We have explored the new (or not so new) options of Modflow 6 and Model Muse 4 to create local refinements on a regional scale based on hydraulic features. So far, we came up with a decent example of regional groundwater modeling on a andean basin with three boundary conditions and decreasing hydraulic conductivity with depth. The tutorial also explores the complexities to model basins with high difference on elevation and the use of text defined parameters to implement the Newton formulation in Modflow 6.

Finite difference method as well as any other discretization method allows the conceptualization of a geological media into cells or other volumes. Geological models come in diverse formats in binary or text format and need to be “translated” to the cell extension of a groundwater model.

This tutorial has a applied example of the implementation of a 3D geological model from a neural network into a groundwater model with determined horizontal discretization and layer thickness. The tutorial covers all the steps for model construction and hydrogeological unit determination with scripts in Python with Flopy and other libraries. Comparisons of the original and translated geological model were done as Matplotlib plots and Vtk files in Paraview.

We have done tutorial in Python and recent and powerful libraries as Scikit Learn to create a geological model based on lithology from drillings on the Treasure Valley (Idaho, USA). The tutorial generates a point cloud of drillings lithologies that are transformed and scaled for the neural network. The selected neural network classifier is Multi-layer Perceptron classifier implemented on the Scikit Learn library as sklearn.neural_network.MLPClassifier. An analysis of the confusion from the neural network is performed. The tutorial also includes a georeferenced 3D visualization from well lithology and interpolated geology as Vtk format in Paraview.

Conceptualization and simulation of groundwater flow in the area of influence of geological faults is really a challenge for numerical modelers. Besides the complexities and variety of faults there were some limitations of the numerical codes to simulate the mixed behaviour of faults and altered zones. We have developed an example tutorial to represent the main characteristics of groundwater flow in the fault zone for an applied case. The tutorial is developed in Model Muse with the MODFLOW DISV option for unstructured grid generation. Groundwater flow was analyzed on the water balance and a particle tracking simulation was done with MODPATH 7.

The process and options to define the cell / layer confinement has changed in MODFLOW 6 with respect to MODFLOW 2005. We have done an explanatory video about the process to setup the confinement for cells in MODFLOW 6 with Model Muse. There is also a discussion on the influence of the confined / convertible option on the aquifer response on an example model.

The disconnexion of surface groundwater flow it is fact very common on highly exploited aquifers or under impacts from climate change. Many rivers are disconnected from the groundwater flow regime decreasing their flow amount due to infiltration losses. For the simulation of this surface flow, unsaturated flow and groundwater flow phenomena the MODFLOW package Streamflow Routing (SFR) was developed.

This tutorial develops an numerical model of disconnected surface groundwater flow with MODFLOW SFR and Model Muse. The study case has regional flow and a river network with monthly flow on transient conditions over 2 years.