Improved assessments of subsurface projects: Systematic mapping of geosystem services and a review of their economic values.

Awareness of the subsurface and its multitude of resources is generally low and decisions on access to subsurface resources are often guided by a 'first come, first served principle'. Although not yet fully developed, the concept of geosystem services has been put forward to make subsurface resources more visible and acknowledged in decision-making. This study (1) illustrates a systematic mapping of effects on geosystem services using a process-oriented perspective in two conceptual case studies; (2) translates the mapped effects into costs and benefits items in a qualitative cost-benefit analysis (CBA) context; and (3) presents a systematic review of economic valuation studies of geosystem services to investigate the available support for a quantitative CBA.

Recovery from groundwater extraction in a small catchment area with crystalline bedrock and thin soil cover in Sweden.

An experiment has been in progress since 1997 in a small catchment area (28,000 m(2)) with crystalline bedrock and thin soil cover to study the conceivable impact on groundwater conditions of tunneling and the use of groundwater. The impact on hydrology and hydrochemistry from intensive extraction of groundwater at a depth of 50 m in the bedrock has been studied at Lake Gårdsjön in Sweden. The catchment area was first monitored under pristine conditions, followed by four and a half years of extraction and then a recovery phase.