The Groundwater Province in the Lower Bavaiian and Upper Austrian Molasse Basin: a Groundwater Budget in the Malmkarst Using a Mathematical Model

Abstract

From 1995 to 1998 a model for the thermal-water aquifer (Malmkarst) in the Lower Bavarian and Upper Austrian Molasse Basin was developed in a German-Austrian cooperation. A mathematical 2-D ground-water model was installed in order to calculate the amount of thermal water in this area. It based on a hydrogeological model. The model covers the area from Regensburg (Germany) in the north to Linz (Austria) in the south and contains about 6 OOO kmí. This model allows the simulation of different water extractionand reinjection- configurations. It became necessary because of the increasing economcal importance of thermal-water use in the area of Bad Fussing, Bad Birnbach and Bad Griesbach located in German and Altheim and Geinberg located in Austria. Especially the thermal-water use as medicinal water and for hydrogeothermal purposes are of immediate importance. By the model the German and the Austrian authorities have got a relevant instrument to evaluate the required water extractions, the potential yield and the implications on other existing wells, on a reliable basis. A survey of the model area and the essential results of the hydrogeological and the mathematical model is worked out.