Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

The global volume and distribution of modern groundwater

An Author Correction to this article was published on 11 June 2018

This article has been updated

Abstract

Groundwater is important for energy and food security, human health and ecosystems. The time since groundwater was recharged—or groundwater age—can be important for diverse geologic processes, such as chemical weathering, ocean eutrophication and climate change. However, measured groundwater ages range from months to millions of years. The global volume and distribution of groundwater less than 50 years old—modern groundwater that is the most recently recharged and also the most vulnerable to global change—are unknown. Here we combine geochemical, geologic, hydrologic and geospatial data sets with numerical simulations of groundwater and analyse tritium ages to show that less than 6% of the groundwater in the uppermost portion of Earth’s landmass is modern. We find that the total groundwater volume in the upper 2 km of continental crust is approximately 22.6 million km3, of which 0.1–5.0 million km3 is less than 50 years old. Although modern groundwater represents a small percentage of the total groundwater on Earth, the volume of modern groundwater is equivalent to a body of water with a depth of about 3 m spread over the continents. This water resource dwarfs all other components of the active hydrologic cycle.

Publisher Correction (11 June 2018)

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: The global relationship between porosity, lithology and total groundwater volume with depth.
Figure 2: Quantifying modern groundwater from tritium data and numerical groundwater models of groundwater age.
Figure 3: Comparing estimates of the volume of modern groundwater derived from models and tritium analysis for 30 aquifers with the greatest number of 3H samples.
Figure 4: The global distribution of modern groundwater as a depth if it was extracted and pooled at the land surface like a flood.
Figure 5: The different volumes of water stored in the global water cycle.

Change history

  • 11 June 2018

    In the version of this Article originally published, the wrong article was listed as ref. 33; it should have been "Oki, T. & Kanae, S. Global hydrological cycles and world water resources. Science 313, 1068–1072 (2006)." This has been corrected in the online versions of the Article.

References

  1. Sturchio, N. C. et al. One million year old groundwater in the Sahara revealed by krypton-81 and chlorine-36. Geophys. Res. Lett. 31, L05503 (2004).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. McCallum, J. L., Cook, P. G. & Simmons, C. T. Limitations of the use of environmental tracers to infer groundwater age. Groundwater 53, 56–70 (2014).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Weissmann, G. S., Zhang, Y., LaBolle, E. M. & Fogg, G. E. Dispersion of groundwater age in an alluvial aquifer system. Wat. Resour. Res. 38, 1198 (2002).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Bethke, C. M. & Johnson, T. M. Groundwater age and groundwater age dating. Annu. Rev. Earth Planet. Sci. 36, 121–152 (2008).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Kazemi, G., Lehr, J. & Perrochet, P. Groundwater Age (Wiley-Interscience, 2006).

    Book  Google Scholar 

  6. Alley, W. M., Healy, R. W., LaBaugh, J. W. & Reilly, T. E. Flow and storage in groundwater systems. Science 296, 1985–1990 (2002).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Foster, S. S. D. & Chilton, P. J. Groundwater: The processes and global significance of aquifer degradation. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. B 358, 1957–1972 (2003).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Taylor, R. G. et al. Ground water and climate change. Nature Clim. Change 3, 322–329 (2013).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Moore, W. S. Large groundwater inputs to coastal waters revealed by 226Ra enrichments. Nature 380, 612–614 (1996).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Maher, K. & Chamberlain, C. P. Hydrologic regulation of chemical weathering and the geologic carbon cycle. Science 343, 1502–1504 (2014).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Lehner, B., Verdin, K. & Jarvis, A. New global hydrography derived from spaceborne elevation data. Eos 89, 93–94 (2008).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Gruber, S. Derivation and analysis of a high-resolution estimate of global permafrost zonation. Cryosphere 6, 221–233 (2012).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Garmonov, I. V., Konoplyantsev, A. A. & Lushnikova, N. P. in The World Water Balance and Water Resources of the Earth (ed. Korzun, K. I.) 48–50 (Hydrometeoizdat, 1974).

    Google Scholar 

  14. Chahine, M. T. The hydrological cycle and its influence on climate. Nature 359, 373–380 (1992).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Schneider, U. et al. GPCC’s new land surface precipitation climatology based on quality-controlled in situ data and its role in quantifying the global water cycle. Theor. Appl. Climatol. 115, 15–40 (2014).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. L’ Vovich, M. I. in World Water Resources and their Future (ed. Nace, R. L.) 13–23 (American Geophysical Union, 1979); http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/book/10.1029/SP013

    Book  Google Scholar 

  17. Nace, R. L. in Water, Earth, and Man: A Synthesis of Hydrology, Geomorphology, and Socio-Economic Geography (ed. Chorley, R. J.) 31–42 (Methuen and Co., 1969).

    Google Scholar 

  18. Holland, H. D. & Turekian, K. K. (eds) in Treatise on Geochemistry 2nd edn (Pergamon, 2003); http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/referenceworks/9780080983004

  19. Fan, Y., Li, H. & Miguez-Macho, G. Global patterns of groundwater table depth. Science 339, 940–943 (2013).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. USSR Committee for the International Hydrologic Decade World Water Balance and Water Resources of the Earth (UNESCO, 1978).

    Google Scholar 

  21. Gleeson, T., Moosdorf, N., Hartmann, J. & vanBeek, L. P. H. A glimpse beneath Earth’s surface: GLobal HYdrogeology MaPS (GLHYMPS) of permeability and porosity. Geophys. Res. Lett. 41, 3891–3898 (2014).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Cardenas, M. B. Potential contribution of topography-driven regional groundwater flow to fractal stream chemistry: Residence time distribution analysis of Tóth flow. Geophys. Res. Lett. 34, L05403 (2007).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Lerner, D. N. in Geochemical Processes, Weathering and Groundwater Recharge in Catchments (eds Saether, O. M. & de Caritat, P.) 109–150 (Balkema, 1997).

    Google Scholar 

  24. Scanlon, B., Healy, R. & Cook, P. Choosing appropriate techniques for quantifying groundwater recharge. Hydrogeol. J. 10, 18–39 (2002).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Scanlon, B. R. et al. Global synthesis of groundwater recharge in semiarid and arid regions. Hydrol. Process. 20, 3335–3370 (2006).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Döll, P. & Fiedler, K. Global-scale modeling of groundwater recharge. Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. 12, 863–885 (2008).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Giordano, M. Global groundwater? Issues and solutions. Annu Rev. Environ. Resour. 34, 153–178 (2009).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Morris, B. L. et al. Groundwater and its Susceptibility to Degradation: A Global Assessment of the Problem and Options for Management (UNEP Early Warning and Assessment Report Series RS 03-3, 2003).

    Google Scholar 

  29. Fleckenstein, J. H., Krause, S., Hannah, D. M. & Boano, F. Groundwater-surface water interactions: New methods and models to improve understanding of processes and dynamics. Adv. Water Resour. 33, 1291–1295 (2010).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Nicot, J.-P., Scanlon, B. R., Reedy, R. C. & Costley, R. A. Source and fate of hydraulic fracturing water in the Barnett Shale: A historical perspective. Environ. Sci. Technol. 48, 2464–2471 (2014).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. Wada, Y., van Beek, L. P. H. & Bierkens, M. F. P. Nonsustainable groundwater sustaining irrigation: A global assessment. Wat. Resour. Res. 48, W00L06 (2012).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  32. Athy, L. F. Density, porosity, and compaction of sedimentary rocks. AAPG Bull. 14, 1–24 (1930).

    Google Scholar 

  33. Oki, T. & Kanae, S. Global hydrological cycles and world water resources. Science 313, 1068–1072 (2006).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  34. Ehrenberg, S. N. & Nadeau, P. H. Sandstone vs. carbonate petroleum reservoirs: A global perspective on porosity-depth and porosity-permeability relationships. Am. Assoc. Petrol. Geol. Bull. 89, 435–445 (2005).

    Google Scholar 

  35. Hartmann, J. & Moosdorf, N. The new global lithological map database GLiM: A representation of rock properties at the Earth surface. Geochem. Geophys. Geosyst. 13, Q12004 (2012).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  36. Laske, G. & Masters, G. A global digital map of sediment thickness. Eos 78, F483 (1997).

    Google Scholar 

  37. Zhang, Y., Ye, S. & Wu, J. A modified global model for predicting the tritium distribution in precipitation, 1960–2005. Hydrol. Process. 25, 2379–2392 (2011).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  38. Begemann, F. & Libby, W. F. Continental water balance, ground water inventory and storage times, surface ocean mixing rates and world-wide water circulation patterns from cosmic-ray and bomb tritium. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 12, 277–296 (1957).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  39. Clark, I. & Fritz, P. Environmental Isotopes in Hydrogeology (Lewis, 1997).

    Google Scholar 

  40. Kotzer, T. G., Kudo, A., Zheng, J. & Workman, W. Natural and anthropogenic levels of tritium in a Canadian Arctic ice core, Agassiz Ice Cap, Ellesmere Island, and comparison with other radionuclides. J. Glaciol. 46, 35–40 (2000).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  41. Tóth, J. A theoretical analysis of groundwater flow in small drainage basins. J. Geophys. Res. 68, 4795–4812 (1963).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  42. Jiang, X.-W., Wan, L., Cardenas, M. B., Ge, S. & Wang, X.-S. Simultaneous rejuvenation and aging of groundwater in basins due to depth-decaying hydraulic conductivity and porosity. Geophys. Res. Lett. 37, L05403 (2010).

    Google Scholar 

  43. Jiang, X.-W., Wan, L., Wang, X.-S., Ge, S. & Liu, J. Effect of exponential decay in hydraulic conductivity with depth on regional groundwater flow. Geophys. Res. Lett. 36, L24402 (2009).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  44. Cardenas, M. B. & Jiang, X. W. Groundwater flow, transport, and residence times through topography-driven basins with exponentially decreasing permeability and porosity. Wat. Resour. Res. 46, W11538 (2010).

    Google Scholar 

  45. Bernabé, Y., Mok, U. & Evans, B. Permeability-porosity relationships in rocks subjected to various evolution processes. Pure Appl. Geophys. 160, 937–960 (2003).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  46. Goode, D. J. Direct simulation of groundwater age. Wat. Resour. Res. 32, 289–296 (1996).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

T.G. and E.L. were supported by the NSERC and a CIFAR Junior Fellowship. M.B.C. and K.M.B. were supported by the NSF (EAR-0955750) and the Geology Foundation at the University of Texas at Austin. K.M.B. and S.J. were supported by American Geophysical Union Horton Research Grants.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Contributions

T.G. conceived and led the project and the writing of the paper. K.M.B. led and conducted the modelling, geomatic analysis and model-related calculations as well as developed the mathematical methods for calculating the metrics. S.J. conducted the tritium data collection and analysis. E.L. derived the original geomatic data and a method for coupling geomatic data to models, as well as conducted the data analysis of total groundwater storage. M.B.C. brainstormed ideas and analysed results. All authors co-developed the methods, wrote text for their respective sections, and heavily discussed and edited all drafts of the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Tom Gleeson.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Supplementary information

Supplementary Information

Supplementary Information (PDF 2975 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Gleeson, T., Befus, K., Jasechko, S. et al. The global volume and distribution of modern groundwater. Nature Geosci 9, 161–167 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo2590

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo2590

This article is cited by

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing