PhD Studentship: Determining the 4D Groundwater Flow Distribution in a Mined Karstic Limestone Catchment

Quantifying water movement through karstic limestone catchments is challenging given their typically marked variability in water flow in space and time (Bodin et al., 2022). This variability is affected strongly by the extent of karstification – dissolution-enhanced conduit development - and the resulting highly heterogeneous nature of the karstified rock-mass at human spatial scales. Typically, such systems exhibit marked non-stationary and non-linear hydrological behaviour (Banusch et al., 2002; Gunn & Bradley, 2023; 2024). Further complexity is present where limestone weathering results in ‘ghost-rock’ groundwater systems (Dubois et al., 2014).

In such systems, there are established methods to quantify recharge and discharge rates, and tracer testing is often used to determine links between discrete recharge and discharge locations. However, one important common uncertainty is the actual pathway between the discrete input and output points, and, in particular, how deep groundwater flow occurs, a subject of much discussion in the research literature (e.g. Kaufmann et al., 2014), but, compared with other issues, relatively little integrated study. From a practical standpoint, determining the distribution of flow is of vital concern for both environmental protection work and deep engineering projects.

Thus, the project aims to develop means of determining flow distributions in three dimensions in a karstic limestone catchment, and how these distributions vary in time. This aim is ambitious, but the reward for success would be considerable.

The approach will involve both field and numerical modelling experimentation on a research catchment in the Carboniferous Limestone of the English Peak District. The project has been made possible by access to a large, deep limestone quarry: though mines can affect flow systems significantly (e.g. Green et al., 2003; Hobbs & Gunn, 1998; Hobbs, 2014; Lolcama et al., 2002), they also offer very significant opportunities for investigation. The quarry in the research catchment has unusually extensive datasets, collected over decades, including on water levels, flow rates, and tracer tests. In addition, deep boreholes have been drilled recently to explore flow systems below the base of the quarry. Access will be provided to ground-probing radar, hydrogeological field chemical and hydraulic testing equipment, drones, photogrammetry software, and specialist groundwater flow software (e.g. Baggett et al., 2019; Borghi et al., 2016; Jeannin et al., 2021). The researcher will be supported by a purposely large supervisory team that has a range of expertise to match the various aspects of this multidisciplinary project.

We seek an enthusiastic, hard-working researcher with a capacity for original thinking and a background in at least one of a wide range of areas, including geosciences, engineering, ‘pure’ sciences, and mathematics. The researcher would be expected to engage in fieldwork and analysis, including numerical modelling. Training will be provided, including access to the University’s MSc Course in Hydrogeology.

The project will be supervised by John Gunn, Simiao Sun, Christopher Bradley, Robert Yates (Cemex) and John Tellam.

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