Direct measurement of groundwater flux in aquifers within the discontinuous permafrost zone: an application of the finite volume point dilution method near Umiujaq (Nunavik, Canada)
[en] Permafrost thaw is a complex process resulting from interactions between the atmosphere, soil, water and vegetation. Although advective heat transport by groundwater at depth likely plays a significant role in permafrost dynamics at many sites, there is lack of direct measurements of groundwater flow patterns and fluxes in such cold-region environments. Here, the finite volume point dilution method (FVPDM) is used to measure in-situ groundwater fluxes in two sandy aquifers in the discontinuous permafrost zone, within a small watershed near Umiujaq, Nunavik (Quebec), Canada. The FVPDM theory is first reviewed, then results from four FVPDM tests are presented: one test in a shallow supra-permafrost aquifer, and three in a deeper sub-permafrost aquifer. Apparent Darcy fluxes derived from the FVPDM tests varied from 0.5×10-5 to 1.0×10-5 m/s, implying that advective heat transport from groundwater flow could be contributing to rapid permafrost thaw at this site. In providing estimates of the Darcy fluxes at the local scale of the well screens, the approach offers more accurate and direct measurements over indirect estimates using Darcy’s law. The tests show that this method can be successfully used in remote areas and with limited resources. Recommendations for optimizing the test protocol are proposed.
Disciplines :
Geological, petroleum & mining engineering
Author, co-author :
Jamin, Pierre ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département ArGEnCo > Hydrogéologie & Géologie de l'environnement
Cochand, Marion; Univeristé Laval > Department of Geology and Geological Engineering
Dagenais, Sophie; Université Laval > Department of Geology and Geological Engineering
Lemieux, Jean-Michel; Université Laval > Department of Geology and Geological Engineering
Fortier, Richard; Université Laval > Department of Geology and Geological Engineering
Molson, John; Université Laval > Department of Geology and Geological Engineering
Brouyère, Serge ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département ArGEnCo > Hydrogéologie & Géologie de l'environnement
Language :
English
Title :
Direct measurement of groundwater flux in aquifers within the discontinuous permafrost zone: an application of the finite volume point dilution method near Umiujaq (Nunavik, Canada)
Alternative titles :
[fr] Mesure directe du flux d’eau souterraine dans un aquifère en zone de permafrost discontinu: une application de la méthode finite volume point dilution method a proximité d’Umiujaq (Nunavik, Canada)
Publication date :
29 January 2020
Journal title :
Hydrogeology Journal
ISSN :
1431-2174
eISSN :
1435-0157
Publisher :
Springer, Germany
Special issue title :
Topical Collection "Hydrogeology of a cold-region watershed near Umiujaq (Nunavik, Canada)"
Peer reviewed :
Peer Reviewed verified by ORBi
Name of the research project :
NSERC through the Strategic Project Grant program;
Funders :
ULiège - Université de Liège F.R.S.-FNRS - Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique FRB - Fondation Roi Baudouin CRSNG - Conseil de Recherches en Sciences naturelles et en Génie CEN - Université Laval Québec Centre d'Études Nordiques
Funding number :
Université de Liège FSRC-12/81; Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique (Communauté française de Belgique) - F.R.S.-FNRS 1.5060.12; Fondation Roi Baudouin, Prix Ernest Dubois 2015-F2812650-204355
Allard M, Lemay M (2012) Nunavik and Nunatsiavut: from science to policy: an integrated regional impact study (IRIS) of climate change and modernization. ArcticNet, Quebec City, QC, 303 pp
Bense VF, Kooi H, Ferguson G, Read T (2012) Permafrost degradation as a control on hydrogeological regime shifts in a warming climate. J Geophys Res Earth Surf 117(3):1–18. 10.1029/2011JF002143
Briggs MA, Walvoord MA, McKenzie JM, Voss CI, Day-Lewis FD, Lane JW (2014) New permafrost is forming around shrinking Arctic lakes, but will it last? Geophys Res Lett 41(5):1585–1592. 10.1002/2014GL059251
Bright J, Wang F, Close M (2002) Influence of the amount of available K data on uncertainty about contaminant transport prediction. Groundwater. 10.1111/j.1745-6584.2002.tb02537.x
Brouyère S, Batlle-Aguilar J, Goderniaux P, Dassargues A (2008) A new tracer technique for monitoring groundwater fluxes: the finite volume point dilution method. J Contam Hydrol 95(3–4):121–140. 10.1016/j.jconhyd.2007.09.001
Buteau S, Fortier R, Allard M (2010) Permafrost weakening as a potential impact of climatic warming. J Cold Reg Eng 24(1):1–18. 10.1061/(ASCE)0887-381X(2010)24:1(1)
Dagenais S, Molson J, Lemieux J-M, Fortier R, Therrien R (2020) Coupled cryo-hydrogeological modelling of permafrost dynamics near Umiujaq (Nunavik, Canada). Hydrogeol J. 10.1007/s10040-020-02111-3
de Grandpré I, Fortier D, Stephani E (2012) Degradation of permafrost beneath a road embankment enhanced by heat advected in groundwater. Can J Earth Sci 49(8):953–962. 10.1139/e2012-018
Devlin JF, McElwee CD (2007) Effects of measurement error on horizontal hydraulic gradient estimates. Groundwater 45(1):62–73. 10.1111/j.1745-6584.2006.00249.x
Drost W, Klotz D, Koch A, Moser H, Neumaier F, Rauert W (1968) Point dilution methods of investigating ground water flow by means of radioisotopes. Water Resour Res 4(1):125–146. 10.1029/WR004i001p00125
Evans SG, Ge S (2017) Contrasting hydrogeologic responses to warming in permafrost and seasonally frozen ground hillslopes. Geophys Res Lett 44. 10.1002/2016GL072009
Fortier R, LeBlanc A-M, Yu W (2011) Impacts of permafrost degradation on a road embankment at Umiujaq in Nunavik (Quebec), Canada. Can Geotech J 48(5):720–740. 10.1139/t10-101
Fortier R, Lemieux J-M, Molson J, Therrien R (2013) Rapport de la phase III du projet de déploiement du réseau Immatsiak: campagne de forages pour l’installation de puits d’observation des eaux souterraines dans un petit bassin versant pergélisolé à Umiujaq [Phase III report of the Immatsiak Network Deployment Project: drilling campaign for the installation of groundwater wells in a small permafrost watershed in Umiujaq]. Technical report, Université Laval, Centre d’Etudes Nordiques, Quebec City, QC, 89 pp
Fortier R, Lemieux J-M, Talbot-Poulin M-C, Banville D-R, Lévesque R, Molson J, Therrien R (2014) Rapport de la phase IIIb du déploiement du réseau Immatsiak: hydrogéologie d’un bassin versant dans une vallée près d’Umiujaq [Immatsiak Network Phase IIIb report: hydrogeology of a watershed in a valley near Umiujaq]. Technical report, Université Laval, Centre d’Etudes Nordiques, Quebec City, QC, 275 pp
Fortier R, Banville D-R, Lévesque R, Lemieux J-M, Molson J, Therrien R, Ouellet M (2020) Development of a three-dimensional geological model, based on Quaternary chronology, geological mapping, and geophysical investigation, of a watershed in the discontinuous permafrost zone near Umiujaq (Nunavik, Canada). Hydrogeol J. 10.1007/s10040-020-02113-1
Frampton A, Destouni G (2015) Impact of degrading permafrost on subsurface solute transport pathways and travel time. Water Resour Res. 10.1002/2014WR016689
Frampton A, Painter SL, Destouni G (2013) Permafrost degradation and subsurface flow changes caused by surface warming trend. Hydrogeol J 21(1):271–280. 10.1007/s10040-012-0938-z
Ge S, McKenzie J, Voss C, Wu Q (2011) Exchange of groundwater and surface-water mediated by permafrost response to seasonal and long-term air temperature variation. Geophys Res Lett 38(14):1–6. 10.1029/2011GL047911
Goderniaux P, Brouyère S, Gutierrez A, Baran N (2010) Multi-tracer tests to evaluate the hydraulic setting of a complex aquifer system (Brévilles spring catchment, France). Hydrogeol J 18(7):1729–1740. 10.1007/s10040-010-0633-x
Government of Quebec (2019) Réseau de suivi des eaux souterraines du Quebec. http://www.environnement.gouv.qc.ca/eau/piezo/index.htm. Accessed 2 February 2019
Grosse G, Romanovsky V, Jorgenson T, Anthony KW, Brown J, Overduin PP (2011) Vulnerability and feedbacks of permafrost to climate change. EOS Trans Am Geophys Union 92(9):73–80. 10.1029/2011EO090001
Hatfield K, Annable M, Cho J, Rao PSC, Klammler H (2004) A direct passive method for measuring water and contaminant fluxes in porous media. J Contam Hydrol 75(3–4):155–181. 10.1016/j.jconhyd.2004.06.005
iFLUX (2019) iFLUX sampling, envision groundwater in motion. http://www.ifluxsampling.com. Accessed 2 February 2019
Ireson AM, van der Kamp G, Ferguson G, Nachshon U, Wheater HS (2013) Hydrogeological processes in seasonally frozen northern latitudes: understanding, gaps and challenges. Hydrogeol J 21(1):53–66. 10.1007/s10040-012-0916-5
Jamin P, Brouyère S (2018) Monitoring transient groundwater fluxes using the finite volume point dilution method. J Contam Hydrol 218:10–18. 10.1016/j.jconhyd.2018.07.005
Jamin P, Goderniaux P, Bour O, Le Borgne T, Englert A, Longuevergne L, Brouyère S (2015) Contribution of the finite volume point dilution method for measurement of groundwater fluxes in a fractured aquifer. J Contam Hydrol 182:244–255. 10.1016/j.jconhyd.2015.09.002
Jiang Y, Zhuang Q, O’Donnell JA (2012) Modeling thermal dynamics of active layer soils and near-surface permafrost using a fully coupled water and heat transport model. J Geophys Res 117:D11110. 10.1029/2012JD017512
Kearl PM (1997) Observations of particle movement in a monitoring well using the colloidal borescope. J Hydrol 200(1–4):323–344. 10.1016/S0022-1694(97)00026-7
Klammler H, Hatfield K, Annable MD, Agyei E, Parker BL, Cherry JA, Rao PSC (2007) General analytical treatment of the flow field relevant to the interpretation of passive fluxmeter measurements. Water Resour Res 43:W04407. 10.1029/2005WR004718
Kurylyk BL, Hayashi M, Quinton WL, McKenzie JM, Voss CI (2016) Influence of vertical and lateral heat transfer on permafrost thaw, peatland landscape transition, and groundwater flow. Water Resour Res 52:1286–1305. 10.1002/2015WR018057
Lemieux JM, Fortier R, Talbot-Poulin MC, Molson J, Therrien R, Ouellet M, Banville D, Cochand M, Murray R (2016) Groundwater occurrence in cold environments: examples from Nunavik, Canada. Hydrogeol J 24(6):1497–1513. 10.1007/s10040-016-1411-1
Lemieux J-M, Fortier R, Murray R, Dagenais S, Cochand M, Delottier H, Therrien R, Molson J, Pryet A, Parhizkar M (2020) Groundwater dynamics within a watershed in the discontinuous permafrost zone near Umiujaq (Nunavik, Canada). Hydrogeol J 10.1007/s10040-020-02110-4
Lyon SW, Destouni G (2010) Changes in catchment-scale recession flow properties in response to permafrost thawing in the Yukon River basin. Int J Climatol 30(14):2138–2145. 10.1002/joc.1993
McKenzie JM, Voss CI (2013) Permafrost thaw in a nested groundwater-flow system. Hydrogeol J 21(1):299–316. 10.1007/s10040-012-0942-3
O’Donnell JA, Aiken GR, Walvoord MA, Butler KD (2012) Dissolved organic matter composition of winter flow in the Yukon River basin: implications of permafrost thaw and increased groundwater discharge. Glob Biogeochem Cycles 26(4):1–18. 10.1029/2012GB004341
Osorno TC, Devlin JF, Firdous R (2018) An in-well point velocity probe for the rapid determination of groundwater velocity at the centimeter-scale. J Hydrol 557:539–546. 10.1016/j.jhydrol.2017.12.033
Parhizkar M, Therrien R, Molson J, Lemieux J-M, Fortier R, Talbot-Poulin M-C, Therrien P, Ouellet M (2017) An integrated surface–subsurface flow model of the thermo-hydrological behavior and effect of climate change in a cold-region watershed in northern Quebec, Canada. GeoOttawa 2017, 12th Joint CGS/IAH-CNC Groundwater Conference, Ottawa, Canada, Oct. 1–4, 2017
Romanovsky VE, Smith SL, Christiansen HH (2010) Permafrost thermal state in the polar northern hemisphere during the international polar year 2007–2009: a synthesis. Permafr Periglac Process 21(2):106–116. 10.1002/ppp.689
Rowland JC, Travis BJ, Wilson CJ (2011) The role of advective heat transport in talik development beneath lakes and ponds in discontinuous permafrost. Geophys Res Lett 38(17):1–5. 10.1029/2011GL048497
Slater AG, Lawrence DM (2013) Diagnosing present and future permafrost from climate models. J Clim 26(15):5608–5623. 10.1175/JCLI-D-12-00341.1
St. Jacques JMS, Sauchyn DJ (2009) Increasing winter baseflow and mean annual streamflow from possible permafrost thawing in the Northwest Territories, Canada. Geophys Res Lett 36(1):1–6. 10.1029/2008GL035822
Verreydt G, Bronders J, Van Keer I, Diels L, Vanderauwera P (2015) Groundwater flow field distortion by monitoring wells and passive flux meters. Groundwater 53:933–942. 10.1111/gwat.12290
Walvoord MA, Striegl RG (2007) Increased groundwater to stream discharge from permafrost thawing in the Yukon River basin: potential impacts on lateral export of carbon and nitrogen. Geophys Res Lett 34(12). 10.1029/2007GL030216
Wilson JT, Mandell WA, Paillet FL, Bayless ER, Hanson RT, Kearl PM, … Pedler WH (2001) Evaluation of borehole flowmeters used to measure horizontal ground-water flow in limestones of Indiana, Kentucky, and Tennessee, 1999. Water Resources Investigations Report. United States Geological Survey (4139)144. 10.1016/S0016-2361(03)00174-1
Wright N, Hayashi M, Quinton WL (2009) Spatial and temporal variations in active layer thawing and their implication on runoff generation in peat-covered permafrost terrain. Water Resour Res 45(5):1–13. 10.1029/2008WR006880
