。新鲜的原始地下水在加拿大和其他地方极为罕见。这项研究的目的是确定这类非原生水和该地区含水层中其他水的来源和化学特性。一种可能性是，原始水的一部分是数千年前冰川时代的残余水，因此目标是估计原始水消失之前需要多少个几十年，然后被新的年龄更年轻的地下水取代。原始地下水从自流威尔斯井中排出，地下水从许多其他威尔斯井中抽取，为农村人口和埃尔姆韦尔服务。蓄水层的补给来自降雨和融雪的渗透，这些降雨和融雪来自自流区几公里范围内的高地森林地区的沙和砾石沉积物。原始地下水的另一种可能性是，它不是冰川时代的，而是在地下流动时通过净化过程获得其原始特性。本研究将评估这两种可能性。该项目将采用新型设备，其中一种设备已于2018年10月提交专利申请，将安装在钻孔中进行采样并监测地下水中的压力和温度分布。这些装置将以相对较低的成本提供比常规监测威尔斯井多得多的信息。除了回答有关Elmvale地区稀有类型地下水起源的问题外，这项研究还将评估这种新方法对地下水监测的价值。这一点很重要，因为加拿大和整个世界的地下水监测普遍很差，这严重限制了以科学为基础的地下水管理的前景。Elmvale地区最适合这项研究，因为其他研究人员以前已经进行了其他类型的相关调查，这些调查很好地为这项拟议的工作奠定了基础。