Influence of aquifer and streambed heterogeneity on the distribution of groundwater discharge

The spatial distribution of groundwater fluxes through a streambed can be highly variable, most often resulting from a heterogeneous distribution of aquifer and streambed permeabilities along the flow pathways. In a previous study, observed temperature profiles in the streambed of a small stream in Germany were used to calibrate the subsurface parameters of a groundwater flow and heat transport model of the stream-aquifer system. Based on the model results, we defined four scenarios to simulate and assess the interplay of aquifer and streambed heterogeneity on the distribution of groundwater fluxes through the streambed: (a) a homogeneous low-K streambed within a heterogeneous aquifer; (b) a heterogeneous streambed within a homogeneous aquifer; (c) a well connected heterogeneous low-K streambed within a heterogeneous aquifer; and (d) a poorly connected heterogeneous low-K streambed within a heterogeneous aquifer. The results showed that the aquifer has a stronger influence on the distribution of groundwater fluxes through the streambed than the streambed itself. However, a homogeneous low-K streambed, a case often implemented in regional-scale groundwater flow models, resulted in a strong homogenization of fluxes, which may have important implications for the estimation of peak mass flows. The simulation results with heterogeneous low-K streambeds, whether or not well connected to the aquifer, were similar to the results of the base case scenario without a separate parameterization of the streambed, despite the lower permeability. We conclude that predictions of water flow and solute transport may significantly benefit from heterogeneous distributions of both aquifer and streambed properties in numerical simulation models.