A statistical approach to the inverse problem of aquifer hydrology: 2. Case study

In part 1 of this paper a new, statistically based approach to the problem of estimating patially varying aquifer transmissivities on the basis of steady state water level data was presented. Part 2 describes a case study in which the new method is applied to actual field data from the Cortaro Basin in southern Arizona. The paper does not present a perfect example of how the new inverse method should be used but only a preliminary demonstration of some of its capabilities in dealing with realistic data. The estimated transmissivities are shown to compare favorably with those obtained earlier for the same basin by an ad hoc trial-and-error procedure. Both sets of transmissivity values have been used successfully in conjunction with a mixed explicit-implicit finite element model to reproduce 25 years of water level variations in the Cortaro Basin in response to pumpage during the period 1940–1965. The finite element model has revealed some important features of the local hydrogeological regime which have not been recognized previously.

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