Author(s)

J. Mls

Abstract

It is well known that in aquifers in contact with the ocean, sinusoidal fluctuations of groundwater level occur in response to tides. Similar semidiurnal fluctuations have been observed in the piezometric head of confined aquifers without any contact with the ocean. These fluctuations are of interest to hydrogeologists and geophysicists as they indicate that the observed wells are sensitive indicators of the surrounding material deformations either by changes in the surface loading or by applied strain. The aim of the contribution is to model the pressure-head fluctuations in a leaky confined aquifer as a result of periodic changes of the load originating in the tidal changes of gravity acceleration. The Biot approach was used to derive the governing equations. The aquifer characteristics and the imposed boundary conditions were determined according to the known geology of the particular site where the water level fluctuations were observed. The problem was solved numerically and the obtained results were compared with the measured values. Keywords: groundwater tides, water level fluctuations, tide potential, tide acceleration, aquifer, solid phase compressibility, Biot’s approach.

Keywords

groundwater tides, water level fluctuations, tide potential, tide acceleration, aquifer, solid phase compressibility, Biot’s approach