Application of a computationally efficient geostatistical approach to characterizing variably spaced water-table data
Geostatistical analysis of hydraulic head data is useful in producing unbiased contour plots of head estimates and relative errors. However, at most sites being characterized, monitoring wells are generally present at different densities, with clusters of wells in some areas and few wells elsewhere. The problem that arises when kriging data at different densities is in achieving adequate resolution of the grid while maintaining computational efficiency and working within software limitations. For the site considered, 113 data points were available over a 14-mi{sup 2} study area, including 57 monitoring wells within an area of concern of 1.5 mi{sup 2}. Variogram analyses of the data indicate a linear model with a negligible nugget effect. The geostatistical package used in the study allows a maximum grid of 100 by 100 cells. Two-dimensional kriging was performed for the entire study area with a 500-ft grid spacing, while the smaller zone was modeled separately with a 100-ft spacing. In this manner, grid cells for the dense area and the sparse area remained small relative to the well separation distances, and the maximum dimensions of the program were not exceeded. The spatial head results for the detailed zone were then nested into the regional output by use of a graphical, object-oriented database that performed the contouring of the geostatistical output. This study benefitted from the two-scale approach and from very fine geostatistical grid spacings relative to typical data separation distances. The combining of the sparse, regional results with those from the finer-resolution area of concern yielded contours that honored the actual data at every measurement location. The method applied in this study can also be used to generate reproducible, unbiased representations of other types of spatial data.
- Research Organization:
- Argonne National Lab., IL (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-31109-ENG-38
- OSTI ID:
- 206978
- Report Number(s):
- ANL/EA/CP--87307; CONF-950868--44; ON: DE96007241
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Geo-EAS (Geostatistical Environmental Assessment Software) user's guide
The geostatistical approach for structural and stratigraphic framework analysis of offshore NW Bonaparte Basin, Australia