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Leonard F. Konikow

Publications and source records attributed to Leonard F. Konikow.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources
USGS1997

Constant-concentration boundary condition: Lessons from the HYDROCOIN variable-density groundwater benchmark problem

In a solute-transport model, if a constant-concentration boundary condition is applied at a node in an active flow field, a solute flux can occur by both advective and dispersive processes. The potential for advective release is demonstrated by reexamining the Hydrologic Code Intercomparison (HYDROCOIN) project case 5 problem, which represents a salt dome overlain by a shallow groundwater system. The resulting flow field includes significant salinity and fluid density variations. Several independent teams simulated this problem using finite difference or finite element numerical models. We applied a method-of-characteristics model (MOCDENSE). The previous numerical implementations by HYDROCOIN teams of a constant-concentration boundary to represent salt release by lateral dispersion only (as stipulated in the original problem definition) was flawed because this boundary condition allows the release of salt into the flow field by both dispersion and advection. When the constant-concentration boundary is modified to allow salt release by dispersion only, significantly less salt is released into the flow field. The calculated brine distribution for case 5 depends very little on which numerical model is used, as long as the selected model is solving the proper equations. Instead, the accuracy of the solution depends strongly on the proper conceptualization of the problem, including the detailed design of the constant-concentration boundary condition. The importance and sensitivity to the manner of specification of this boundary does not appear to have been recognized previously in the analysis of this problem.

Water Resources Research↗
USGS1996

A three-dimensional method-of-characteristics solute-transport model (MOC3D)

This report presents a model, MOC3D, that simulates three-dimensional solute transport in flowing ground water. The model computes changes in concentration of a single dissolved chemical constituent over time that are caused by advective transport, hydrodynamic dispersion (including both mechanical dispersion and diffusion), mixing (or dilution) from fluid sources, and mathematically simple chemical reactions (including linear sorption, which is represented by a retardation factor, and decay). The transport model is integrated with MODFLOW, a three-dimensional ground-water flow model that uses implicit finite-difference methods to solve the transient flow equation. MOC3D uses the method of characteristics to solve the transport equation on the basis of the hydraulic gradients computed with MODFLOW for a given time step. This implementation of the method of characteristics uses particle tracking to represent advective transport and explicit finite-difference methods to calculate the effects of other processes. However, the explicit procedure has several stability criteria that may limit the size of time increments for solving the transport equation; these are automatically determined by the program. For improved efficiency, the user can apply MOC3D to a subgrid of the primary MODFLOW grid that is used to solve the flow equation. However, the transport subgrid must have uniform grid spacing along rows and columns. The report includes a description of the theoretical basis of the model, a detailed description of input requirements and output options, and the results of model testing and evaluation. The model was evaluated for several problems for which exact analytical solutions are available and by benchmarking against other numerical codes for selected complex problems for which no exact solutions are available. These test results indicate that the model is very accurate for a wide range of conditions and yields minimal numerical dispersion for advection-dominated problems. Mass-balance errors are generally less than 10 percent, and tend to decrease and stabilize with time.

Water-Resources Investigations Report↗
USGS1995

Groundwater transport of crater-lake brine at Poa´s Volcano, Costa Rica

Poa´s Volcano is an active stratovolcano in Costa Rica that has a lake in its active crater. The crater lake has high temperatures (50–90 °C), high acidity (pH ≈ 0.0), and a high dissolved-solids content (100 g/kg). The volcano has numerous freshwater springs on its flanks, but a few on the northwestern flank are highly acidic (pH = 1.6–2.5) and have high dissolved-solids concentrations (2–22 g/kg). This study analyzes the regional groundwater system at Poa´s and demonstrates the likelihood that the water discharging from the acidic springs in the Rio Agrio watershed originates at the acidic crater lake. Both heat and solute transport are analyzed on a regional scale through numerical simulations using the HST3D finite-difference model, which solves the coupled equations for fluid flow, heat transport, and solute transport. The code allows fluid viscosity and density to be functions of both temperature and solute concentration. The simulations use estimates for recharge to the mountain and a range of values and various distributions of permeability and porosity. Several sensitivity analyses are performed to test how the uncertainty in many of the model parameters affects the simulation results. These uncertainties yield an estimated range of travel times from the crater lake to the Rio Agrio springs of 1–30 years, which is in close agreement with the results of tritium analyses of the springs. Calculated groundwater fluxes into and out of the crater lake are both about several hundred kg/s. These fluxes must be accounted for in water budgets of the crater lake.

Poa's Volcano↗
USGS1995

A computer program (MACPUMP) for interactive aquifer-test analysis

This report introduces MACPUMP (Version 1.0), an aquifer-test-analysis package for use with Macintosh4 computers. The report outlines the input- data format, describes the solutions encoded in the program, explains the menu-items, and offers a tutorial illustrating the use of the program. The package reads list-directed aquifer-test data from a file, plots the data to the screen, generates and plots type curves for several different test conditions, and allows mouse-controlled curve matching. MACPUMP features pull-down menus, a simple text viewer for displaying data-files, and optional on-line help windows. This version includes the analytical solutions for nonleaky and leaky confined aquifers, using both type curves and straight-line methods, and for the analysis of single-well slug tests using type curves. An executable version of the code and sample input data sets are included on an accompanying floppy disk.

Water-Resources Investigations Report↗
USGS1994

User's guide to revised method-of-characteristics solute-transport model (MOC--version 31)

The U.S. Geological Survey computer model to simulate two-dimensional solute transport and dispersion in ground water (Konikow and Bredehoeft, 1978; Goode and Konikow, 1989) has been modified to improve management of input and output data and to provide progressive run-time information. All opening and closing of files are now done automatically by the program. Names of input data files are entered either interactively or using a batch-mode script file. Names of output files, created automatically by the program, are based on the name of the input file. In the interactive mode, messages are written to the screen during execution to allow the user to monitor the status and progress of the simulation and to anticipate total running time. Information reported and updated during a simulation include the current pumping period and time step, number of particle moves, and percentage completion of the current time step. The batch mode enables a user to run a series of simulations consecutively, without additional control. A report of the model's activity in the batch mode is written to a separate output file, allowing later review. The user has several options for creating separate output files for different types of data. The formats are compatible with many commercially available applications, which facilitates graphical postprocessing of model results. Geohydrology and Evaluation of Stream-Aquifer Relations in the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint River Basin, Southeastern Alabama, Northwestern Florida, and Southwestern Georgia By Lynn J. Torak, Gary S. Davis, George A. Strain, and Jennifer G. Herndon Abstract The lower Apalachieola-Chattahoochec-Flint River Basin is underlain by Coastal Plain sediments of pre-Cretaceous to Quaternary age consisting of alternating units of sand, clay, sandstone, dolomite, and limestone that gradually thicken and dip gently to the southeast. The stream-aquifer system consism of carbonate (limestone and dolomite) and elastic sediments, which define the Upper Floridan aquifer and Intermediate system, in hydraulic connection with the principal rivers of the basin and other surface-water features, natural and man made. Separate digital models of the Upper Flori-dan aquifer and Intermediate system were constructed by using the U.S. Geological Survey's MODular Finite-Element model of two dimensional ground-water flow, based on concep- tualizations of the stream-aquifer system, and calibrated to drought conditions of October 1986. Sensitivity analyses performed on the models indicated that aquifer hydraulic conductivity, lateral and vertical boundary flows, and pumpage have a strong influence on groundwater levels. Simulated pumpage increases in the Upper Floridan aquifer, primarily in the Dougherty Plain physiographic district of Georgia,. caused significant reductions in aquifer discharge to streams that eventually flow to Lake Seminole and the Apalachicola River and Bay. Simulated pumpage increases greater than 3 times the October 1986 rates caused drying ofsome stream reaches and parts of the Upper Floridan aquifer in Georgia. Water budgets prepared from simulation results indicate that ground- water discharge to streams and recharge by horizontal and vertical flow are the principal mechanisms for moving water through the flow system. The potential for changes in ground-water quality is high in areas where chemical constituents can be mobilized by these mechanisms. Less than 2 percent of ground-water discharge to streams comes from the Intermediate system; thus, it plays a minor role in the hydrodynamics of the stream- aquifer system.

Water-Resources Investigations Report↗
USGS1992

Seasonal dynamics of groundwater-lake interactions at Doñana National Park, Spain

The hydrologic and solute budgets of a lake can be strongly influenced by transient groundwater flow. Several shallow interdunal lakes in southwest Spain are in close hydraulic connection with the shallow ground water. Two permanent lakes and one intermittent lake have chloride concentrations that differ by almost an order of magnitude. A two-dimensional solute-transport model, modified to simulate transient groundwater-lake interaction, suggests that the rising water table during the wet season leads to local flow reversals toward the lakes. Response of the individual lakes, however, varies depending on the lake's position in the regional flow system. The most dilute lake is a flow-through lake during the entire year; the through flow is driven by regional groundwater flow. The other permanent lake, which has a higher solute concentration, undergoes seasonal groundwater flow reversals at its downgradient end, resulting in complex seepage patterns and higher solute concentrations in the ground water near the lake. The solute concentration of the intermittent lake is influenced more strongly by the seasonal wetting and drying cycle than by the regional flow system. Although evaporation is the major process affecting the concentration of conservative solutes in the lakes, geochemical and biochemical reactions influence the concentration of nonconservative solutes. Probable reactions in the lakes include biological uptake of solutes and calcite precipitation; probable reactions as lake water seeps into the aquifer are sulfate reduction and calcite dissolution. Seepage reversals can result in water composition that appears inconsistent with predictions based on head measurements because, under transient flow conditions, the flow direction at any instant may not satisfactorily depict the source of the water. Understanding the dynamic nature of groundwater-lake interaction aids in the interpretation of hydrologic and chemical relations between the lakes and the ground water.

Journal of Hydrology↗
USGS1990

Reevaluation of large-scale dispersivities for a waste chloride plume: Effects of transient flow

This paper investigates the effects of transient groundwater flow on dispersion of a waste chloride plume in the basaltic aquifer beneath the Idaho (USA) National Engineering Laboratory. In an early application of numerical modeling techniques to the two-dimensional simulation of field-scale plumes, previous investigators identified longitudinal and transverse dispersivities using an independently calibrated steady-state flow model and matching contours of observed and simulated concentrations. The unusual result of calibrated transverse dispersivity (140 m) being significantly larger than longitudinal dispersivity (90 m) has been attributed to spatial heterogeneity, the fractured nature of the aquifer, and to the use of a two-dimensional model. New calibrations of the solute-transport model are performed on point concentration observations using a flow model incorporating transient recharge conditions that cause significant fluctuations in velocity. Under transient flow conditions, lowest calibration errors are achieved with significantly larger dispersivities than previously hypothesized, and with the longitudinal component larger than the transverse component. Unfortunately, the sensitivity of the model calibration error to dispersivity is low. Incorporating transient flow in this two-dimensional porous-media model does not significantly improve our understanding of the processes controlling chloride transport at this site.

Conference Paper↗
USGS1989

Porosity development in coastal carbonate aquifers

Geochemical mixing theory suggests that the mixing of seawater and calcite-saturated fresh ground water can result in a solution that is undersaturated with respect to calcite. Previous studies of the mixing of such waters in carbonate rocks along certain coastlines have indicated that this mixing effect may be responsible for significant amounts of calcite dissolution and porosity development. In this study, potential rates of porosity development by calcite dissolution are assessed by combining geochemical mixing theory with the hydrodynamics of fresh-water-salt-water mixing zones in a coupled reaction- transport model. Results from the reaction-path model PHREEQE are used with a variable-density ground-water flow and solute-transport model to simulate an idealized cross section of a coastal carbonate aquifer. Results of the simulations indicate that the dissolution process is sensitive to fresh-water chemistry, ground-water velocities, and sea-level movement. Dissolution potential was evaluated at three field sites, and evidence from those sites is in general agreement with the simulation results. Dissolution rates indicated by the model show that under the proper conditions this dissolution mechanism can produce significant increases in porosity over relatively short spans of geologic time (tens of thousands of years).

Geology↗
USGS1989

Modification of a method-of-characteristics solute-transport model to incorporate decay and equilibrium-controlled sorption or ion exchange

The U.S. Geological Survey computer model of two-dimensional solute transport and dispersion in ground water (Konikow and Bredehoeft, 1978) has been modified to incorporate the following types of chemical reactions: (1) first-order irreversible rate-reaction, such as radioactive decay; (2) reversible equilibrium-controlled sorption with linear, Freundlich, or Langmuir isotherms; and (3) reversible equilibrium-controlled ion exchange for monovalent or divalent ions. Numerical procedures are developed to incorporate these processes in the general solution scheme that uses method-of- characteristics with particle tracking for advection and finite-difference methods for dispersion. The first type of reaction is accounted for by an exponential decay term applied directly to the particle concentration. The second and third types of reactions are incorporated through a retardation factor, which is a function of concentration for nonlinear cases. The model is evaluated and verified by comparison with analytical solutions for linear sorption and decay, and by comparison with other numerical solutions for nonlinear sorption and ion exchange.

Water-Resources Investigations Report↗
USGS1988

Groundwater flow and transport modeling

Deterministic, distributed-parameter, numerical simulation models for analyzing groundwater flow and transport problems have come to be used almost routinely during the past decade. A review of the theoretical basis and practical use of groundwater flow and solute transport models is used to illustrate the state-of-the-art. Because of errors and uncertainty in defining model parameters, models must be calibrated to obtain a best estimate of the parameters. For flow modeling, data generally are sufficient to allow calibration. For solute-transport modeling, lack of data not only limits calibration, but also causes uncertainty in process description. Where data are available, model reliability should be assessed on the basis of sensitivity tests and measures of goodness-of-fit. Some of these concepts are demonstrated by using two case histories.

Journal of Hydrology↗
USGS1985

A two-constituent solute-transport model for ground water having variable density

A numerical model has been developed to simulate solute transport and dispersion of either one or two constituents in groundwater where there is two-dimensional, density-dependent flow. The model is a modified version of the one documented by Konikow and Bredehoeft (1978), which uses finite-difference methods and the method of characteristics to solve the flow and transport equations. The model was tested on an idealized seawater intrusion problem for which an analytical solution has been developed. The results were nearly identical to those of other numerical models tested on the same problem. A description of the formats for the input data, a sample of input and output for a two-constituent example problem, and a listing of the Fortran program are presented. (Author 's abstract)

Water-Resources Investigations Report↗
USGS1983

Front-tracking model for convective transport in flowing ground water

A finite-difference numerical model that simulates the convective transport of water or tracer particles through porous media is described. It can be applied to one- or two-dimensional problems involving either steady-state or transient flow. The model tracks representative water or tracer particles, initially located along specified lines, as they move in response to the groundwater velocity filed. Aquifer properties may be both anisotropic and nonhomogeneous. Included in the report is a listing of the program along with input formats and test problem results. The front-tracking model provides a useful first approximation determining the movement of solutes in an aquifer, particularly in cases when dispersion and dilution is of minor consideration. (USGS)

Water-Resources Investigations Report↗
USGS1981

Role of numerical simulation in analysis of ground-water quality problems

The increasing public awareness and concern about the hazards of toxic chemicals contaminating aquifers has created an increased need for predictive capabilities to analyze ground-water contamination problems. Several digital models to simulate the movement and concentration of ground-water contaminants have been documented recently. Most simulate the transport and dispersion of a nonreactive solute, but some include mathematically simple reaction terms to represent decay and sorption processes. For applications to field problems, these solute-transport models impose data requirements that, in general, exceed our practical capabilities to accurately describe the field properties and stresses of the hydraulic and chemical systems. Thus, interpretations based on model analyses must recognize the significance of uncertainties in input data. Models of ground-water systems should be regarded as just one tool among many that can be used in the analysis of a ground-water quality problem. Numerical simulation can help the analyst integrate available data, evaluate conceptual models, test hypotheses pertaining to flow and quality changes, and predict system responses to alternative stresses. The models do not replace field data, but they do offer a feedback mechanism that can help to guide the design of a more effective and more efficient data-collection program.

Science of the Total Environment↗