Boutt identifies glacial tills as major groundwater storage reservoir

A recent study of natural groundwater storage reservoirs in New England by hydrologist David Boutt, Geosciences, found that upland aquifer systems dominated by thin deposits of surface till – a jumbled, unsorted material deposited by glaciers – make up about 70 percent of the active and dynamic storage for the region. Boutt says, “This is the first time that the relative role of upland vs. valley groundwater storage has been quantified. These results are the first to point to the outstanding importance of these thin glacial sediments in landscape-scale hydrologic budgets. This is really important for understanding how water gets into streams, supplying base flow in streams during summer months and droughts, and for recharging valley fill aquifers.” Phys.org, Science magazine, News Office release