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Hydrogeology Journal

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01.11.2011 | Paper

The role of in situ stress in determining hydraulic connectivity in a fractured rock aquifer (Australia)

verfasst von: Luke Mortimer, Adnan Aydin, Craig T. Simmons, Graham Heinson, Andrew J. Love

Erschienen in: Hydrogeology Journal | Ausgabe 7/2011

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Abstract

Fracture network connectivity is a spatially variable property that is difficult to quantify from standard hydrogeological datasets. This critical property is related to the distributions of fracture density, orientation, dimensions, intersections, apertures and roughness. These features that determine the inherent connectivity of a fracture network can be modified by secondary processes including weathering, uplift and unloading and other mechanisms that lead to fracture deformation in response to in situ stress. This study focussed on a fractured rock aquifer in the Clare Valley, South Australia, and found that fracture network connectivity could be discriminated from several geological, geophysical and hydrogeological field datasets at various scales including single well and local- to regional-scale data. Representative hydromechanical models of the field site were not only consistent with field observations but also highlighted the strong influence of in situ stress in determining the distribution of fracture hydraulic apertures and the formation of hydraulic chokes that impede fluid flow. The results of this multi-disciplinary investigation support the notion that the hydraulic conductivity of a fracture network is limited to the least hydraulically conductive interconnected fractures, which imposes a physical limit on the bulk hydraulic conductivity of a fractured rock aquifer.

Vorheriger Artikel Sources of water, travel times and protection areas for wells in semi-confined aquifers

Nächster Artikel Effect of tidal fluctuations on transient dispersion of simulated contaminant concentrations in coastal aquifers

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Titel: The role of in situ stress in determining hydraulic connectivity in a fractured rock aquifer (Australia)
verfasst von: Luke Mortimer
Adnan Aydin
Craig T. Simmons
Graham Heinson
Andrew J. Love
Publikationsdatum: 01.11.2011
Verlag: Springer-Verlag
Erschienen in: Hydrogeology Journal / Ausgabe 7/2011
Print ISSN: 1431-2174
Elektronische ISSN: 1435-0157
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10040-011-0760-z

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