Geothermal drilling in an Alpine karst aquifer and its impact on downstream springs–A case study from Finkenberg, Tyrol, Austria

A borehole heat exchanger array was installed in an Alpine karst aquifer for the first time in Europe. It is composed of nine 400 m deep boreholes in the dolomitic marble of the Hochstegen Formation. New approaches were developed for this unprecedented application and potential risks were checked throughout the sinking of the initial exploratory wellbore. As Finkenberg is located in a tourist area, drilling operations had to be executed within only a few weeks. Several springs downstream from the drilling site are sources of drinking water and tap water supply. Given that the degree and distribution of the Hochstegen Formation karstification was unknown, a spring monitoring program was mandatory in order to obtain drilling permission from public authorities. A practicable and affordable spring monitoring program including several physical and chemical parameters was developed and implemented to document the potential impact of the drilling activities on the spring water. A temporary and locally limited impact of the drilling works on groundwater quality was detected by turbidity measurements. This paper reports the implementation of geothermal drilling in a karst aquifer with a focus on karstification as well as planning, implementation and the results of the spring monitoring program. Such a program can be recommended for comparable projects or questions, adapting the characteristic parameters to be collected and the measurement intervals in consultation with the relevant authorities. It might also increase the chances of gaining approval for geothermal projects in karst and could enhance public acceptance. Key words: Pneumatic down hole hammer drilling, Borehole heat exchanger, Groundwater monitoring, Turbidity, Hochstegen Formation

Temporal Variability of Fluvial Sand Composition: An Annual Time Series From Four Rivers in SW Germany

AbstractThe sampling of fluvial sediment is subject to many sources of uncertainty, for example, time and location, and the number of samples collected. It is nevertheless commonly assumed that a sample taken at one time and location provides a somewhat averaged compositional signal. Any spatial or temporal variability of this signal is often neglected. This study investigates how the composition of bed load sand changes over an observation period of 1 year in four river basins with differing bedrock geology in southwestern Germany. Up to 12 bulk sediment samples were taken at the same locations using the same approach and analyzed for their granulometry and geochemistry. The results indicate that (a) different grain sizes yield different compositions due to source rock composition and hydraulic sorting effects, (b) bulk sediment composition changes temporally due to changing grain‐size distribution, and (c) compared to the bulk sample, the composition of narrow grain sizes is temporally more stable but nevertheless has an average variability of 15%. Because heavy mineral‐bound elements such as Zr have the highest variability, we relate a major component of compositional variability to temporally varying heavy mineral concentrations in response to hydrodynamic processes. Mixing modeling demonstrates that the fluvial sand faithfully reflects its catchment geology and that the sediment sources do not change substantially during the observation period, even during a flooding event. We conclude (a) that the causes for compositional variability may be disentangled using chemical and granulometric time series data and (b) that narrow grain sizes yield representative source rock contributions.Plain Language Summary: Sediment transported by rivers is generated by the erosion of the rocks present within the river catchment area. The composition of this sediment is controlled by various processes in the catchment, for example, climate, rock type, weathering, and flow strength. Geoscientists can use modern river sediment to understand how these processes impact sediment composition, and then apply this information to the geologic time. Sampling the river sediment is often the first step in such studies, but few studies consider the sources of uncertainty during sampling, for example, time and location of sampling, and number of collected samples. For this study, we returned to the same river location during the course of 1 year to take bulk sediment samples and analyzed how variable the size of sediment grains and the sediment chemistry are. We discovered that different grain sizes yield different chemical compositions, and this is caused by differences in rock type and hydraulic processes. Because the proportion of different grain sizes in the bulk sediment changes over the year due to water flow conditions, the chemistry of the bulk sediment sample changes over the year. We provide some quantitative estimates for this variability that should be considered in similar studies.Key Points: Bed load sand from 4 rivers was sampled monthly over the course of 1 year to analyze the temporal compositional variability. Composition is grain‐size‐dependent, and narrow grain‐size fractions show less variability than bulk sediment samples. Composition changes during the year, and this is related to changing grain‐size distributions rather than changing sediment sources.https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.95900

Temporal Variability of Fluvial Sand Composition: An Annual Time Series From Four Rivers in SW Germany

The sampling of fluvial sediment is subject to many sources of uncertainty, for example, time and location, and the number of samples collected. It is nevertheless commonly assumed that a sample taken at one time and location provides a somewhat averaged compositional signal. Any spatial or temporal variability of this signal is often neglected. This study investigates how the composition of bed load sand changes over an observation period of 1 year in four river basins with differing bedrock geology in southwestern Germany. Up to 12 bulk sediment samples were taken at the same locations using the same approach and analyzed for their granulometry and geochemistry. The results indicate that (a) different grain sizes yield different compositions due to source rock composition and hydraulic sorting effects, (b) bulk sediment composition changes temporally due to changing grain‐size distribution, and (c) compared to the bulk sample, the composition of narrow grain sizes is temporally more stable but nevertheless has an average variability of 15%. Because heavy mineral‐bound elements such as Zr have the highest variability, we relate a major component of compositional variability to temporally varying heavy mineral concentrations in response to hydrodynamic processes. Mixing modeling demonstrates that the fluvial sand faithfully reflects its catchment geology and that the sediment sources do not change substantially during the observation period, even during a flooding event. We conclude (a) that the causes for compositional variability may be disentangled using chemical and granulometric time series data and (b) that narrow grain sizes yield representative source rock contributions

Wasserwirtschaftliche Schlussfolgerungen aus der Stichtagsbeprobung eines 225 km2 großen Einzugsgebietes im NW Tauernfenster, Österreich

Wie in anderen Alpenregionen auch, erfolgt die Trinkwasserversorgung in den Zillertaler Alpen vorwiegend privat oder in Genossenschaften aus nahe gelegenen Quellen, typischerweise mit kleinen Einzugsgebieten. Durch eine Veränderung der österreichischen Trinkwasserverordnung wurde der Arsengrenzwert von 50μg/l auf 10μg/l herabgesetzt, wodurch Quellwässer vielerorts nicht mehr den Anforderungen genügen. Es sind Maßnahmen zur Einhaltung des Grenzwertes herbeizuführen. In dieser Studie werden Ergebnisse der Stichtagsbeprobung des Zemmbacheinzugsgebietes auf einer Gesamtfläche von 225km2 vorgestellt. Binnen elf Tagen wurden 135 Quellen und Oberflächengewässer beprobt. Die Untersuchungen dienten der Auswahl alternativer Quellen anhand trinkwasserrechtlich relevanter Kennwerte mit Fokus auf Arsen und Uran. In einigen Teilen des Untersuchungsgebietes variiert die Grundwasserbeschaffenheit aufgrund diverser Wechsel petrographischer Einheiten kleinräumig. Das angewendete Konzept einer Stichtagsbeprobung ist gut dazu geeignet, einen weiträumigen Überblick der Grundwasserbeschaffenheit zu erhalten und Quellen zur Ergänzung oder Ersetzung der lokalen Wasserversorgung zu identifizieren. Diese Quellen sind intensiver zu beobachten, um letztlich mittels Zeitreihen Entscheidungen zu treffen