Towards understanding the Dumfries Basin aquifer, SW Scotland
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Published:January 01, 2006
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CiteCitation
M. C. Akhurst, D. F. Ball, L. Brady, D. K. Buckley, J. Burns, W. G. Darling, A. M. MacDonald, A. A. McMillan, B. É. Ó Dochartaigh, D. W. Peach, N. S. Robins, G. P. Wealthall, 2006. "Towards understanding the Dumfries Basin aquifer, SW Scotland", Fluid Flow and Solute Movement in Sandstones: The Onshore UK Permo-Triassic Red Bed Sequence, R. D. Barker, J. H. Tellam
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Abstract
The Dumfries Basin aquifer supports groundwater abstraction for public supply, agriculture and industry. Abstraction is concentrated in the western part of the basin, where falling groundwater levels and deteriorating water quality both reflect the effects of intense pumping. There are two bedrock units: a predominantly breccia–coarse sandstone sequence in the west, interfingering with a predominantly sandstone sequence in the NE and east. The basin is bounded by weakly permeable Lower Palaeozoic rocks, and is largely concealed by variable superficial deposits. Surface water flows onto the basin from the surrounding catchment via the Nith and the Lochar Water and their respective tributaries. Direct rainfall recharge occurs via superficial sands and gravels, especially in the north, and discharge is predominantly to the rivers in the central area rather than the sea. A picture is developing of two main aquifer types within the basin: the high-transmissivity western sector underlain by a fracture-flow system with younger water and active recharge and a high nitrate content, compared with the east where groundwater residence times are longer and the storage capacity is higher.
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Contents
Fluid Flow and Solute Movement in Sandstones: The Onshore UK Permo-Triassic Red Bed Sequence

Sandstone aquifers are common worldwide: they contain a significant proportion of the Earth’s fresh water supplies. However, because of their textural complexity and the frequent occurrence of both matrix and fracture flow, prediction of flow and pollutant migration is still a considerable challenge. This volume contains a collection of papers summarizing current research on an example sandstone aquifer: the UK Permo-Triassic Sandstone sequence. These red bed, organic-poor sandstones are of fluvial and aeolian origin, are often strongly textured, and are cut by discontinuities of a wide range of permeabilities. Matrix flow often dominates, but fracture flow also occurs. The papers in the volume deal with research on saturated and unsaturated flow, and solute and non-aqueous-phase liquid movement. They cover investigations from laboratory to regional scale, and involve a wide range of approaches, from petrophysical through geophysical and hydrochemical to modelling.
The book is intended to be of interest to researchers and practitioners involved in water resources and groundwater pollution, and to hydrogeology, water engineering, and environmental science students.