TY - JOUR AB - The Indo-Gangetic foreland basin has some of the highest rates of groundwater extractionin the world, focused in the states of Punjab and Haryana in northwest India. Any assessment of theeffects of extraction on groundwater variation requires understanding of the geometry and sedimentaryarchitecture of the alluvial aquifers, which in turn are set by their geomorphic and depositional setting. Toassess the overall architecture of the aquifer system, we used satellite imagery and digital elevation modelsto map the geomorphology of the Sutlej and Yamuna fan systems, while aquifer geometry was assessedusing 243 wells that extend to ∼200 m depth. Aquifers formed by sandy channel bodies in the subsurfaceof the Sutlej and Yamuna fans have a median thickness of 7 and 6 m, respectively, and follow heavy-tailedthickness distributions. These distributions, along with evidence of persistence in aquifer fractions asdetermined from compensation analysis, indicate persistent reoccupation of channel positions and suggestthat the major aquifers consist of stacked, multistoried channel bodies. The percentage of aquifer material inindividual boreholes decreases down fan, although the exponent on the aquifer body thickness distributionremains similar, indicating that the total number of aquifer bodies decreases down fan but that individualbodies do not thin appreciably, particularly on the Yamuna fan. The interfan area and the fan marginal zonehave thinner aquifers and a lower proportion of aquifer material, even in proximal locations. We concludethat geomorphic setting provides a first-order control on the thickness, geometry, and stacking pattern ofaquifer bodies across this critical region. AU - Van,Dijk W AU - Densmore,A AU - Singh,A AU - Sinha,R AU - Mason,P AU - Joshi,S AU - Nayak,N AU - Kumar,M AU - Shekhar,S AU - Kumar,D AU - Rai,S DO - 10.1002/2015JF003720. EP - 222 PY - 2016/// SN - 0148-0227 SP - 201 TI - Linking the morphology of fluvial fan systems to aquifer stratigraphy in the Sutlej-Yamuna plain of northwest India T2 - Journal of Geophysical Research UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/2015JF003720. UR - http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/32709 VL - 121 ER -