COMPARISON OF THE RESULTS OF ANALYTIC ELEMENT MODELING TO SUBSEQUENT MODELS AND FINDINGS: A RETROSPECTIVE

Several regional analytic element models have been developed in past decades in the Twin Cities Metropolitan Area, Minnesota. In the ensuing decades, a great deal of new information on the hydrogeology and use of the Cenozoic and Paleozoic aquifers and aquitards of the region has been developed, and new groundwater models of the area have been constructed using this newer information. This information and subsequent models provide an opportunity to assess how these earlier analytic element models stand up in hindsight. Several models from the Twin Cities Metropolitan Area will be described, and their effectiveness and accuracy in light of subsequent models will be evaluated.