Aquifer System

Buried valley / blanket aquifers


Buried Valleys Aquifer System
Buried valleys occur across Canada and may be incised into either bedrock of overlying surficial sediment and infilled by a broad range of sediment facies (e.g. Russell et al. 2004). Across the Canadian Prairies over 20 000 km of buried valleys have been identified (Russell et al., 2013) mostly incised into Cretaceous shales (Cummings et al., 2012). Buried valleys within the surficial succession, also known as inter till aquifers, are commonly recognized but rarely mapped. Three different styles of buried valleys have been identified (e.g. Pugin et al., 2014) and attributed to erosion and infill by fluvial, glaciofluvial and glacial processes in the preglacial and glacial period (Cummings et al., 2012; Atkinson et al., 2013; Pugin et al., 2014). Alpha valleys are regional bedrock valleys inferred to be preglacial. Beta valleys are deeper incised parts within alpha valleys that may subtend from unconformities within the till succession. Gamma valleys are inferred to be the youngest, the narrowest and to be incised into either bedrock or surfical sediment, and may subtend from unconformities within the surficial sediment. The thickness of the surficial sediment filling and burying buried valleys is up to 350 m (e.g. Cummings et al., 2012). Buried-valleys fills are comprised of sand, gravel, mud and diamicton (till). Numerous valleys contain permeable sand and (or) gravel at depth, and shallower stratigraphy is commonly mud-rich diamicton (till). The resulting heterogeneity may compartmentalize the aquifers and create localized flow systems (e.g. Shafer and Pusc, 1992). The hydraulic characteristics of buried valleys are variable and it is necessary to carefully assess the geological setting of individual buried valleys. The till-dominated sediment that covers the Prairies is a primary control on the hydrogeological characteristics of buried-valley aquifers. It limits recharge to these aquifers. In areas where several tens of metres of till overlie buried valleys, hydraulic head responses to precipitations tend to be muted or absent, and recovery of head following intense pumping can take years (e.g. Maathuis and van der Kamp, 2003; Van der kamp and Maathuis, 2002). Some buried valleys may operate as regional groundwater drains, with modern rivers commonly functioning as discharge zones. A number of buried valleys have been the focus of study, notably the Estevan in Southern Saskatchewan (Maathuis and van der Kamp, 2003), Spiritwood in Southern Manitoba (Pugin et al., 2014), and valleys in the Cold Lake area of Alberta (Atkinson et al., 2013). The Spiritwood Aquifer system in particular demonstrates this heterogeneity in valley erosion and fills with several generations of valleys of different dimensions and orientations (Pugin et al., 2014). Many of the intermediate depth valleys form inter-till aquifers and provide possible hydraulic connections to deeper buried valleys. The hydraulic boundaries of buried valleys are variable and it is necessary to carefully assess the geological and hydrogeological setting of individual buried valley segments. The resulting heterogeneity may compartmentalize the aquifers and create localized flow systems (e.g. Shafer and Pusc, 1992).
Source Project Metadata Datasets More info
Buried Valleys - Blanket aquifersMetadataBuried Valleys Aquifers Hydrogeological UnitsVector Dataset
Buried Valleys - Blanket aquifersMetadata3D hydrostatigraphic model of the Spiritwood Buried ValleyLeadFrog
Buried Valleys - Blanket aquifersMetadata3D hydrostatigraphic model of the Spiritwood Buried ValleyDXF Surfaces
Project Relevant Publications More info
Buried Valleys - Blanket aquifersMapping buried valley aquifers in SW Manitoba using a vibrating source/landstreamer seismic reflection system
Buried Valleys - Blanket aquifersInsights into the Medora-Waskada buried valley aquifer from geophysical surveys, southwestern Manitoba
Buried Valleys - Blanket aquifersA framework for buried-valley aquifers in southern Ontario
Buried Valleys - Blanket aquifersArchitecture of buried valleys in glaciated Canadian Prairie regions based on high resolution geophysical data
Buried Valleys - Blanket aquifersGeological, hydrogeological, geophysical, and geochemistry data from a cored borehole in the Spiritwood buried valley, southwest Manitoba
Buried Valleys - Blanket aquifersDownhole geophysical data from boreholes along the Spiritwood buried valley aquifer near Cartwright, Killarney, and southeast of Brandon, Manitoba
Buried Valleys - Blanket aquifersHelicopter time-domain electromagnetic data over the Eastern Hatfield buried-valley aquifer system, Saskatchewan
Buried Valleys - Blanket aquifersBuried-valley aquifers in the Canadian Prairies: a review
Buried Valleys - Blanket aquifersDelineating buried-valley aquifers using shallow seismic reflection profiling and downhole geophysical logs - an example from southern Ontario, Canada
Buried Valleys - Blanket aquifersAirborne time-domain electromagnetics, electrical resistivity and seismic reflection for regional three-dimensional mapping and characterization of the Spiritwood Valley, Aquifer, Manitoba, Canada
Buried Valleys - Blanket aquifersBuried-valley aquifers in the Canadian Prairies: geology, hydrogeology, and origin
Buried Valleys - Blanket aquifersGroundwater flow dynamic simulations of a buried valley aquifer calibrated with field and remotely sensed data
Buried Valleys - Blanket aquifersConceptual, geological and numerical groundwater flow models of the Spiritwood Buried Valley Aquifer in southwest Manitoba
Buried Valleys - Blanket aquifersSpiritwood buried valley aquifer Manitoba: Emerging understanding for groundwater management
Buried Valleys - Blanket aquifersRegional groundwater flow in inter-till and buried-valley aquifers, southwestern Manitoba
Buried Valleys - Blanket aquifersAirborne time-domain electromagnetics for three-dimensional mapping and characterization of the Spiritwood Valley Aquifer
Buried Valleys - Blanket aquifersIncorporating a-priori information into AEM inversion for geological and hydrogeological mapping of the Spiritwood Valley Aquifer, Manitoba, Canada
Buried Valleys - Blanket aquifersMapping transboundary buried valley aquifers along the Manitoba-North Dakota border
Buried Valleys - Blanket aquifersGeology and hydrogeology of prairie buried valleys
Buried Valleys - Blanket aquifersAirborne time-domain electromagnetic data for mapping and characterization of the Spiritwood Valley aquifer, Manitoba, Canada
Buried Valleys - Blanket aquifersAn overview of the architecture, sedimentology and hydrogeology of buried-valley aquifers in Canada
Buried Valleys - Blanket aquifersSpiritwood Buried Valley 3D geological modelling - part of a multidisciplinary aquifer characterization workflow
Buried Valleys - Blanket aquifersTime-domain electromagnetic data for the Spiritwood valley aquifer, Manitoba
Buried Valleys - Blanket aquifersShallow drilling and piezometer installations near Killarney, Manitoba for hydrogeological investigations of the Spiritwood Buried Valley Aquifer
Buried Valleys - Blanket aquifersPortable XRF spectrometry of insitu and processed glacial sediment from a borehole within the Spiritwood buried valley, southwest Manitoba
Buried Valleys - Blanket aquifersStop 2-3B: A passive noise-monitoring geophysical method to detect buried valleys
Buried Valleys - Blanket aquifersAeroTEM III Survey, Spiritwood Valley, Manitoba, parts of NTS 62G/3, 62G/4, Manitoba
Buried Valleys - Blanket aquifersAeroTEM III Survey, Spiritwood Valley, Manitoba, parts of NTS 62G/3, 62G/4, 62G/5, 62G/6, Manitoba