Metadata: 3D hydrogeological model of Prince Edward Island

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Identification

Abstract

A tridimensional numerical groundwater flow and mass transport model was developed for the aquifer system of the entire Prince Edward Island. A number of different groundwater flow and mass transport simulations were made to evaluate the potential impact of the projected climate change and agricultural adaptation.
Status:register completed
Title3D hydrogeological model of Prince Edward Island
Date2007-01-01 (register publication)
Date2007-01-01 (register creation)
Edition
Edition date
Citation group
register principalInvestigator
NameMartine Savard
OrganisationGovernment of Canada; Natural Resources Canada; Geological Survey of Canada - GSC Quebec
Position
Information
AddressDelivery point : 490, rue de la Couronne, 3e étage 490, rue de la Couronne, 3e étage
City : Québec Québec
Administrative region : Québec Québec
Postal code :
Country : Canada Canada
Email martine.savard@canada.ca
Telephonetelephone voice; 1 (418) 6542634
Online Resource
Citation group
register originator
NameDaniel Paradis
OrganisationGovernment of Canada; Natural Resources Canada; Geological Survey of Canada - GSC Quebec
Position
Information
AddressDelivery point : 490, rue de la Couronne, 3e étage 490, rue de la Couronne, 3e étage
City : Québec Québec
Administrative region : Québec Québec
Postal code :
Country : Canada Canada
Email daniel.paradis@canada.ca
Telephonetelephone voice; 1 (418) 6543713
Online Resource
Citation group
register custodian
NameFrancois Letourneau
OrganisationGovernment of Canada; Natural Resources Canada; Geological Survey of Canada - GSC Quebec
Position
Information
AddressDelivery point : 490, rue de la Couronne, 3e étage 490, rue de la Couronne, 3e étage
City : Québec Québec
Administrative region : Québec Québec
Postal code :
Country : Canada Canada
Email francois.letourneau@canada.ca
Telephonetelephone voice; 1 (418) 6543826
Online Resource
Citation group
register pointOfContact
Name
OrganisationGovernment of Canada; Natural Resources Canada; Geological Survey of Canada
Position
Information
AddressDelivery point :
City :
Administrative region :
Postal code :
Country :
Email nrcan.gsc-geosciencedata-donneesgeoscience-cgc.rncan@canada.ca
Telephone
Online Resource
Presentation formregister modelDigital

Related publication

  • Paradis, D., Vigneault, H., Lefebvre, R., Savard, M. M., Ballard, J.-M., and Qian, B. 2016. Groundwater nitrate concentration evolution under climate change and agricultural adaptation scenarios: Prince Edward Island, Canada. Earth Syst. Dynam., 7, 183-202, doi:10.5194/esd-7-183-2016. Savard, M M (ed.); Somers, G (ed.). 2007. Consequences of climatic changes on contamination of drinking water by nitrate on Prince Edward Island. Earth Sciences Sector, General Information Product 61; 142 pages, doi:10.4095/225775.

Goals

The objective of this study was to evaluate how nitrate concentrations in the aquifer could evolve in the future due to climate change as well as potential changes in agricultural practices.

Keyword(s)

Thesaurus
TitleNRCan - GSC - Hydrogeology - Thesaurus
Date2009-01-01 (register creation)
Date2016-12-01 (register publication)
Edition
Edition date
Citation group
register custodian
Name
OrganisationGovernment of Canada; Natural Resources Canada; Geological Survey of Canada
Position
Information
Typeregister place
TermPrince Edward Island
Thesaurus
Typeregister
TermHydrogeology
Thesaurus
Typeregister
TermGroundwater
Thesaurus
Typeregister
TermAquifer system
Thesaurus
TitleNRCan - GSC - Hydrogeology - Thesaurus
Date2009-01-01 (register creation)
Date2016-12-01 (register publication)
Edition
Edition date
Citation group
register custodian
Name
OrganisationGovernment of Canada; Natural Resources Canada; Geological Survey of Canada
Position
Information
Typeregister theme
TermGroundwater flow
Thesaurus
TitleNRCan - GSC - Hydrogeology - Thesaurus
Date2009-01-01 (register creation)
Date2016-12-01 (register publication)
Edition
Edition date
Citation group
register custodian
Name
OrganisationGovernment of Canada; Natural Resources Canada; Geological Survey of Canada
Position
Information
Typeregister product
Term3D Model
Spatial representationregister grid
Languageeng; CAN
Character encodingutf8
Thematic categorygeoscientificInformation
ExtentLocalisation
-64.450000000,45.950000000;-61.950000000,47.100000000
Supplemental information

Distribution

Specific information related to data distribution
Format
NameFEFLOW
Versionnot applicable

Distributor

Contact
register distributor
NameEric Boisvert
OrganisationGovernment of Canada; Natural Resources Canada; Geological Survey of Canada - GSC Quebec
Position
Information
AddressDelivery point : 490, rue de la Couronne, 3e étage 490, rue de la Couronne, 3e étage
City : Québec Québec
Administrative region : Québec Québec
Postal code :
Country : Canada Canada
Email eric.boisvert2@canada.ca
Telephonetelephone voice; 1 (418) 6543705
Online Resource

Distributor

Contact
register pointOfContact
Name
OrganisationGovernment of Canada; Natural Resources Canada; Geological Survey of Canada
Position
Information
AddressDelivery point :
City :
Administrative region :
Postal code :
Country :
Email nrcan.gsc-geosciencedata-donneesgeoscience-cgc.rncan@canada.ca
Telephone
Online Resource

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Quality


Quality description scope :register dataset

Lineage

Message Date lineage
Lineage is the description of the sources and steps used to create the current dataset.


Introduction
General process description
Process step Sources
Prince Edward Island is characterized continental red beds dipping to the northeast at about one to three degrees that consist of conglomerate, sandstone and siltstone in which sandstones are dominant (Van de Poll, 1983). The rock sequence underlying the Island is almost entirely covered by a layer of unconsolidated glacial material from a few centimeters to several meters in thickness (Prest, 1973). With few exceptions, the surficial sediments over PEI do not represent significant aquifers as they are not water saturated, so the sandstone constitutes the main aquifer. Because the geology of the Island is relatively homogeneous, the hydrogeological conceptual model for all PEI is assumed to be similar to the one defined for the Winter River and Wilmot River watersheds where Francis (1989) and Paradis et al. (2006, 2007) carried out extensive hydrogeological characterization. To represent the groundwater flow system and to simulate nitrate transport under various scenarios of climate change for the entire Province, the three-dimensional finite element numerical simulator FEFL0W (Diersch, 2004) was used. The physically based FEFLOW model was divided into eight layers (four layers for each of the two flow systems). The base of the model is set at 800m below water table to include the different flow patterns that can develop within the PEI aquifer system (e.g., Tóth, 1963). Below are the field-based and calibrated hydraulic properties of the Prince Edward Island aquifer model (Kh and Kv are respectively horizontal and vertical hydraulic conductivity and n is total porosity). The effective diffusion coefficient used in the model is 1x10-9 m2/s and longitudinal and transverse dispersivities are respectively 5 and 0.5 m. Layer number (depth in m); Field Kh (m/s); Numerical model [Kh (m/s); Kv/Kh; n (%)] 1 (0-5); 4.5x10-4 to 8.1x10-5; [3x10-4; 0.1; 17] 2 (5-10); 4.5x10-4 to 8.1x10-5; [1x10-4; 0.1; 17] 3 (10-15); 4.5x10-4 to 8.1x10-5; [5x10-5; 0.1; 17] 4 (15-30); 4.5x10-4 to 8.1x10-5; [1x10-5; 0.01; 17] 5 (30-80); 1.7x10-4 to 8.4x10-7; [1x10-5; 0.001; 17] 6 (80-180); n.d.; [1x10-6; 0.01; 17] 7 (180-380); n.d.; [1x10-7; 0.1; 17] 8 (380-880); n.d.; [1x10-8; 1; 17] The flow in the vadose zone was neglected due to the short lag-time response (few days) between precipitations and water table fluctuations. Boundary conditions include constant heads around the Island in the first layer, and no flow boundaries in the underlying layers to simulate the flow along the saline front around the Island. Constant heads were also applied to rivers on the first layer to represent the hydraulic connection between rivers and the high-flow system. The model was first calibrated prior to use for predictions. In the calibration process, model parameters were adjusted until simulation results were consistent with the understanding of the groundwater system and all the available observations. The present model was calibrated with three types of data: (1) the measured heads in domestic wells; (2) the mean base flow recession (MBR) curve for rivers and; (3) the groundwater nitrate concentration records in domestic wells for 2000-2005.
Prince Edward Island is characterized continental red beds dipping to the northeast at about one to three degrees that consist of conglomerate, sandstone and siltstone in which sandstones are dominant (Van de Poll, 1983). The rock sequence underlying the Island is almost entirely covered by a layer of unconsolidated glacial material from a few centimeters to several meters in thickness (Prest, 1973). With few exceptions, the surficial sediments over PEI do not represent significant aquifers as they are not water saturated, so the sandstone constitutes the main aquifer. Because the geology of the Island is relatively homogeneous, the hydrogeological conceptual model for all PEI is assumed to be similar to the one defined for the Winter River and Wilmot River watersheds where Francis (1989) and Paradis et al. (2006, 2007) carried out extensive hydrogeological characterization. To represent the groundwater flow system and to simulate nitrate transport under various scenarios of climate change for the entire Province, the three-dimensional finite element numerical simulator FEFL0W (Diersch, 2004) was used. The physically based FEFLOW model was divided into eight layers (four layers for each of the two flow systems). The base of the model is set at 800m below water table to include the different flow patterns that can develop within the PEI aquifer system (e.g., Tóth, 1963). Below are the field-based and calibrated hydraulic properties of the Prince Edward Island aquifer model (Kh and Kv are respectively horizontal and vertical hydraulic conductivity and n is total porosity). The effective diffusion coefficient used in the model is 1x10-9 m2/s and longitudinal and transverse dispersivities are respectively 5 and 0.5 m. Layer number (depth in m); Field Kh (m/s); Numerical model [Kh (m/s); Kv/Kh; n (%)] 1 (0-5); 4.5x10-4 to 8.1x10-5; [3x10-4; 0.1; 17] 2 (5-10); 4.5x10-4 to 8.1x10-5; [1x10-4; 0.1; 17] 3 (10-15); 4.5x10-4 to 8.1x10-5; [5x10-5; 0.1; 17] 4 (15-30); 4.5x10-4 to 8.1x10-5; [1x10-5; 0.01; 17] 5 (30-80); 1.7x10-4 to 8.4x10-7; [1x10-5; 0.001; 17] 6 (80-180); n.d.; [1x10-6; 0.01; 17] 7 (180-380); n.d.; [1x10-7; 0.1; 17] 8 (380-880); n.d.; [1x10-8; 1; 17] The flow in the vadose zone was neglected due to the short lag-time response (few days) between precipitations and water table fluctuations. Boundary conditions include constant heads around the Island in the first layer, and no flow boundaries in the underlying layers to simulate the flow along the saline front around the Island. Constant heads were also applied to rivers on the first layer to represent the hydraulic connection between rivers and the high-flow system. The model was first calibrated prior to use for predictions. In the calibration process, model parameters were adjusted until simulation results were consistent with the understanding of the groundwater system and all the available observations. The present model was calibrated with three types of data: (1) the measured heads in domestic wells; (2) the mean base flow recession (MBR) curve for rivers and; (3) the groundwater nitrate concentration records in domestic wells for 2000-2005.


Technical details and constraints

File identifierb3c5f190-d2ea-c1d7-3f75-a0cefb0387da
Languageeng; CAN
Character encodingregister utf8
Hierarchical classificationregister dataset
Date2017-03-21
Metadata standardNorth American Profile of ISO 19115:2003 - Geographic information - Metadata
VersionCAN/CGSB-171.100-2009
Constraints
Update frequencyregister asNeeded

Regionalisation

Metadata are available in those languages (You can use language menu item in the top menu bar to switch language):
Language code Pays Encodage
register Frenchregister Canadaregister utf8

Geographic Reference System

Reference System codeEPSG:26920
Registerhttp://www.epsg-registry.org/
Version6.14

Metadata Contact

register pointOfContact
NameFrancois Letourneau
OrganisationGovernment of Canada; Natural Resources Canada; Geological Survey of Canada - GSC Quebec
Position
Information
AddressDelivery point : 490, rue de la Couronne, 3e étage 490, rue de la Couronne, 3e étage
City : Québec Québec
Administrative region : Québec Québec
Postal code :
Country : Canada Canada
Email francois.letourneau@canada.ca
Telephonetelephone voice; 1 (418) 6543826
Online Resource
register pointOfContact
Name
OrganisationGovernment of Canada; Natural Resources Canada; Geological Survey of Canada
Position
Information
AddressDelivery point :
City :
Administrative region :
Postal code :
Country :
Email nrcan.gsc-geosciencedata-donneesgeoscience-cgc.rncan@canada.ca
Telephone
Online Resource