Exchange between ground water and surface water at the lowland River Spree

摘要

Water exchange processes in the floodplain of a lowland groundwater-surface water system are studied on the basis of a study site near Freienbrink, NE Germany. The boundaries of this site are formed by an oxbow and the current bed of the river Spree, section Muggelspree. Surface and ground water levels were collected in 12 piezometers and at two recording stage gauges of a 300 m long transect throughout a one-year-period. Due to water level fluctuations, alternating periods of infiltration and exfiltration have been observed. However, most of the time groundwater flux is directed into the river Spree and river water infiltration events into the aquifer are usually short and of minor importance. Due to clogging of the oxbow bed, the hydraulic contact between the oxbow and the adjacent aquifer is marginal. These features are modelled quantitatively using MODFLOW in order to simulate ground water flow in the local aquifer.