Effect of the unsaturated zone thickness on the distribution of water mean transit times in a porous aquifer

Summary The mean transit time of groundwater is commonly expected to increase gradually with increasing depth below water table. The present study provides evidence that the theoretical distribution of transit times may be significantly altered depending on the thickness of the unsaturated zone. An unconfined porous groundwater system formed by Tertiary sediments (Test Field Scheyern close to Munich in southern Germany) is overlain by an unsaturated zone with variable thickness between 4 and 60 m. Between 1992 and 2007 the groundwater system has been repeatedly sampled for tritium contents at different depths using two high-resolved wells. Modelled tritium concentrations by using a lumped parameter approach yielded depth profiles of mean transit times of tracer. In one well the profile was characterized by two local transit time maxima, each of approximately 100 years. A moving particle approach (MPA) developed in this study was used on the streamlines between the recharge zones linked to different sampling depths in the well. This suggested that the observed transit time in the profile was mainly governed by variable travel distances of the tracer through the unsaturated zone at the points of recharge. This finding was confirmed at a second multi-level well of the test site. The lumped parameter modelling of chlorofluorocarbon data yielded lower transit times as compared to those obtained from tritium data. This effect was explained by the different behaviour of tritium and chlorofluorocarbons in the unsaturated zone. The study clearly shows that the impact of a variable thickness of the unsaturated zone may overweigh the effect of local heterogeneities. Such transit time distributions of water in porous aquifers as observed in the present study can only be achieved with the help of environmental tracer data.