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 Geodynamic 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.