Measuring the vertical permeability of horizontally- stratified sedimentary rocks

Conference · Mon Mar 01 04:00:00 EST 1993 · Geological Society of America, Abstracts with Programs; (United States)

OSTI ID:5578718

Novakowski, K S; Lapcevic, P A ^[1]; Reichart, T M ^[2]

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1. National Water Research Inst., Burlington, Ontario (Canada)
2. Woodward-Clyde Inc., Wayne, NJ (United States)

The vertical permeability of horizontally stratified rocks is usually assumed to be significantly less than the permeability of horizontal structural features such as bedding plane partings and sheeting structure. Consequently it is also assumed that this type of media provides suitable vertical barriers to the migration of both aqueous and non-aqueous phase groundwater contaminants. To investigate this assumption, a site adjacent to an inactive dolostone quarry was instrumented using nine boreholes drilled to a depth of approximately 25 m in a 30 x 30 m area. The area is immediately underlain by flat-lying thick-bedded dolostones of Middle-Silurian age. Six of the boreholes were drilled at angle of 45[degree] to intersect two vertical fracture sets oriented at 020[degree] and 110[degree] which were identified by mapping the fractures in the quarry. Detailed hydraulic tests (constant-head method) were conducted in each of the boreholes using a packer spacing of 0.5 m to determine the hydraulic properties of the individual horizontal and vertical fractures and fracture zones. In addition, four pumping tests were conducted in which a fracture zone in one of the vertical boreholes was shut-in and pumped and the hydraulic response was monitored in the observation boreholes using pressure transducer installed in 15 intervals isolated with multiple-packer strings. The results of the constant-head tests show that although the groundwater flow system in the dolostone is dominated by 3--4 horizontal fracture zones, the average permeability of the vertical fractures is only one order of magnitude less than the average permeability of the horizontal fractures. However, this aspect of the flow system is not detected using pumping tests, the results of which suggest that the average permeability is 3--4 orders of magnitude less in the vertical direction.

• OSTI ID: 5578718
• Report Number(s): CONF-9303211--
• Conference Information: Journal Name: Geological Society of America, Abstracts with Programs; (United States) Journal Volume: 25:2
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
540210 -- Environment
Terrestrial-- Basic Studies-- (1990-)
58 GEOSCIENCES
580000* -- Geosciences
CARBONATE ROCKS
DATA
ENVIRONMENTAL TRANSPORT
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
FIELD TESTS
FLOW MODELS
GEOLOGIC FRACTURES
GEOLOGIC STRUCTURES
GEOLOGY
GROUND WATER
HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
HYDROLOGY
INFORMATION
MASS TRANSFER
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
NUMERICAL DATA
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PERMEABILITY
ROCKS
SEDIMENTARY ROCKS
STRATIGRAPHY
TESTING
WATER