Field Testing the Hypothesis of Darcian Flow Through a Carbonate Aquifer

ABSTRACT The acceptability of the hypothesis of Darcian flow through a semiconfined carbonate aquifer was tested prior to running a multiple‐day aquifer test in Pinellas County, Florida. The approach used to test the hypothesis was to run a number of hour‐long aquifer tests at different discharges with drawdown measured at the same time during each test in two observation wells, one at 35 feet and the other at 733 feet from the pumped well. If the hypothesis were acceptable, a plot of drawdown versus discharge should describe a straight line. A linear relation was described in 15‐minute and 1‐hour data plots of drawdown versus discharge for both observation wells. Thus, the hypothesis of Darcian flow through the semiconfined carbonate aquifer was deemed acceptable. Drawdown data from the distant observation well collected during the following multiple‐day aquifer test were then analyzed for aquifer‐property values of transmissivity, storage coefficient, and leakance coefficient using standard methods. Discharge for the multiple‐day test was within the discharge range of the hour‐long tests.