Hydraulic characterization of the fracture framework in carbonate rock underlying CWML Site, Smithville, Ontario
- National Water Research Inst., Burlington, Ontario (Canada)
The successful use of engineered systems to contain and/or remediate the contaminated groundwater in the bedrock underlying the CWML site at Smithville, ON is largely dependent on an understanding of the complex groundwater flow system. The Lockport Dolostone, which underlies most of the Niagara peninsula, is a shallow flat-lying porous carbonate rock having extensive horizontal bedding plane fractures. Vertical fractures which intersect the bedding planes form a three dimensional fracture framework. Detailed field investigations are currently underway to characterize groundwater flow within this fracture framework. To conduct the investigation fifteen boreholes were drilled through the entire thickness of the Lockport Formation. The distribution of both vertical and bedding plane fractures was delineated from core analysis. Constant-head hydraulic tests using 2 meter and 0.5 meter packer test intervals were used to determine both the bulk transmissivity of the unfractured rock mass and that for individual fractures. The results show that while most breaks noted in the core are bedding-plane fractures or broken-core zones, vertical fractures are also prevalent particularly in the Eramosa Formation. Fracture strikes show a dominant joint sets consistent with trends observed regionally. The vertical distribution of transmissivity in the Lockport Dolostone ranges over eight orders of magnitude at the site. Preliminary geostatistical analysis suggests that there may be at least three separate distributions of structure present in the transmissivity data: (1) distribution of the T of fractures, (2) distribution of the T of the matrix, and (3) position of the fractures.
- OSTI ID:
- 353676
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-970677-; TRN: IM9929%%222
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 90. annual meeting and exhibition of the Air and Waste Management Association, Toronto (Canada), 8-13 Jun 1997; Other Information: PBD: 1997; Related Information: Is Part Of 1997 proceedings of the Air and Waste Management Association`s 90. annual meeting and exhibition; PB: [7000] p.
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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