Groundwater modeling in shales at a steep hill near Jena.

Water flow and water storage in hill slopes have a strong interest in the hydrological scientific community. The use of the gravimetrical signal of superconducting gravimeters can help to understand water flow in such areas. At the Geo-dynamic Observatory Moxa of the Friedrich Schiller University Jena (Germany), the relation between hill slope hydrological processes and gravity residuals are investigated. For this purpose a linear reservoir model was developed to quantify canopy storage and storage changes in the unsaturated zone. A groundwater flow model (MODFLOW) was developed to quantify flow in fractured shales. Cross correlation showed significant gravimetrical response on heavy precipitation events after a dry period. The groundwater model simulated the expected flow patterns reasonably well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]