Hydrogeochemical evolution of confined groundwater in northeastern Osaka Basin, Japan: estimation of confined groundwater flux based on a cation exchange mass balance method

A confined aquifer system has developed in argillaceous marine and freshwater sediments of Pliocene-Holocene age in the northeastern Osaka Basin (NEOB) in central Japan. The shallow groundwater (<100 m) in the system is recharged in a northern hilly to mountainous area with dominantly Ca-HCO3 type water, which changes as it flows toward the SW to Mg-HCO3 type and then to Na-HCO3 type water. Comparison of the chemical and Sr isotopic compositions of the groundwater with those of the bulk and exchangeable components of the underground sediments indicates that elements leached from the sediments contribute negligibly to the NEOB aquifer system. Moreover, model calculations show that contributions of paleo-seawater in the deep horizon and of river water at the surface are not major factors of chemical change of the groundwater. Instead, the zonal pattern of the HCO3-dominant groundwater is caused by the loss of Ca2+ from the water as it is exchanged for Mg2+ in clays, followed by loss of Mg + Ca as they are exchanged for Na + K in clays between the Ca-HCO3 type recharge water and the exchangeable cations in the clay layers, which were initially enriched in Na+. Part of this process was reproduced in a chromatographic experiment in which Na type water with high 87Sr/86Sr was obtained from Mg type water with low 87Sr/86Sr by passing it through marine clay packed in a column. The flux of recharge water into the confined aquifer system according to this chromatographic model is estimated to be 0.99 mm/day, which is compatible with the average recharge flux to unconfined groundwater in Japan (1 mm/day).