Reply to Comment on “Analysis of pumping test data for determining unconfined-aquifer parameters: Composite analysis or not?”: paper published in Hydrogeology Journal (2009) 17:1133–1147, by Hund-Der Yeh and Yen-Chen Huang

摘要

The Comment focuses on the model usage and analysis procedures of the pumping test data obtained from 20 observation wells at the Cape Cod site. The following two fundamental issues need to be addressed before proceeding: 1. The Comment states that “… the Cape Cod aquifer is relatively homogeneous to flow …” and “… the Cape Cod aquifer was shown by Moench et al. (2001) to be remarkably homogeneous”. However, the abstract of Moench (2004a) states “… in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, in a slightly heterogeneous, coarse-grained glacial outwash deposit …”. Moreover, “The Cape Cod aquifer …in slightly heterogeneous and anisotropic, coarse-grained alluvial aquifers” (Moench 2004a). The aquifer test (Moench et al. 2001) was performed at the Cape Cod Toxic Substances Hydrology Research Site in Falmouth, Massachusetts. The tracer test site near Otis Air Force Base at Cape Cod, referred to in LeBlanc et al. (1991), is about 15 km to the north of Falmouth. LeBlanc et al. (1991, p. 898) gave a figure, which shows a geological profile with stratified sand and gravel formation, for an unsaturated zone about 5 m above the water table at the tracer test site. LeBlanc et al. (1991, p. 897) mentioned that the estimated hydraulic c onductivity of the outwash variesabout one order of magnitude and this variation results from the interbedded lenses and layers of sands and gravels. So it is not appropriate to state that the aquifer formation at Cape Cod is relatively homogeneous or remarkably homogeneous.