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Title: Development of Hydrologic Characterization Technology of Fault Zones (in Japanese; English)

Abstract

Through an extensive literature survey we find that there is very limited amount of work on fault zone hydrology, particularly in the field using borehole testing. The common elements of a fault include a core, and damage zones. The core usually acts as a barrier to the flow across it, whereas the damage zone controls the flow either parallel to the strike or dip of a fault. In most of cases the damage zone isthe one that is controlling the flow in the fault zone and the surroundings. The permeability of damage zone is in the range of two to three orders of magnitude higher than the protolith. The fault core can have permeability up to seven orders of magnitude lower than the damage zone. The fault types (normal, reverse, and strike-slip) by themselves do not appear to be a clear classifier of the hydrology of fault zones. However, there still remains a possibility that other additional geologic attributes and scaling relationships can be used to predict or bracket the range of hydrologic behavior of fault zones. AMT (Audio frequency Magneto Telluric) and seismic reflection techniques are often used to locate faults. Geochemical signatures and temperature distributions are often usedmore » to identify flow domains and/or directions. ALSM (Airborne Laser Swath Mapping) or LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) method may prove to be a powerful tool for identifying lineaments in place of the traditional photogrammetry. Nonetheless not much work has been done to characterize the hydrologic properties of faults by directly testing them using pump tests. There are some uncertainties involved in analyzing pressure transients of pump tests: both low permeability and high permeability faults exhibit similar pressure responses. A physically based conceptual and numerical model is presented for simulating fluid and heat flow and solute transport through fractured fault zones using a multiple-continuum medium approach. Data from the Horonobe URL site are analyzed to demonstrate the proposed approach and to examine the flow direction and magnitude on both sides of a suspected fault. We describe a strategy for effective characterization of fault zone hydrology. We recommend conducting a long term pump test followed by a long term buildup test. We do not recommend isolating the borehole into too many intervals. We do recommend ensuring durability and redundancy for long term monitoring.« less

Authors:
; ;
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
Earth Sciences Division
OSTI Identifier:
950112
Report Number(s):
LBNL-1635E
TRN: US0901994
DOE Contract Number:  
DE-AC02-05CH11231
Resource Type:
Technical Report
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
Japanese; English
Subject:
54; 58; 12; BOREHOLES; BUILDUP; DETECTION; FORMATION DAMAGE; GEOLOGIC STRUCTURES; HEAT FLUX; HYDROLOGY; LASERS; MONITORING; OPTICAL RADAR; PERMEABILITY; REDUNDANCY; REFLECTION; SOLUTES; TEMPERATURE DISTRIBUTION; TESTING; TRANSIENTS; TRANSPORT; hydrology, fault zone, characterization, transport, nuclear waste

Citation Formats

Karasaki, Kenzi, Onishi, Tiemi, and Wu, Yu-Shu. Development of Hydrologic Characterization Technology of Fault Zones. United States: N. p., 2008. Web. doi:10.2172/950112.
Karasaki, Kenzi, Onishi, Tiemi, & Wu, Yu-Shu. Development of Hydrologic Characterization Technology of Fault Zones. United States. https://doi.org/10.2172/950112
Karasaki, Kenzi, Onishi, Tiemi, and Wu, Yu-Shu. 2008. "Development of Hydrologic Characterization Technology of Fault Zones". United States. https://doi.org/10.2172/950112. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/950112.
@article{osti_950112,
title = {Development of Hydrologic Characterization Technology of Fault Zones},
author = {Karasaki, Kenzi and Onishi, Tiemi and Wu, Yu-Shu},
abstractNote = {Through an extensive literature survey we find that there is very limited amount of work on fault zone hydrology, particularly in the field using borehole testing. The common elements of a fault include a core, and damage zones. The core usually acts as a barrier to the flow across it, whereas the damage zone controls the flow either parallel to the strike or dip of a fault. In most of cases the damage zone isthe one that is controlling the flow in the fault zone and the surroundings. The permeability of damage zone is in the range of two to three orders of magnitude higher than the protolith. The fault core can have permeability up to seven orders of magnitude lower than the damage zone. The fault types (normal, reverse, and strike-slip) by themselves do not appear to be a clear classifier of the hydrology of fault zones. However, there still remains a possibility that other additional geologic attributes and scaling relationships can be used to predict or bracket the range of hydrologic behavior of fault zones. AMT (Audio frequency Magneto Telluric) and seismic reflection techniques are often used to locate faults. Geochemical signatures and temperature distributions are often used to identify flow domains and/or directions. ALSM (Airborne Laser Swath Mapping) or LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) method may prove to be a powerful tool for identifying lineaments in place of the traditional photogrammetry. Nonetheless not much work has been done to characterize the hydrologic properties of faults by directly testing them using pump tests. There are some uncertainties involved in analyzing pressure transients of pump tests: both low permeability and high permeability faults exhibit similar pressure responses. A physically based conceptual and numerical model is presented for simulating fluid and heat flow and solute transport through fractured fault zones using a multiple-continuum medium approach. Data from the Horonobe URL site are analyzed to demonstrate the proposed approach and to examine the flow direction and magnitude on both sides of a suspected fault. We describe a strategy for effective characterization of fault zone hydrology. We recommend conducting a long term pump test followed by a long term buildup test. We do not recommend isolating the borehole into too many intervals. We do recommend ensuring durability and redundancy for long term monitoring.},
doi = {10.2172/950112},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/950112}, journal = {},
number = ,
volume = ,
place = {United States},
year = {Mon Mar 31 00:00:00 EDT 2008},
month = {Mon Mar 31 00:00:00 EDT 2008}
}