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.

该项目涉及对安大略省 Simcoe 县部分地区沙/砾石含水层地下水的研究，该地区以 Elmvale 村为中心，位于乔治亚湾以东 10 公里处。该地区的地下水具有特殊的特征，最显着的是，在 15 至 70 m 深度之间有许多流动的自流井。大多数这些井产出的水是新鲜的、可饮用的和原始的水，这意味着水中不含有来自包括农业在内的人类活动的化学成分（即没有人为化学物质），并且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种人为原始水以及该地区含水层中其他水的来源和化学特征。一种可能性是，原始水部分是数千年前的冰川时代水的残余，因此一个目标是估计原始水需要多少年才会消失，并被新的年轻地下水取代。原始地下水从流动的自流井中排出，地下水从许多其他井中抽取，为农村人口和埃尔姆维尔提供服务。含水层通过自流区几公里内的沙砾沉积高地森林地区的降雨和融雪渗透得到补充。原始地下水的另一种可能性是，它不是冰河时代，而是在地下流动时通过净化过程获得其原始特征。本研究将评估这两种可能性。该项目将采用新型装置，其中一种已于2018年10月提交了专利申请，将安装在钻孔中进行采样并监测地下水压力和温度分布。这些设备将以相对较低的成本提供比传统监测井更多的信息。除了回答有关埃尔姆维尔地区稀有地下水来源的问题外，这项研究还将评估这种地下水监测新方法的价值。这一点很重要，因为加拿大和全世界的地下水普遍监测不力，这严重限制了基于科学的地下水管理的前景。埃尔姆维尔地区最适合这项研究，因为其他研究人员之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。