Long-term water level changes in closed-basin lakes of the Canadian prairies and the role of groundwater Garth van der Kamp, Environment Canada, Saskatoon Masaki Hayashi, Dwayne Keir, Alan Barr, Little Fish Lake, AB, May 2005
Prairie lakes 1820 2004: The water levels in Canadian prairie lakes have been falling while nearby Devil s Lake (ND) is rising since 1940: 4 me te rs Re d b e r r y L a k e L e v e l C h a n g e De v ils Big Q u ill Ke n o se e 1 820 184 0 1860 188 0 1900 1 920 1940 1960 19 80 2000 Ye ars
Five lakes in eastern SK Summer 2007 levels (provisional)
Flooding at Fishing Lake SK, summer 2007
Long-term fluctuations of prairie climate based on tree-rings 1350-2000 (Sauchyn et al)
Wetlands, land-use change and climate variability 1968-2007 450 Water Depths St Denis #90 1968-2007 Pond # 90 St Denis NWA, Oct 2007 400 350 300 250 200 150 100 50 0 1968 1973 1978 1983 1988 1993 1998 2003 2008 Depth (cm) St Denis NWA North Dakota [USGS] 561.00 560.00 559.00 558.00 557.00 DRY Wetland P1 The USGS Cottonwood County wetland research site, near Devils Lake. There has been no landuse change at this site. Change to wet conditions in 1993. Jan-79 Jan-80 Jan-81 Jan-82 Jan-83 Jan-84 Jan-85 Jan-86 Jan-87 Jan-88 Jan-89 Jan-90 Jan-91 Jan-92 Jan-93 Jan-94 Jan-95 Jan-96 Jan-97 Jan-98 Jan-99 Jan-00 Jan-01 Jan-02 Jan-03 Jan-04 Jan-05 Jan-06
Shallow observation wells in SK water level changes 1964-2007 Water-table drawdown during the 2001-2003 drought averaged about 0.5 m, corresponding to ~ 150 mm groundwater storage depletion 2.500 2.000 1.500 Watere level change (m) 1.000 0.500 0.000-0.500-1.000-1.500 ATTON 's L k C ON Q 5 01 D U C K LAKE 1 FOR GET MEL FOR T SIMPSON 1 3 STEN EN SW AN SON VER LO Ave ra g e -2.000-2.500 Jan- 60 Jan- 65 Jan- 70 Jan- 75 Jan- 80 Jan- 85 Jan- 90 Jan- 95 Jan- 00 Jan- 05 Jan- 10 Years
Clay-rich glacial till plus sand/gravel aquifers
Hydraulic Conductivity (K) of Glacial Till St. Denis National Wildlife Area, Saskatchewan 0 0.001 0.1 10 1000 (m/yr) 5 weathered till sand depth (m) 10 15 piezometer unweathered till 20 soil core 25 Original data: J. Hydrol. 207:42; Hydrol. Process. 18:2011
Lissey, 1971 Toth, 1963 Lissey, 1971
Revised Model of Wetland Complex (van der Kamp & Hayashi, 2009. Hydrogeology Journal. 17: 203-214 ) recharge flow through discharge aquifer regional recharge salinity Shallow groundwater exchange with riparian zone. Deeper flow in low-permeability till is very small. Inter-till aquifer may provide connection. Salts accumulate under discharge wetland.
Water Depth in St. Denis Wetlands 150 100 S109, 2400 m 2 pond depth (cm) 50 0 2001965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 S50, 31000 m 2 150 100 50 0 No change over winter 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005
Saskatchewan BERMS Forest flux sites (Old Aspen OA, Old Black Spruce - OBS and Old Jack Pine OJP) compared with Alberta Grassland site (ABG): Comparison of Monthly E,α and G s Between Dry year (2003 for SK Sites, 2001 for ABG) And Wet Year 2005 [Zhan et al. in prep]
Overview of the Weighing Lysimeter Instrumentation Fundamentals Change of mechanical surface loading is instantaneously transmitted to deep saturated formations resulting in change of pore water pressure; Piezometers in saturated formations can therefore detect pore pressure changes due to hydrological processes such as: Snow accumulation; Conceptual Sketch of Piezometric Weighing Lysimeter Installation Rainfall; Evapotranspiration tens of meters p Aquitard - high compressibility - lowpermeability Pressure Transducer Van der Kamp et al, 2003 t
Regional water storage changes in southern Saskatchewan: - Average of 4 Geological Weighing Lysimeter wells, - Average of 9 water table wells, multiplied by 0.3 for specific yield. 0.300 A verage - Geological weighing lysim eter wells (m ) 0.200 A verage - shallow water table wells (m) 0.100 Water storage change (m) 0.000-0.100-0.200-0.300 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 Years
0.300 Regional water storage changes in southern Saskatchewan: - GRACE for southern Saskatchewan [provided by Yirdaw and Snelgrove] - Average of Geological Weighing Lysimeter wells - Average of water table wells A verage - Geological weighing lysim eter wells (m ) GRA C E (m) 0.200 A verage - shallow water table wells (m) 0.100 Water storage change (m) 0.000-0.100-0.200-0.300 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 Years
Assiniboine Delta Aquifer (ADA) ADA
ADA Data Measured Head Dec/06 Example of Interpolated Groundwater Head Assinboine River - observation wells o - rain gauges Souris River Area 4000 km 2
ParFlow-CLM Modelling Precipitation Moisture/heat flux Evapotranspiration Infiltration/ Seepage
Modelling Results ADA Spatial Average Simulation
Infiltration Capacity of the Top Soil Measured by single-ring infiltrometers Average, standard deviation, and # of samples Grassed Cultivated Avg. SD # Avg SD # Unfrozen 300 390 11 23 13 15 Frozen 19 36 6 0.3 0.6 3 unit : mm/hour