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

安大略省锡姆科低地有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: 2022
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2022-01-01 至 2023-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=752877
• 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.

该项目涉及对西姆科县一部分沙/砾石含水层的地下水进行的研究，以乔治亚湾以东10公里的Elmvale村为中心。该地区的地下水具有非凡的特征，最值得注意的是，许多在15至70 m之间的流动井流动。这些井中的大多数都产生新鲜，饮用水和原始的水，这意味着从人类活动中得出的水中没有化学成分，包括农业（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。这项研究旨在确定这种人为原始水和该地区含水层中其他水的起源和化学特征。一种可能性是原始的水部分是数千年历史的部分残留冰川水，因此一个目标是估计在原始水消失之前将经过多少几十年，取而代之的是由新的年轻年轻的地下水代替。原始的地下水正在从流动的自流井中排出，地下水是从许多其他井中泵出的，为农村人口和埃尔姆维尔提供服务。含水层在降雨和融雪的渗透中，在高地森林的沙子和砾石沉积物中，在自动区域的几公里内。原始地下水的另一种可能性是，它不是冰川时代，而是通过纯化过程在地下流动时获得原始特征。这项研究将评估这两种可能性。该项目将应用新型的设备，其中一种设备在2018年10月提交了专利申请，安装在钻孔中以进行采样和监视地下水中的压力和温度分布。这些设备将以相对较低的成本提供比传统监视井更多的信息。除了回答有关Elmvale地区罕见类型地下水类型的起源的问题外，本研究还将评估这种新方法的地下水监测方法的价值。这很重要，因为通常对加拿大和整个世界的地下水受到的监控很差，这严重限制了基于科学的地下水管理的前景。 Elmvale地区最适合本研究，因为其他研究人员以前已经进行了其他类型的相关研究，这些研究很好地为这项拟议的工作奠定了基础。