Application of weights of evidence method for assessment of flowing wells in the greater Toronto area, Canada

Flowing wells extracted from the Ministry of Ontario Environment and Energy (MOEE) water well data set from the Oak Ridges Moraine (ORM) area, Ontario, Canada, were treated as training point set to evaluate the potential distribution of artesian aquifers and their spatial associations with other geological and topological features in the study area. Evidential layers of geological and topographical features were constructed on the basis of the digital elevation model (DEM) and a geological map using GIS buffering functions in conjunction with weights of evidence method. It has been demonstrated that the locations of the flowing wells in the Oak Ridges Moraine area are associated spatially with the distances, (a) 500-5000 m from the oak ridges moraine deposits, (b) 500-4000mfrom thick drift layer delineated on the drift thickness map created from water well data, and (c) 1500-2500 m from steep slope zones with slope above 8 degree calculated from a DEM. Applying a combination of these conditions can reduce the predicting target areas of having flowing wells by two thirds. Outcomes of this research are important both because the impact of the results on understanding of characteristics of aquifers and their relationships with other geological and topographical features and because it generates a probability map showing the potential location of artesian aquifers in the ORM area. In addition, the methodologies used in the paper will be applicable for modeling the distributions of other types of objects such as surface water bodies and low flow of streams in a watershed context in the study area. © 2004 International Association for Mathematical Geology.