MODPATH particle-tracking analysis of groundwater flow and travel times to the Barnegat Bay-Little Egg Harbor estuary and streams within the Barnegat Bay-Little Egg Harbor watershed, New Jersey

A groundwater-flow model that was previously developed by the U. S. Geological Survey of Ocean County, N.J. (https://doi.org/10.3133/sir20165035) was used in an analysis of groundwater flow in the Kirkwood-Cohansey aquifer system and deeper confined aquifers that underlie the Barnegat Bay-Little Egg Harbor (BB-LEH) watershed and estuary. The analysis used a MODFLOW2005 simulation, in conjunction with the particle-tracking computer program MODPATH (Pollock, 1994), to delineate particle flow paths, the discharge location of each particle, and estimate the travel time along flow paths to the BB LEH estuary and streams within the BB-LEH watershed. This study conducted by the USGS, in cooperation with the Barnegat Bay Partnership, also provided an assessment of the quantity of, and the potential nitrogen concentration in, groundwater that flows directly into the BB-LEH estuary or adjoining coastal wetlands and groundwater that discharges to streams that eventually flow into the estuary. Groundwater discharge to surface water is an important contaminant transport pathway that can result in degraded surface-water quality and habitats in the New Jersey Coastal Plain. This USGS data release contains all of the input and output files for the simulations described in the associated model documentation report (https://doi.org/10.3133/sir20165169).