%0 Journal Article
%T Conceptual model of groundwater quality for the monitoring and management of the Voronka groundwater body, Estonia
%A Andres Marandi
%A Enn Karro
%A Valle Raidla
%A Rein Vaikm£¿e
%J Estonian Journal of Earth Sciences
%D 2012
%I Estonian Academy Publishers
%R 10.3176/earth.2012.4.11
%X A fundamental knowledge of processes that control groundwater composition is required for informed management of water quality. The Voronka groundwater body in northeastern Estonia represents a good example of a complicated, overexploited groundwater system where conceptual understanding of baseline quality and governing hydrogeochemical processes can support sustainable aquifer management. A conceptual understanding or conceptual model is a simplified representation or a working understanding of the real hydrogeological system and its processes. The baseline chemical composition of the Voronka ground-water body was formed during the last glaciations, when glacial meltwater intruded into water-bearing rocks. Two main processes that can change Voronka groundwater body quality at the present day are: (1) seawater intrusion and (2) water exchange between buried valleys and formation¡¯s groundwater. Future monitoring and management should focus on changes in the natural composition of groundwater caused by abstraction. The HCO3¨C/Cl¨C value is the best parameter to describe the fluctuations in natural back-ground chemistry in the Voronka groundwater body and to assess significant trends induced by abstraction. In case of the discovered trends, a suite of isotope methods, especially 14C, 3H, ¦Ä2H, ¦Ä18O and ¦Ä13C, can be used to detect whether the intrusion of seawater or exchange of water with buried valleys is taking place.
%K conceptual model
%K groundwater management
%K groundwater monitoring
%K stable isotopes
%K hydrochemistry
%K Estonia.
%U http://www.kirj.ee/public/Estonian_Journal_of_Earth_Sciences/2012/issue_4/earth-2012-4-328-339.pdf