Abstract

Defining Aquifer Recharge Zones Based on Soil Mapping and Slope
Track: Water Resources
Author(s): Jonathan Mulder

A layer respresenting aquifer recharge potential can be created from a soil polygonal coverage and digital elevation model (DEM) data by applying tools available in the Spatial Analyst toolbox. Soil Survey Geographic (SSURGO) GIS datasets contain tables pertaining to the chemical and physical soil properties. One of those properties is the Saturated Hydraulic Conductivity (KSat), which can be used as a soil permeability value. The soil polygonal coverage is converted to a raster coverage with a soil KSat value assigned to each pixel in the raster layer. This 'Soil Permeability' raster layer can then be combined with a 'Slope' raster layer using the 'Times' tool in Spatial Analyst. The resulting 'Aquifer Recharge Potential' layer delineates potential recharge areas as those areas having high soil permeability and relatively flat slopes. The layer is symbolized with a green-to-red color ramp with green representing better areas and red represening poorer areas.

Jonathan Mulder
California Department of Water Resources
2440 main Street
Red Bluff , California 96080
United States
Phone: 530-528-7423
E-mail: mulder@water.ca.gov