Groundwater models
A site-specific groundwater model requires a lot of input data, which may not always be possible to obtain in special situations due to limited resources or urgent schedules. In these situations, an indicative type formation model can be used to assist in the assessment. Type models can provide order-of-magnitude estimates. However, when examining site-specific cases, it is advisable to create models that better represent the specific site.
The structural descriptions of groundwater type formations were prepared in the 1990s based on the mapping of groundwater areas, statistical examination of formation structures, and risk assessment of road salting. At that time, groundwater models were also created for the type formations, but they were made with the HST3D software, which is not widely used, and the files are not available in electronic form.
To make the existing type formation models generally usable, they have been re-created at the Finnish Environment Institute in a format compatible with the widely used MODFLOW software. The actual calculation programs of the MODFLOW software family can be downloaded for free from the internet, and a free graphical user interface, ModelMuse, is also available for them.
Literature related to groundwater type formations and models
More Information
Senior Researcher Sirkku Tuominen, Finnish Environment Institute (Syke), firstname.lastname@syke.fi