Abstract
The present doctoral thesis examines the potential applications of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in the scientific field of environmental hydrogeology. The research area for the application of these methods is the northeastern part of the prefecture of Corinth which includes from east to the west the Xerias, Rachianis, Zapantis and Asopos river basins. The wider study area includes both prealpine and postalpine geological formations of terrestrial, lagoonal and marine origin. The dominant geomorphological and tectonic structure in the wider study area is the Corinthian Gulf which is a wide rift zone with high rates of displacement between the two parts of the Peloponnese and Central Greece, as a result of the tensile tectonics that has affected and still affects the region after the end of the Alpine Orogenic episode in the middle Miocene. The neotectonic of the study area is characterized by intense tensile stresses responsible for the creation of the Corinthian trench and nume ...
The present doctoral thesis examines the potential applications of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in the scientific field of environmental hydrogeology. The research area for the application of these methods is the northeastern part of the prefecture of Corinth which includes from east to the west the Xerias, Rachianis, Zapantis and Asopos river basins. The wider study area includes both prealpine and postalpine geological formations of terrestrial, lagoonal and marine origin. The dominant geomorphological and tectonic structure in the wider study area is the Corinthian Gulf which is a wide rift zone with high rates of displacement between the two parts of the Peloponnese and Central Greece, as a result of the tensile tectonics that has affected and still affects the region after the end of the Alpine Orogenic episode in the middle Miocene. The neotectonic of the study area is characterized by intense tensile stresses responsible for the creation of the Corinthian trench and numerous normal and oblique faults, parallel and perpendicular to the axis of the trench. A large proportion of these faults are active and responsible for the genesis of medium and large magnitude earthquakes during historical times. The relief of the survey area is characterized by three large plane sections, the coastal area between Corinth and Kiato known as Vochas plane, the area between Agios Basilios and Spathovouni villages and the plane area around the historical city of Nemea. The remainder of the study area can be described as hilly or semi - mountainous with moderate slopes and rounded mountain peaks, with the exception of the SW and SE edge of the area where the predominance of carbonate formations of the prealpine basement creates mountainous terrain with steep slopes Slope deep ravines and sharp mountain peaks. The morphometric analysis shows that watersheds in the study area are expected to have hydrographs of “slow runoff” and low flooding potential. The morphometric characteristics of Zapantis, Ellison and Seliandros basins make them more susceptible to “flash flood” events. From the hydrogeological point of view, a number of ground water bodies (aquifers) and practically impermeable formations are developing in the study area. To investigate the movement of groundwater in aquifers, six different spatial interpolation methods were implemented and it was found that the interpolation method, considerably affects the final formation of the piezometric surface. The criteria for the evaluation of each method were firstly whether the resulting surface does not alter the physical properties a piezometric surface must have (small hydraulic gradient, agreement with the topography, etc.) and secondly a number of statistical error indicators quantify the agreement of the resulting surface with the existing values at the measuring points. Combining the above mentioned observations, we conclude that the most appropriate method for creating groundwater level surfaces, with the process of spatial interpolation, for cases of regional areas with alternating aquifer and practically non- aquifer formations and general heterogeneity in hydraulic characteristics, is the method of Ordinary Cokriging with prior removal of data trends. The annual variation of ground water level, as it was shown by the comparison of ground water level surface of periods 5/2003 and 10/2004 in alluvial aquifers, except the coastal portion of Vocha aquifer, we observe an increase in ground water levels varying from 1 to 10 meters while within the conglomerate aquifers and the confined aquifer that develops within the marl formation we observe a slight decline ranging from 1 to 10 meters. This variation can be attributed to the fact that shallow alluvial aquifers are recharged faster than the deeper confined aquifers and are influenced by the water balance of only the current hydrological year while the deeper confined aquifers are affected by more than one hydrologic year. The corresponding situation for the periods 10/2004 and 10/2005 is almost inverse because a rising in ground water level is observed both in the deeper confined aquifers and in the coastal part of the alluvial aquifer of Vocha while drawdown is observed in other alluvial aquifers. The repeated differentiation between aluvial and deeper confined aquifers suggests that they are responding to recharge with a different time lag. Based mainly on hydrolithological classification of geological formations but also on their spatial distribution as it is represented in the hydrogeological map but additionally on the basis of information from borehole lithological sections and also the spatial distribution of the groundwater level we end in the delineation of “groundwater bodies” or “aquifer systems” for the study area. According to the above mentioned evidence five porous and two karstic aquifer systems were defined. Both karstic aquifer systems are developed partly in the study area with their bigger part located outside of the study area. For this reason, they were not investigated thoroughly in this research. The feature that was examined in these systems was the way they interact with other aquifer systems and how they affect the hydrological balance of the watersheds of the study area. Three of the five porous aquifer systems (Vocha, Agios Basilios and Nemea) developed entirely within the study area and they include mostly shallow alluvial aquifers which form unified or multilevel aquifers with deeper confined aquifers of the Plio - Pleistocene formations. The other two porous aquifer systems (Aidonia - Petri and Kryoneri - Baltos) develope within the Pleistocene conglomerates (Calabrian conglomerates) and despite the fact that they are partially included in the study area they were investigated in detail because they play a key role in water balance of the study area within which they are discharged through high capacity contact springs in places where with come in contact with the underlying impermeable Pliocene marls. The most prolific aquifers in the study area are the conglomerate aquifers while aquifers of Vocha, Nemea and Agios Basilios - Spathovouni have a highly variable productivity and have average to low yields. Finally it was found that the aquifer developed in the marl formation has low productivity and small practical importance. The extensive development of cultivations in the study area bring significant pressures on water resources in both the quantitative part due to increased irrigation needs and the qualitative part because of diffuse pollution on water resources resulting from agricultural practices (fertilizers, pesticides etc.). The various aquifers in the study area have significant hydrochemical variations which are found both in the distribution they have in Piper diagram and from the various relationships between hydrochemical parameters such as the relationship between alkalinity and calcium or alkalinity and concentrations of REE and Eh-pH, but also in the statistical indicators of hydrochemical parameters such as alkalinity, conductivity, sulphate, nitrate and heavy metals concentrations. These variations are due to the different composition of the aquifer materials, the difference in residence time of groundwater within the aquifer, the redox conditions and other factors. These variations are normalized in cases where there is hydraulic connection between different aquifers. As it was shown by the spatial distribution of pH values, acidic conditions prevailing almost in the entire coastal alluvial aquifer system of Vocha with the most acidic conditions located in the areas of Velo and Assos - Lecheo while alkaline conditions prevailing in the water systems of conglomerates and also in the deeper confined aquifer that develops in the Isthmia - Examillia - Ancient Corinth area. Correspondingly the spatial distribution of redox potential reveal that oxidizing conditions prevail in most of the study area except for the part Vrahati -Kokoni - Evangelistria in Vocha alluvial aquifer, the Pasio - Laliotis – Sikyon area and large parts of the aquifer developed in the formation of marls. By studying the spatial distribution of nitrogen compounds in groundwater, we come to the conclusion that there is a widespread contamination of groundwater by nitrate, mainly in the Vocha coastal aquifer system except the area between Vrahati - Kokoni - Neratza and also throughout the whole area between Examilia - Solomos - Spathovouni - Agios Basilios both in the upper unconfined and deeper confined aquifers. As shown by the spatial distribution of the parameters associated with seawater intrusion, there seems to be a propagation of the seawater intrusion front, to the axis between Assos and Spathovouni even at great distance from the coast. This conclusion is confirmed by the fact that, deep boreholes in the Spathovouni area have been abandoned due to salinization. Similarly there seems to be a retreat of the seawater intrusion front near Isthmia-Examillia area. From the simultaneous observation and study of the spatial distribution of chloride, ground water level and the hydrochemical types of groundwater, it is obvious that in the study area, sea water intrusion represent a very serious problem mainly along the axis indicated above. In the rest of the coastal zone, although hydrogeological conditions do not differs seawater intrusion is quite limited. This fact may be attributed both on good recharge of coastal aquifers and on the relative uplift of the practically impermeable marl formation which acts as a natural barrier to seawater intrusion. The alluvial aquifers of the study area are showing the greatest concentration of heavy metals. In some cases the concentration values are so high that they can be attributed to contamination of groundwater from point sources or to the influence by hydrothermal fluids. For the better understanding of hydrogeological and hydrochemical processes in aquifers in the study area, the spatial distributions of rare earth elements (REE), as well as their evolution along groundwater flow lines were investigated in response to evolution of other hydrochemical parameters such as concentrations of main elements and redox conditions. The aquifers developed in marls and marine terraces show the higher values of REE elements, which is an indication that in fact these aquifers are in full hydraulic connection or even compose a single confined aquifer. The conglomerates and alluvial aquifers of Vocha and Nemea show generally lower REE concentration values while the aquifer system of Agios Basilios-Spathovouni generally have high REE concentration values which also indicates that the deeper confined aquifer of the system, is hydraulically connected or developed within the Plio - Pleistocene marls. The cumulative concentration of rare earth elements seems to increase with the decrease in redox potential as well as the decrease in phi Acidic and reducing conditions appear to favor the preservation of dissolved rare earth elements in groundwater. According to the spatial distribution of δ18Ο values and according to the relationship between δ18Ο values and the altitude of the sampling point, the aquifer systems of the conglomerates appears to be recharged directly from the area where they have surface development, or possibly laterally recharged with groundwater of the adjacent karst aquifers initially recharged in areas of higher altitude. The remainder of the study area appears to be recharged from the areas where the formations that host the aquifer have surface development, excluding the areas of Sikyon-Velo and Lecheo that seems to be recharged with water from areas with higher altitudes. High tritium values were observed in parts of the coastal alluvial aquifer of Vocha, but also in the porous aquifer system of Nemea, particularly around Koutsi while no big discrepancies between δ18Ο and altitude of sampling points occurred in the same sites. High rates of tritium can be attributed mainly to problematic recharge and discharge of aquifers, resulting in long residence times of groundwater in the aquifer. Under the framework of application of advanced methods using GIS, simulation models and spatial multi-criteria analysis models were used and developed, for solving problems related to hydrological and hydrochemical processes at river basin scale, the vulnerability of aquifers and the placement of new water wells. The river basin simulation model that was applied is called “SWAT”, acronym for Soil and Water Assessment Tool, which is a fully distributed physically based model that may be applied in ArcGIS environment. Application of SWAT model in the study area was conducted for the four main river basins (Asopos, Zapantis, Rachiani and Xerias) for the period 1991-2001 with annual and monthly time step. After the initial implementation, the model was manually calibrated using time series of runoff measurements from a station on the River Asopos, namely the bridge between Nemea and Petrio. The results of the model include distributions of parameters such as the direct and total runoff, recharge of the phreatic aquifer and the quantity of nitrogen and nitrate that reaches the surface water and water of aquifer recharge, on a sub basin or basin scale. The investigation of aquifer vulnerability is carried out by the optimization of the standard DRASTIC method and various modifications and transformations are proposed, based on statistical parameters of the distribution of nitrate concentration as an indicator of aquifer pollution. Eventually, an integrated method, that can successfully determine the specific vulnerability or the pollution risk of an aquifer under intense environmental pressure, is provided. Besides the above optimization process of the DRASTIC model, two other hybrid methodologies based on the principles of DRASTIC method were developed. These two methodologies are based on two methods of multivariate spatial statistics and more specifically the method of " multiple logistic regression » and the method of “weighted evidence”, in order to determine the specific vulnerability (pollution risk) of aquifers. The results of the three methods are compared in terms of success on the coincidence of high values of pollution risk with high nitrate concentrations in groundwater. By creating a multi-criteria analysis model using fuzzy logic methods and hydrogeological, environmental and socioeconomic criteria, the distribution of the suitability of each location of study the area for drilling new water wells was accomplished. From the distribution of suitability it appears that large parts of the study area are totally unsuitable for drilling new water wells. This is due to the large number of existing water wells and the large extend of the marl formation which holds very low productivity aquifers. The choice of the method of fuzzy logic and the combination of criteria used, manage to focus in fully appropriate areas for the drilling of new water wells. These areas are then further classified based on the combination of the above mentioned criteria. The methodology of multi-criteria analysis using fuzzy logic has great flexibility and adaptability. By altering the type and coefficients of fuzzy functions and choosing a different combination of operators the final result can be tailored to the priorities of research. The best positions in the study area are located in the formation of conglomerates, west of Nemea plane area and around villages Kryoneri and Souli as well as the upstream part of the alluvial aquifer of Vocha and within recent river deposits nearby all the rivers of the study area
show more
