U.S. Geological Survey Toxic Substances Hydrology Program--Proceedings
of the Technical Meeting, Colorado Springs, Colorado, September 20-24, 1993,
Water-Resources Investigations Report 94-4015
 
Effects of Changes in Aquifer Properties on Simulated Fluid-Particle
Pathlines, Cape Cod, Massachusetts
by
John P. Masterson (U.S. Geological Survey, Marlborough, Mass.)
and Donald A. Walter (U.S. Geological Survey, Marlborough, Mass.)
Abstract
A ground-water-flow model is being developed by the U.S. Geological Survey
(USGS) to estimate the paths of contaminants from the Massachusetts Military
Reservation and, in particular, to determine whether these contaminants
will affect public-supply wells, ponds, streams, and coastal embayments.
Preliminary model results determined by use of the regional-scale flow
model of western Cape Cod developed by the USGS indicate that the pathlines
of contaminants emanating from the infiltration beds of the Massachusetts
Military Reservation sewage-treatment plant do not coincide with the known
extent of the contaminant plume. Modifications to aquifer properties simulated
by the model result in a similar head distribution and stream-discharge
rates for the aquifer, yet markedly different contaminant pathlines. Therefore,
calibration simply based on head and stream-discharge matching is insufficient
for transport analysis. Accurate calibration might require the incorporation
of contaminant information to use ground-water-flow models as tools for
predicting plume migration.
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