1. Groundwater monitoring on the Fennessey Ranch, TX
Lucia Upchurch
GIS in Water Resources
November 28, 2006

2. Fennessey Ranch Part of the newly designated MANERR 3,324 acre Ranch
10 artesian wells on property
4+ TWDB groundwater wells in or nearby

3. Goals Extract precipitation (in progress)/surface flow data
Examine preliminary data from Fennessey Ranch
Examine potential recharge and discharge in this aquifer
Correlate surface and groundwater flow (not completed)

4. Data Sources DEM: http://seamless.usgs.gov
NHDplus: Rae Mooney, Tyler Jantzen
MANERR base maps: Sally Morehead
Land Cover: National Landcover Dataset 1992;
Texas Water Development Board database:
Fennessey Ranch shapefile: created with help of Tyler McEwan
Texas General Land Office: hydrography;
Fennessey Ranch Wells: Chip Breier

5. Surface Flow: Watershed delineation using Terrain Preprocessing1
DEM
Catchment delineation
Flowline delineation
Close-up of Fennessey 2 3 4

6. Surface and Groundwater resources: Hydrologic data

7. Surface Flow: USGS stream gage

8. Factors affecting surface/groundwater interaction:
Land Cover (primarily pasture, herbaceous wetlands, and shrubland)
Soil moisture capacity (in progress)
Precipitation/weather downloader (in progress)

9. Preliminary Fennessey Ranch data courtesy of Chip Breier
Well location, as well as nutrients, discharge rate, salinity, and radium isotopic data

10. Radionuclides- useful for Groundwater flow/Groundwater Discharge/Recharge
Half-life
Ra-226
1600 yrs
Ra-228
5.75 yrs
Ra-224
3.64 days
Ra-223
11.7 days

11. Radium in Fennessey Wells
Higher salinity should increase all Ra
Big bubbles= more saline
Ra-228/Ra-224 should be in equilibrium (1:1)
Ra-228/Ra-224 show similar patterns

12. Radium, cont’d Showing same trend with salinity
Not completely linear (removal process at highest point?)
Can be useful in estimating groundwater discharge and recharge
Average recharge rate for this aquifer is mm/yr (

13. Future Goals Short Term Precipitation Soil cover/moisture capacity
TWDB
Long Term
Monitor salinity, nutrients, radium
Study discharge/recharge of aquifer
Look at nutrient levels to establish input to Copano Bay

14. Questions? Comments?
Thanks to all who helped me!