Hydromechanical characterization of tide-induced head fluctuations in coastal aquifers: The role of delayed yield and minor permeable layers

Abstract

Tidal analysis is an aquifer scale testing that is a low-cost alternative to pumping tests for evaluating aquifer hydraulic parameters without groundwater extraction. Many analytical solutions may be used to assess aquifer head fluctuations in response to tidal fluctuations. Nonetheless, they are rarely used in practice. Aside from that, most analytical solutions are based on a conceptual model that typically consists of an unconfined aquifer and a confined aquifer separated by an aquitard, where hydraulic head fluctuations in the unconfined aquifer part are commonly neglected. Additionally, the frequent confined aquifer short response time to sea-level fluctuations cannot rely on hydraulic connection of the confined aquifer to the sea through the aquitard. As a consequence, when analytical solutions are applied to real-world cases, the hydraulic diffusivity is overestimated. In this study, we investigate through different numerical simulations the fluctuations of the phreatic surface by considering the delayed yield. Numerical results demonstrate that the mechanical effect generated by the load over the sea bottom exerted by sea-level fluctuations is a key factor when determining aquifer parameters. We further show that in multilayer systems, head fluctuations in various aquifer layers can cause interferences and, consequently, increased attenuation of the tidal signal, resulting in an overestimation of the inferred hydraulic diffusivity. Our results provide guidance on how to properly reproduce tidal responses in coastal aquifers.