| Title | Regional-scale aquifer mapping in Canada |
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| Author | Sharpe, D R ;
Russell, H A J |
| Source | Geological Society of America 2006 Philadelphia Annual Meeting; Geological Society of America, Abstracts With Programs vol. 38, no. 7, 13, 2006 p. 109  Open Access |
| Links | Online - En ligne
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| Image |  |
| Year | 2006 |
| Alt Series | Earth Sciences Sector, Contribution Series 20060130 |
| Publisher | Geological Society of America |
| Meeting | Geological Society of America Annual Meeting 2006; Philadelphia, PA; US; October 22-25, 2006 |
| Document | serial |
| Lang. | English |
| Media | paper; on-line; digital |
| File format | html; pdf |
| Province | Canada; British Columbia; Alberta; Saskatchewan; Manitoba; Ontario; Quebec; New Brunswick; Nova Scotia; Prince Edward Island; Newfoundland and Labrador; Northwest Territories; Yukon; Nunavut;
Canada |
| NTS | 1; 2; 3; 10; 11; 12; 13; 14; 15; 16; 20; 21; 22; 23; 24; 25; 26; 27; 28; 29; 30; 31; 32; 33; 34; 35; 36; 37; 38; 39; 40; 41; 42; 43; 44; 45; 46; 47; 48; 49; 52; 53; 54; 55; 56; 57; 58; 59; 62; 63; 64; 65;
66; 67; 68; 69; 72; 73; 74; 75; 76; 77; 78; 79; 82; 83; 84; 85; 86; 87; 88; 89; 92; 93; 94; 95; 96; 97; 98; 99; 102; 103; 104; 105; 106; 107; 114O; 114P; 115; 116; 117; 120; 340; 560 |
| Subjects | hydrogeology; surficial geology/geomorphology; regional geology; stratigraphy; Nature and Environment; Science and Technology; groundwater resources; aquifers; groundwater flow; groundwater regimes;
bedrock geology; sediments; hydrostratigraphic units; modelling; Classification |
| Program | Groundwater Mapping Program |
| Released | 2006 10 01 |
| Abstract | Groundwater is important to health, economy and ecosystems in Canada. It has been routinely surveyed since early last century, yet groundwater has not been mapped in a systematic way across the country.
A current federal groundwater initiative includes establishing a framework to link national, regional and watershed-scale groundwater flow systems. The country can be classified into 9 regions of similar character on the basis of geology,
physiographic, and permafrost from existing national maps. These regions provide a first order summary for comparison at 1:1,000,000 scales.
A common approach utilized in developing a national aquifer classification (e.g. United States, Ireland)
is the use of geological mapping, and, organization into simple aquifer types. Five types are used in the US national principal aquifer map. A similar approach is applicable to organize regional aquifer mapping in Canada, based on key water-bearing
openings: i) porous or inter-granular, ii) fractures, iii) karst. This scheme uses classes such as un-consolidated sand and gravel, sandstone, carbonate, carbonate-clastic and crystalline rocks. A limited set of aquifer types can be linked within
hydrogeological settings (e.g. depositional environment/ landform; glaciofluvial/ esker) to permit rapid and simple characterization of hydrogeological conditions (e.g. water table or confined). Aquifer types can be linked to a hierarchical scale of
geological maps and hydrogeological regions to facilitate a systematic assessment of groundwater resources in Canada.
Case studies in Ontario are presented defining the 3D distribution, geometry and architecture of individual aquifer settings,
e.g. landforms; buried valleys, stratified moraines. Mapping in aquifer settings indicates that they may contain a number of aquifer sub-types, e.g. esker, fan and delta. Improved delineation of these aquifer types requires integration of archival
field data organized within a stratigraphic database, and linked to a training framework of high-quality geophysical, sediment core and surface map data. The availability of sound conceptual models and seamless geological mapping will lead to
improved 3-D geological modeling that will in turn help constrain the lack of data coverage and data quality encountered in regional hydrogeological mapping. |
| GEOSCAN ID | 222506 |
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