Groundwater recharge estimation using HYDRUS 1D model in Alasehir sub-basin of Gediz Basin in Turkey.

Gediz Basin, located in the western part of Turkey constituting 2% land of the country, has an important groundwater potential in the area. Alasehir sub-basin, located in the southeast of the Gediz Basin and subject to the extensive withdrawal for the irrigation, constitutes the study area. Natural recharge to the sub-basin due to precipitation is numerically investigated in this study. For this purpose, 25 research wells, whose depths range from 20 to 50 m, were drilled to observe the recharge and collect the necessary field data for the numerical model. Meteorological data were collected from 3 weather stations installed in the study area. The numerical model HYDRUS was calibrated using the field water content data. Soil characterization was done on the core samples; the aquifer characterization was performed, and the alluvial aquifer recharge due to precipitation was calculated. As a result, the computed recharge value ranges from 21.78 to 68.52 mm, with an average value of 43.09 mm. According to the numerical model, this amount of recharge corresponds to 10% of the amount of annual rainfall.

Suction characteristics of compacted zeolite-bentonite and sand-bentonite mixtures.

Soil suction is one of the most important parameters describing soil moisture conditions for unsaturated soils used in landfill liners. However, few studies have been conducted on the suction characteristics of compacted zeolite-bentonite mixtures (ZBMs) and sand-bentonite mixtures (SBMs), which are proposed for use as liner materials. Nevertheless, zeolite is known for its microporous skeleton containing cages and tunnels and it has a great physical affiliation to water uptake. Zeolite and bentonite, in a mixture, are thought to be in competition for water uptake and this may alter the distribution of water content for each soil in the mixture. The present study investigated the suction properties of compacted ZBMs and SBMs for varying mixing ratios and compaction water contents. The soil suction measurement technique chosen was the filter-paper method. The suction characteristics of powdered, granular, and block zeolites, as well as 0, 10, and 20% bentonite in ZBMs and SBMs were measured and compared with each other. Contaminated compacted ZBMs are compared with those of uncontaminated compacted ones at the optimum water content for the 10% and 20% mixtures. The results show that suction capacity of zeolite increases with grain size. As bentonite content increases, both matric and total suction increase for both mixtures. ZBMs have higher matric suction values than SBMs, but not total suction values. Contaminated total suction values are found to be higher than those of uncontaminated samples due to an increase in dissolved ion concentration.