TY - JOUR T1 - Implications of anthropogenic river stage fluctuations on mass transport in a valley fill aquifer JF - Water Resources Research Y1 - 2009 A1 - David F Boutt A1 - Brandon J Fleming KW - #Hydro KW - #WaterResources KW - aquifers KW - boundary conditions KW - Charlemont KW - Deerfield River basin KW - fluctuations KW - fluvial features KW - Franklin County Massachusetts KW - ground water KW - human activity KW - Hydrogeology 21 KW - hydrology KW - massachusetts KW - numerical models KW - preferential flow KW - rivers KW - shallow aquifers KW - streams KW - surface water KW - transport KW - two-dimensional models KW - United States KW - valleys AB - In humid regions a strong coupling between surface water features and groundwater systems may exist. In these environments the exchange of water and solute depends primarily on the hydraulic gradient between the reservoirs. We hypothesize that daily changes in river stage associated with anthropogenic water releases (such as those from a hydroelectric dam) cause anomalous mixing in the near-stream environment by creating large hydraulic head gradients between the stream and adjacent aquifer. We present field observations of hydraulic gradient reversals in a shallow aquifer. Important physical processes observed in the field are explicitly reproduced in a physically based two-dimensional numerical model of groundwater flow coupled to a simplistic surface water boundary condition. Mass transport simulations of a conservative solute introduced into the surface water are performed and examined relative to a stream condition without stage fluctuations. Simulations of 20 d for both fluctuating river stage and fixed high river stage show that more mass is introduced into the aquifer from the stream in the oscillating case even though the net water flux is zero. Enhanced transport by mechanical dispersion leads to mass being driven away from the hydraulic zone of influence of the river. The modification of local hydraulic gradients is likely to be important for understanding dissolved mass transport in near-stream aquifer environments and can influence exchange zone processes under conditions of high-frequency stream stage changes. PB - American Geophysical Union : Washington, DC, United States VL - 45 SN - 0043139719447973 UR - http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2007WR006526/full IS - 44 JO - Water Resources Research ER - TY - RPRT T1 - Geomorphology of New England Y1 - 1982 A1 - C.S. Denny KW - #Bibliography KW - #LegacyPublications KW - coastal plain KW - Cretaceous KW - Eocene KW - geomorphology KW - landscape KW - Miocene KW - New England KW - physiography KW - plateau KW - Pleistocene KW - provinces KW - river valleys KW - rivers KW - shallow bedrock KW - uplands AB -

Widely scattered terrestrial deposits of Cretaceous or Tertiary age and extensive nearshore and fluvial Coastal Plain deposits now largely beneath the sea indicate that the New England region has been above sea level during and since the Late Cretaceous. Estimates of rates of erosion based on sediment load in rivers and on volume of sediments in the Coastal Plain suggest that if the New England highlands had not been uplifted in the Miocene, the area would now be largely a lowland. If the estimated rates of erosion and uplift are of the right order of magnitude, then it is extremely unlikely that any part of the present landscape dates back before Miocene time. The only exception would be lowlands eroded in the early Mesozoic, later buried beneath Mesozoic and Cenozoic deposits, and exhumed by stream and glacial erosion during the later Cenozoic. Many of the rocks in the New England highlands are similar to those that underlie the Piedmont province in the central and southern Appalachians, where the relief over large areas is much less than in the highlands of New England. These comparisons suggest that the New England highlands have been upwarped in late Cenozoic time. The uplift took place in the Miocene and may have continued into the Quaternary. The New England landscape is primarily controlled by the underlying bedrock. Erosion and deposition during the Quaternary, related in large part to glaciation, have produced only minor changes in drainage and in topography. Shale and graywacke of Ordovician, Cambrian, and Proterozoic age forming the Taconic highlands, and akalic plutonic rocks of Mesozoic age are all highland makers. Sandstone and shale of Jurassic and Triassic age, similar rocks of Carboniferous age, and dolomite, limestone, and shale of Ordovician and Cambrian age commonly underlie lowlands. High-grade metapelites are more resistant than similar schists of low metamorphic grade and form the highest mountains in New England. Feldspathic rocks tend to form lowlands. Alkalic plutonic rocks of Mesozoic age underlie a large area in the White Mountains of New Hampshire and doubtless are a factor in their location and relief. Where the major streams flow across the regional structure of the bedrock, the location of the crossings probably is related to some other characteristic of the bedrock, such as joints or cross faults. The course of the Connecticut River is the result of the adjustment of the drainage to the bedrock geology during a long period of time. There is no ready explanation why many of the large rivers do not cross areas of calcalkalic plutonic rock, but rather take a longer course around such areas, which tend to include segments of the divide between the streams. The presence of coarse clastic materials in Miocene rocks of the emerged Coastal Plain of the Middle Atlantic States suggests uplift of the adjacent Piedmont and of the Adirondack Mountains at that time. The Miocene rocks of the submerged Coastal Plain in the Gulf of Maine and south of New England are fine grained and contain only small amounts of fluvial gravel. Perhaps the coarse clastic materials shed by the New England highlands in late Cenozoic time are buried by or incorporated in the Pleistocene glacial deposits.

JF - USGS Professional Paper PB - U.S. Geological Survey CY - Reston, VA UR - https://pubs.er.usgs.gov/publication/pp1208 ER - TY - Generic T1 - Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation Y1 - 0 KW - conservation KW - fishing KW - hunting KW - lakes KW - massachusetts KW - rivers KW - water resources KW - wetlands UR - http://www.mass.gov/dcr/index.htm ER - TY - Generic T1 - USGS Groundwater Watch Y1 - KW - #EducationalResources KW - #Hydro KW - #MapsDataPublications KW - #NaturalHazards KW - #Water KW - active KW - aquifer KW - drought KW - flood KW - flow KW - groundwater KW - historic KW - level KW - rivers KW - static water level KW - stream gauges KW - streamflow KW - streams KW - surface water KW - water KW - water quality AB - The USGS has a distributed water database that is locally managed. Surface water, groundwater, and water quality data are compiled from these local, distributed databases into a national information system. The groundwater database contains records from about 850,000 wells that have been compiled during the course of groundwater hydrology studies over the past 100 years. Information from these wells is served via the Internet through NWISWeb, the National Water Information System Web Interface. NWISWeb provides all USGS groundwater data that are approved for public release. This large number of sites is excellent for some uses, but complicates retrievals when the user is interested in specific networks, or wells in an active water- level measurement program. These "groundwater watch" web pages group related wells and data from these active well networks, and provide basic statistics about the water-level data collected by USGS water science centers for Cooperative Programs, for Federal Programs, and from data supplied to us by our customers through cooperative agreements. PB - USGS UR - http://groundwaterwatch.usgs.gov/ ER - TY - Generic T1 - USGS Water Resources of Massachusetts and Rhode Island Y1 - KW - #EducationalResources KW - #Hydro KW - #MapsDataPublications KW - #NaturalHazards KW - #Water KW - aquifer KW - drought KW - flood KW - flooding KW - flow KW - groundwater KW - historic KW - level KW - rivers KW - static water level KW - stream gauges KW - streamflow KW - streams KW - surface water KW - water KW - water quality AB - This is your direct link to water-resource information on Massachusetts's rivers and streams, ground water, water quality, and biology. Provides links to real time and historic streamflow, groundwater, drought, water quality, and precipitation data. PB - USGS UR - http://ma.water.usgs.gov/ ER -