3-D land subsidence simulation using the NDIS package for MODFLOW

The standard subsidence package for MODFLOW, MODFLOW-SUB simulates aquifer-system compaction and subsidence assuming that only 1-D-vertical displacement of the aquifer system occurs in response to applied stresses such as drawdowns accompanying groundwater extraction. In the present paper, 3-D movement of an aquifer system in responses to one or more pumping wells is considered using the new aquifer-system deformation package for MODFLOW, NDIS. The simulation of aquifer- system 3-D movement using NDIS was conducted with a stress or hydraulic head dependent specific storage coefficient to simulate nonlinear deformation behavior of aquifer-system sedimentary materials. NDIS's numerical simulation for aquifer horizontal movement is consistent with an analytic solution for horizontal motion in response to pumping from a leaky confined aquifer (Li, 2007). For purposes of comparison, vertical subsidence of the aquifer system in response to groundwater pumping is simulated by the both the NDIS and MODFLOW-SUB models. The results of the simulations show that land subsidence simulated by MODFLOW-SUB is significantly larger and less sensitive to pumping rate and time than that simulated by NDIS. The NDIS simulations also suggest that if the total pumpage is the same, pumping from a single well may induce more land subsidence than pumping from multiple wells.