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MODFLOW simulator used to assess groundwater flow for the Whiting Field Naval Air Station, Milton, FL

Metadata Updated: November 27, 2025

The study of Whiting Field Naval Air Station, Milton Florida requires numerical modeling of the groundwater system to determine the fate of contaminants released at the air station in previous decades. The MODFLOW-NWT modeling code (Niswonger and others, 2011) was applied for this purpose with field data defining a number of inputs including aquifer properties and timeseries. Lithologic logs were used to define aquifer material types and estimated hydraulic conductivities were redistributed based on these logs. Net recharge (precipitation minus evapotranspiration) is the primary flow input to the model and stream leakage is the primary flow output. The resulting model simulation has a grid spacing of 100 feet with grid dimensions of 533 rows and 424 columns, with 7 vertical layers. In order to better represent the flow transporting surficial contaminants to the water table, the unsaturated zone flow (UZF) package (Niswonger and others, 2006) was implemented in MODFLOW-NWT to relate surficial recharge to water-table recharge. The simulation involved three warmup timesteps of 1000 days each followed by 17 daily timesteps representing the transient simulation of June 24-July 10, 2017. Simulation results were evaluated by comparing simulated water-table elevations and stream leakage with measured values. Output values of interest include groundwater flow vectors in horizontal plane view and along vertical transects in locations where contaminant transport could be occurring. Model-simulated velocity vectors were compared with a known benzene plume location to evaluate flow directions. At the northern part of the plume, the flow-vector magnitudes are small and the highest Benzene concentrations are seen in this relatively stagnant area. Higher flow-vector magnitudes further to the south and southeast move the plume towards a nearby creek. This USGS data release contains all of the input and output files for the simulations described in the associated model documentation report (https://doi.org/10.3133/sir20215124).

Access & Use Information

Public: This dataset is intended for public access and use. License: No license information was provided. If this work was prepared by an officer or employee of the United States government as part of that person's official duties it is considered a U.S. Government Work.

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Dates

Metadata Created Date September 14, 2025
Metadata Updated Date November 27, 2025

Metadata Source

Harvested from DOI USGS DCAT-US

Additional Metadata

Resource Type Dataset
Metadata Created Date September 14, 2025
Metadata Updated Date November 27, 2025
Publisher U.S. Geological Survey
Maintainer
Identifier http://datainventory.doi.gov/id/dataset/usgs-9ea689b9-7253-4b59-b437-f659dab7eb2a
Data Last Modified 2021-12-10T00:00:00Z
Category geospatial
Public Access Level public
Bureau Code 010:12
Metadata Context https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.jsonld
Metadata Catalog ID https://ddi.doi.gov/usgs-data.json
Schema Version https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
Catalog Describedby https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.json
Harvest Object Id d641db7e-8178-4665-b5c8-8e99e3388b52
Harvest Source Id 2b80d118-ab3a-48ba-bd93-996bbacefac2
Harvest Source Title DOI USGS DCAT-US
Metadata Type geospatial
Source Datajson Identifier True
Source Hash e34e9449573aa024973599753496918282b5eb6ba9bc050d35ddb8236da70de8
Source Schema Version 1.1

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