Hydrologic modeling of the ACF Basin and Upper Floridan Aquifer

Water moves within and across forests, farms, soils, groundwater, wetlands, and streams.

Water is also extracted and used by humans, often in excess of precipitation inputs or local storage in soil, groundwater, and surface waters.

Links between these systems are dynamic

and highly dependent on regional geology and local usage patterns.

Our approach to understanding water at a landscape scale is to use simulation modeling.

We develop detailed surface and groundwater models and refine them with local knowledge and data.

This allows us to test our understanding of water movement across, and beneath, the landscape. Models can then be used to evaluate management and conservation scenarios, i.e., how does water conservation or forest restoration affect stream and groundwater levels?

Key Publications

Allums, S. E., S. P. Opsahl, S. W. Golladay, D. W. Hicks, and L. M. Conner. 2012. Nitrate concentrations in springs flowing into the Lower Flint River Basin, Georgia USA Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA) 48:423-438.
Atkinson, C. L., S. W. Golladay, S. P. Opsahl, and A. Covich. 2009. Stream discharge and floodplain connections affect seston quality and stable isotopic signatures in a coastal plain stream. Journal of the North American Benthological Society 28:360-370.
Opsahl, S. P., S. E. Chapal, D. W. Hicks, and C. K. Wheeler. 2007. Evaluation of ground-water and surface-water exchanges using streamflow difference analyses. Journal of the American Water Resources Association 43:1132-1141.
Qi, J., S. T. Brantley, S. W. Golladay. 2020. Simulated irrigation reduction improves low flow in streams. Journal of Hydrology Regional Studies 28, p.100665.
Rugel, K., C. R. Jackson, J. J. Romeis, S. W. Golladay, D. W. Hicks, and J. F. Dowd. 2012. Effects of irrigation withdrawals on streamflows in a karst environment: lower Flint River Basin, Georgia, USA. Hydrological Processes 26:523-534.
Rugel, K., S. W. Golladay, C. R. Jackson, and T. C. Rasmussen. 2016. Delineating groundwater/surface water interaction in a karst watershed: Lower Flint River Basin, southwestern Georgia, USA. Journal of Hydrology: Regional Studies 5:1-19.
Rugel, K., S. W. Golladay, C. R. Jackson, R. J. McDowell, J. F. Dowd, T. C. Rassmussen. 2019. Using hydrogeomorphic patterns to predict groundwater discharge in a karst basin: Lower Flint River Basin, southwestern GA, USA. Journal of Hydrology Regional Studies 23:1-13 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejrh.2019.100603
Shivers, S. D., S. W. Golladay, M. N. Waters, S. B. Wilde, and A. P. Covich. 2018. Rivers to reservoirs: hydrological drivers control reservoir function by affecting the abundance of submerged and floating macrophytes. Hydrobiologia 815:21-35. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-018-3532-0. read-only pdf

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