Notes on Groundwater Age in Forward and Inverse Modeling

Several example applications of the groundwater age equation are used to derive some basic results about age in aquifers and to draw linkages among published results involving temporal moments and aquifer–aquitard diffusive mass transfer. We then describe a brief numerical study of an inverse problem in which hydraulic conductivities are identified using both piezometric head and groundwater age data where inclusion of age data helps to reduce evidential nonuniqueness. This reflects the global representation of flow process contained in age data, and that the value of age data in inverse identification of flow properties depends on the paths taken by the sampled groundwater.