Analysis of alluvial hydrostratigraphy using indicator geostatistics, with examples from Santa Clara Valley, California
Current trends in hydrogeology seek to enlist sedimentary concepts in the interpretation of permeability structures. However, existing conceptual models of alluvial deposition tend to inadequately account for the heterogeneity caused by complex sedimentological and external factors. This dissertation presents three analyses of alluvial hydrostratigraphy using indicator geostatistics. This approach empirically acknowledges both the random and structured qualities of alluvial structures at scales relevant to site investigations. The first analysis introduces the indicator approach, whereby binary values are assigned to borehole-log intervals on the basis of inferred relative permeability; it presents a case study of indicator variography at a well-documented ground-water contamination site, and uses indicator kriging to interpolate an aquifer-aquitard sequence in three dimensions. The second analysis develops an alluvial-architecture context for interpreting semivariograms, and performs comparative variography for a suite of alluvial sites in Santa Clara Valley, California. The third analysis investigates the use of a water well perforation indicator for assessing large-scale hydrostratigraphic structures within relatively deep production zones.
- OSTI ID:
- 31798
- Journal Information:
- Ground Water, Vol. 33, Issue 2; Other Information: DN: Abstract of Ph.D. dissertation by Nicholas Matthews Johnson; PBD: Mar-Apr 1995
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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