New sedimentological, structural and paleo-thermicity data in the Boucheville Basin (eastern North Pyrenean Zone, France)

International audienceThe Boucheville Basin is one of the easternmost Mesozoic basins of the North Pyrenean Zone (NPZ) that was opened during the Albian extension between the Iberian and European plates. During the extension, a HT/LP metamorphism event affected the Albian basins near the North Pyrenean Fault (NPF). Our aim is to better understand the evolution of the Boucheville Basin during the Albian–Cenomanian lithospheric thinning, which occurred under high thermal conditions. Sedimentological and structural data were collected in the basin and are used to produce synthetic stratigraphic columns of different portions of the basin and to restore selected cross-sections. North–south cross-sections show that the Boucheville Basin is a large and asymmetrical deformed syncline with inverted borders. Synthetic stratigraphic columns show that the sedimentation of the Boucheville Basin starts with carbonate platforms deposited under low bathymetric conditions showing slope deposits and evolves to deep bathymetric conditions of marls deposited without evidence of slopes. Raman spectroscopy on carbonaceous material (RSCM) was made on samples used to construct the sedimentological stratigraphic columns in order to obtain a temperature map of the Albian metamorphism. They reveal homogeneity in the temperatures between 500 and 600 °C. In situ LA–ICP–MS U–Pb dating of titanite grains found in a syn-deformation located in the Albian calcschists provided an age of ca. 97 Ma that gives a time constraint for both the deformation and metamorphism. These data are used collectively to propose a model for the tectono-sedimentary and metamorphic evolution of the Boucheville Basin during the Albian extension

Global, regional, and national comparative risk assessment of 84 behavioural, environmental and occupational, and metabolic risks or clusters of risks for 195 countries and territories, 1990-2017: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017

Background The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2017 comparative risk assessment (CRA) is a comprehensive approach to risk factor quantification that offers a useful tool for synthesising evidence on risks and risk–outcome associations. With each annual GBD study, we update the GBD CRA to incorporate improved methods, new risks and risk–outcome pairs, and new data on risk exposure levels and risk–outcome associations. Methods We used the CRA framework developed for previous iterations of GBD to estimate levels and trends in exposure, attributable deaths, and attributable disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs), by age group, sex, year, and location for 84 behavioural, environmental and occupational, and metabolic risks or groups of risks from 1990 to 2017. This study included 476 risk–outcome pairs that met the GBD study criteria for convincing or probable evidence of causation. We extracted relative risk and exposure estimates from 46 749 randomised controlled trials, cohort studies, household surveys, census data, satellite data, and other sources. We used statistical models to pool data, adjust for bias, and incorporate covariates. Using the counterfactual scenario of theoretical minimum risk exposure level (TMREL), we estimated the portion of deaths and DALYs that could be attributed to a given risk. We explored the relationship between development and risk exposure by modelling the relationship between the Socio-demographic Index (SDI) and risk-weighted exposure prevalence and estimated expected levels of exposure and risk-attributable burden by SDI. Finally, we explored temporal changes in risk-attributable DALYs by decomposing those changes into six main component drivers of change as follows: (1) population growth; (2) changes in population age structures; (3) changes in exposure to environmental and occupational risks; (4) changes in exposure to behavioural risks; (5) changes in exposure to metabolic risks; and (6) changes due to all other factors, approximated as the risk-deleted death and DALY rates, where the risk-deleted rate is the rate that would be observed had we reduced the exposure levels to the TMREL for all risk factors included in GBD 2017. Findings In 2017, 34·1 million (95% uncertainty interval [UI] 33·3–35·0) deaths and 1·21 billion (1·14–1·28) DALYs were attributable to GBD risk factors. Globally, 61·0% (59·6–62·4) of deaths and 48·3% (46·3–50·2) of DALYs were attributed to the GBD 2017 risk factors. When ranked by risk-attributable DALYs, high systolic blood pressure (SBP) was the leading risk factor, accounting for 10·4 million (9·39–11·5) deaths and 218 million (198–237) DALYs, followed by smoking (7·10 million [6·83–7·37] deaths and 182 million [173–193] DALYs), high fasting plasma glucose (6·53 million [5·23–8·23] deaths and 171 million [144–201] DALYs), high body-mass index (BMI; 4·72 million [2·99–6·70] deaths and 148 million [98·6–202] DALYs), and short gestation for birthweight (1·43 million [1·36–1·51] deaths and 139 million [131–147] DALYs). In total, risk-attributable DALYs declined by 4·9% (3·3–6·5) between 2007 and 2017. In the absence of demographic changes (ie, population growth and ageing), changes in risk exposure and risk-deleted DALYs would have led to a 23·5% decline in DALYs during that period. Conversely, in the absence of changes in risk exposure and risk-deleted DALYs, demographic changes would have led to an 18·6% increase in DALYs during that period. The ratios of observed risk exposure levels to exposure levels expected based on SDI (O/E ratios) increased globally for unsafe drinking water and household air pollution between 1990 and 2017. This result suggests that development is occurring more rapidly than are changes in the underlying risk structure in a population. Conversely, nearly universal declines in O/E ratios for smoking and alcohol use indicate that, for a given SDI, exposure to these risks is declining. In 2017, the leading Level 4 risk factor for age-standardised DALY rates was high SBP in four super-regions: central Europe, eastern Europe, and central Asia; north Africa and Middle East; south Asia; and southeast Asia, east Asia, and Oceania. The leading risk factor in the high-income super-region was smoking, in Latin America and Caribbean was high BMI, and in sub-Saharan Africa was unsafe sex. O/E ratios for unsafe sex in sub-Saharan Africa were notably high, and those for alcohol use in north Africa and the Middle East were notably low. Interpretation By quantifying levels and trends in exposures to risk factors and the resulting disease burden, this assessment offers insight into where past policy and programme efforts might have been successful and highlights current priorities for public health action. Decreases in behavioural, environmental, and occupational risks have largely offset the effects of population growth and ageing, in relation to trends in absolute burden. Conversely, the combination of increasing metabolic risks and population ageing will probably continue to drive the increasing trends in non-communicable diseases at the global level, which presents both a public health challenge and opportunity. We see considerable spatiotemporal heterogeneity in levels of risk exposure and risk-attributable burden. Although levels of development underlie some of this heterogeneity, O/E ratios show risks for which countries are overperforming or underperforming relative to their level of development. As such, these ratios provide a benchmarking tool to help to focus local decision making. Our findings reinforce the importance of both risk exposure monitoring and epidemiological research to assess causal connections between risks and health outcomes, and they highlight the usefulness of the GBD study in synthesising data to draw comprehensive and robust conclusions that help to inform good policy and strategic health planning

Global burden of 369 diseases and injuries in 204 countries and territories, 1990–2019: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019

Background: In an era of shifting global agendas and expanded emphasis on non-communicable diseases and injuries along with communicable diseases, sound evidence on trends by cause at the national level is essential. The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) provides a systematic scientific assessment of published, publicly available, and contributed data on incidence, prevalence, and mortality for a mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive list of diseases and injuries. Methods: GBD estimates incidence, prevalence, mortality, years of life lost (YLLs), years lived with disability (YLDs), and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) due to 369 diseases and injuries, for two sexes, and for 204 countries and territories. Input data were extracted from censuses, household surveys, civil registration and vital statistics, disease registries, health service use, air pollution monitors, satellite imaging, disease notifications, and other sources. Cause-specific death rates and cause fractions were calculated using the Cause of Death Ensemble model and spatiotemporal Gaussian process regression. Cause-specific deaths were adjusted to match the total all-cause deaths calculated as part of the GBD population, fertility, and mortality estimates. Deaths were multiplied by standard life expectancy at each age to calculate YLLs. A Bayesian meta-regression modelling tool, DisMod-MR 2.1, was used to ensure consistency between incidence, prevalence, remission, excess mortality, and cause-specific mortality for most causes. Prevalence estimates were multiplied by disability weights for mutually exclusive sequelae of diseases and injuries to calculate YLDs. We considered results in the context of the Socio-demographic Index (SDI), a composite indicator of income per capita, years of schooling, and fertility rate in females younger than 25 years. Uncertainty intervals (UIs) were generated for every metric using the 25th and 975th ordered 1000 draw values of the posterior distribution. Findings: Global health has steadily improved over the past 30 years as measured by age-standardised DALY rates. After taking into account population growth and ageing, the absolute number of DALYs has remained stable. Since 2010, the pace of decline in global age-standardised DALY rates has accelerated in age groups younger than 50 years compared with the 1990–2010 time period, with the greatest annualised rate of decline occurring in the 0–9-year age group. Six infectious diseases were among the top ten causes of DALYs in children younger than 10 years in 2019: lower respiratory infections (ranked second), diarrhoeal diseases (third), malaria (fifth), meningitis (sixth), whooping cough (ninth), and sexually transmitted infections (which, in this age group, is fully accounted for by congenital syphilis; ranked tenth). In adolescents aged 10–24 years, three injury causes were among the top causes of DALYs: road injuries (ranked first), self-harm (third), and interpersonal violence (fifth). Five of the causes that were in the top ten for ages 10–24 years were also in the top ten in the 25–49-year age group: road injuries (ranked first), HIV/AIDS (second), low back pain (fourth), headache disorders (fifth), and depressive disorders (sixth). In 2019, ischaemic heart disease and stroke were the top-ranked causes of DALYs in both the 50–74-year and 75-years-and-older age groups. Since 1990, there has been a marked shift towards a greater proportion of burden due to YLDs from non-communicable diseases and injuries. In 2019, there were 11 countries where non-communicable disease and injury YLDs constituted more than half of all disease burden. Decreases in age-standardised DALY rates have accelerated over the past decade in countries at the lower end of the SDI range, while improvements have started to stagnate or even reverse in countries with higher SDI. Interpretation: As disability becomes an increasingly large component of disease burden and a larger component of health expenditure, greater research and developm nt investment is needed to identify new, more effective intervention strategies. With a rapidly ageing global population, the demands on health services to deal with disabling outcomes, which increase with age, will require policy makers to anticipate these changes. The mix of universal and more geographically specific influences on health reinforces the need for regular reporting on population health in detail and by underlying cause to help decision makers to identify success stories of disease control to emulate, as well as opportunities to improve. Funding: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. © 2020 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an Open Access article under the CC BY 4.0 licens

Global, regional, and national comparative risk assessment of 84 behavioural, environmental and occupational, and metabolic risks or clusters of risks for 195 countries and territories, 1990-2017: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017.

BACKGROUND: The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2017 comparative risk assessment (CRA) is a comprehensive approach to risk factor quantification that offers a useful tool for synthesising evidence on risks and risk-outcome associations. With each annual GBD study, we update the GBD CRA to incorporate improved methods, new risks and risk-outcome pairs, and new data on risk exposure levels and risk-outcome associations. METHODS: We used the CRA framework developed for previous iterations of GBD to estimate levels and trends in exposure, attributable deaths, and attributable disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs), by age group, sex, year, and location for 84 behavioural, environmental and occupational, and metabolic risks or groups of risks from 1990 to 2017. This study included 476 risk-outcome pairs that met the GBD study criteria for convincing or probable evidence of causation. We extracted relative risk and exposure estimates from 46 749 randomised controlled trials, cohort studies, household surveys, census data, satellite data, and other sources. We used statistical models to pool data, adjust for bias, and incorporate covariates. Using the counterfactual scenario of theoretical minimum risk exposure level (TMREL), we estimated the portion of deaths and DALYs that could be attributed to a given risk. We explored the relationship between development and risk exposure by modelling the relationship between the Socio-demographic Index (SDI) and risk-weighted exposure prevalence and estimated expected levels of exposure and risk-attributable burden by SDI. Finally, we explored temporal changes in risk-attributable DALYs by decomposing those changes into six main component drivers of change as follows: (1) population growth; (2) changes in population age structures; (3) changes in exposure to environmental and occupational risks; (4) changes in exposure to behavioural risks; (5) changes in exposure to metabolic risks; and (6) changes due to all other factors, approximated as the risk-deleted death and DALY rates, where the risk-deleted rate is the rate that would be observed had we reduced the exposure levels to the TMREL for all risk factors included in GBD 2017

Global, regional, and national comparative risk assessment of 84 behavioural, environmental and occupational, and metabolic risks or clusters of risks for 195 countries and territories, 1990–2017: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017

Stanaway JD, Afshin A, Gakidou E, et al. Global, regional, and national comparative risk assessment of 84 behavioural, environmental and occupational, and metabolic risks or clusters of risks for 195 countries and territories, 1990–2017: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017. Lancet. 2018;392(10159):1923-1994.Background The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2017 comparative risk assessment (CRA) is a comprehensive approach to risk factor quantification that offers a useful tool for synthesising evidence on risks and risk outcome associations. With each annual GBD study, we update the GBD CRA to incorporate improved methods, new risks and risk outcome pairs, and new data on risk exposure levels and risk outcome associations. Methods We used the CRA framework developed for previous iterations of GBD to estimate levels and trends in exposure, attributable deaths, and attributable disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs), by age group, sex, year, and location for 84 behavioural, environmental and occupational, and metabolic risks or groups of risks from 1990 to 2017. This study included 476 risk outcome pairs that met the GBD study criteria for convincing or probable evidence of causation. We extracted relative risk and exposure estimates from 46 749 randomised controlled trials, cohort studies, household surveys, census data, satellite data, and other sources. We used statistical models to pool data, adjust for bias, and incorporate covariates. Using the counterfactual scenario of theoretical minimum risk exposure level (TMREL), we estimated the portion of deaths and DALYs that could be attributed to a given risk. We explored the relationship between development and risk exposure by modelling the relationship between the Socio-demographic Index (SDI) and risk-weighted exposure prevalence and estimated expected levels of exposure and risk-attributable burden by SDI. Finally, we explored temporal changes in risk-attributable DALYs by decomposing those changes into six main component drivers of change as follows: (1) population growth; (2) changes in population age structures; (3) changes in exposure to environmental and occupational risks; (4) changes in exposure to behavioural risks; (5) changes in exposure to metabolic risks; and (6) changes due to all other factors, approximated as the risk-deleted death and DALY rates, where the risk-deleted rate is the rate that would be observed had we reduced the exposure levels to the TMREL for all risk factors included in GBD 2017. Findings In 2017,34.1 million (95% uncertainty interval [UI] 33.3-35.0) deaths and 121 billion (144-1.28) DALYs were attributable to GBD risk factors. Globally, 61.0% (59.6-62.4) of deaths and 48.3% (46.3-50.2) of DALYs were attributed to the GBD 2017 risk factors. When ranked by risk-attributable DALYs, high systolic blood pressure (SBP) was the leading risk factor, accounting for 10.4 million (9.39-11.5) deaths and 218 million (198-237) DALYs, followed by smoking (7.10 million [6.83-7.37] deaths and 182 million [173-193] DALYs), high fasting plasma glucose (6.53 million [5.23-8.23] deaths and 171 million [144-201] DALYs), high body-mass index (BMI; 4.72 million [2.99-6.70] deaths and 148 million [98.6-202] DALYs), and short gestation for birthweight (1.43 million [1.36-1.51] deaths and 139 million [131-147] DALYs). In total, risk-attributable DALYs declined by 4.9% (3.3-6.5) between 2007 and 2017. In the absence of demographic changes (ie, population growth and ageing), changes in risk exposure and risk-deleted DALYs would have led to a 23.5% decline in DALYs during that period. Conversely, in the absence of changes in risk exposure and risk-deleted DALYs, demographic changes would have led to an 18.6% increase in DALYs during that period. The ratios of observed risk exposure levels to exposure levels expected based on SDI (O/E ratios) increased globally for unsafe drinking water and household air pollution between 1990 and 2017. This result suggests that development is occurring more rapidly than are changes in the underlying risk structure in a population. Conversely, nearly universal declines in O/E ratios for smoking and alcohol use indicate that, for a given SDI, exposure to these risks is declining. In 2017, the leading Level 4 risk factor for age-standardised DALY rates was high SBP in four super-regions: central Europe, eastern Europe, and central Asia; north Africa and Middle East; south Asia; and southeast Asia, east Asia, and Oceania. The leading risk factor in the high-income super-region was smoking, in Latin America and Caribbean was high BMI, and in sub-Saharan Africa was unsafe sex. O/E ratios for unsafe sex in sub-Saharan Africa were notably high, and those for alcohol use in north Africa and the Middle East were notably low. Interpretation By quantifying levels and trends in exposures to risk factors and the resulting disease burden, this assessment offers insight into where past policy and programme efforts might have been successful and highlights current priorities for public health action. Decreases in behavioural, environmental, and occupational risks have largely offset the effects of population growth and ageing, in relation to trends in absolute burden. Conversely, the combination of increasing metabolic risks and population ageing will probably continue to drive the increasing trends in non-communicable diseases at the global level, which presents both a public health challenge and opportunity. We see considerable spatiotemporal heterogeneity in levels of risk exposure and risk-attributable burden. Although levels of development underlie some of this heterogeneity, O/E ratios show risks for which countries are overperforming or underperforming relative to their level of development. As such, these ratios provide a benchmarking tool to help to focus local decision making. Our findings reinforce the importance of both risk exposure monitoring and epidemiological research to assess causal connections between risks and health outcomes, and they highlight the usefulness of the GBD study in synthesising data to draw comprehensive and robust conclusions that help to inform good policy and strategic health planning. Copyright (C) 2018 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd

Évaluation de la performance d’un forage géothermique de conception améliorée.

Ce rapport présente les résultats d’un projet de recherche pour évaluer la performance d’un échangeur de chaleur géothermique à conception améliorée. Les tuyaux de l’échangeur de chaleur ont été mis en place dans un forage conventionnel de 15,2 cm (6 pouces) de diamètre et une profondeur de 164.59 m (540 pi). Les tuyaux ont une configuration en double U et ils sont fabriqués en polyéthylène haute densité (PEHD) enrichie de nanoparticules de carbone pour augmenter la conductivité thermique. Il n’y a pas d’entretoises pour séparer les tuyaux. De plus, les tuyaux sont installés dans le puits qui a été laissé ouvert, sans matériaux de remplissage, pour bénéficier des mouvements de convection naturelle qui se produisent dans l’eau lors de l’injection de chaleur. Le projet a été réalisé sur le site des Laboratoires pour l'innovation scientifique et technologique de l'environnement de l’INRS à Québec. L’ensemble des travaux de terrain ainsi que l’analyse des données se sont déroulés de septembre 2017 à mars 2018. Une collaboration avec les compagnies Forage Géothermique et Forage Beaumont & Fils a permis d’installer le nouveau puits géothermique et un autre puits d’observation. Des tests de réponse thermique (TRT) ont été réalisés par l’INRS avec la collaboration et les équipements d’Énergie-Stat. Les données des TRT ont été analysées avec l’équation de la ligne source infinie, couplée au principe de superposition temporelle considérant les variations du taux d’injection de chaleur. La résistance thermique de forage inférée à l’échangeur de chaleur avec un double U a été comparée à celle d’un puits installé avec un seul tuyau en U sur le même site en 2015 (Ballard et al., 2016). L’analyse du TRT réalisée sur l’échangeur de chaleur 2-U indique une conductivité thermique de la sous-surface de 1,72 W/(m-K) et une résistance thermique de forage égale à 0,060 (m-K)/W. En comparaison, l’échangeur de chaleur 1-U installé en 2015 dans le forage d’un diamètre réduit de 4,5 po, sans entretoise et rempli avec un mélange de coulis de bentonite et de sable de silice montre une conductivité thermique de la sous-surface de 1,75 W/(m-K) et une résistance thermique de forage égale à 0,088 (m-K)/W. La résistance thermique calculée selon les critères de conception avec la méthode des multipoles pour un forage de 6 po, avec doubles tubes en U ayant un espacement des tuyaux de 95 mm et des matériaux de remplissage d’une conductivité thermique de 1,2 W/(m-K), serait de 0.057 (m-K)/W. Dans ce calcul, il faut utiliser une conductivité thermique de l’eau plus élevée que la valeur réelle de façon à obtenir une résistance thermique semblable à celle inférée sur le terrain, ce qui démontre que la performance de l’échangeur de chaleur est améliorée par les mouvements de convection dans la colonne d’eau du puits

Rôle de la sédimentation syn-cynematique sur l'évolution d'une structure plissée à deux niveaux de décollements : apport de la modélisation analogique 3D sur le cas Incahuasi

National audiencePlusieurs travaux de modélisation analogique permettent de discuter l'effet de la sédimentation sur les systèmes compressifs d'échelle crustale mais peu à l'échelle kilométrique (Nalpas et al., 1999; Barrier et al., 2002). Ces études montrent que la sédimentation et l'érosion syn-cinématiques impacte l'évolution des structures en domaine compressif. Notre étude repose sur les résultats de Pichot et Nalpas (2009) sur la chaîne sub-andine en Bolivie. Pour aller plus loin dans cette démarche, nous avons réalisé des modèles analogiques simulant les structures sub-andines à deux niveaux de décollement, imagés par tomographie à rayon X permettant d'observer en 4D l'évolution de ces structures. Plusieurs paramètres ont pu être testés : les variations spatiale et longitudinale des taux (i) de sédimentation et (ii) d'érosion, (iii) l'impact d'une sédimentation différentielle de part et d'autre d'une structure plissée, (iv) l'influence de la rhéologie sur le développement des structures. Ces expériences ont abouti aux observations suivantes : Un fort taux de sédimentation syn-cinématique provoque la verticalisation de la structure plissée supérieure (au dessus des niveaux de décollement). La partie profonde (entre les niveaux de décollement) est peu impactée. L'augmentation de l'érosion entraine la verticalisation de la partie profonde de la structure. Un taux de sédimentation élevé dans le "foreland" induit un basculement de la vergence puis un retro-chevauchement de la partie supérieure de la structure. Un taux de sédimentation plus élevé dans le "hinterland" favorise le développement d'un chevauchement de la partie supérieure vers le "foreland". Le profil rhéologique du modèle, et en particulier le ratio fragile/ductile ainsi que la cinématique de déformation contrôlent fortement le mode de développement des structures (plis, fish-tail, thrust). Ce travail discute des variations spatiales des paramètres "sédimentation" et "érosion" entraînant une asymétrie et une non-coaxialité des structures dans un contexte rhéologique de type sub-Andin. Nalpas, T., Györfi, I., Guillocheau, F., Lafont, F., Homewood, P., 1999. Influence de la charge sédimentaire sur le développement d'anticlinaux synsédimentaires. Modélisation analogique et exemples de terrain (Bordure sud du bassin de Jaca). Bull. Soc. Géol. Fr. 170 (5), 733-740. Barrier, L., Nalpas, T., Gapais, D., Proust, J.-N., Casas, A., Bourquin, S., 2002. Influence of syntectonic sedimentation on thrusts geometry. Field examples from the Iberian Chain (Spain) and analogue modeling. Sediment. Geol. 146, 91-104. Pichot T., Nalpas T., 2009. Influence of synkinematic sedimentation in a thrust system with two decollement levels; analogue modelling. Tectonophysics 473, 466-475

Multi-scale integrated characterization of heterogeneous hydraulic and thermal properties of a deltaic aquifer

International audienceHistorically, heat and temperature observations have been occasionally used to help understand aquifer systems or constrain numerical flow models. However, the development of fiber optics (FO) as part of the Distributed Temperature Sensing (DTS) technology has spun a renewed interest in the use of heat as a groundwater tracer. Recent studies have shown the possibility to carry out an active heat tracer test using fiber optics and heating cables installed by direct push and to invert the resulting thermal responses to estimate a vertical profile of groundwater fluxes. However, a better understanding of how FO-DTS results compare to other aquifer characterization methods is needed to guide its future application and integration into a practical workflow. The objective of this study was thus to compare the information provided by FO-DTS with other direct and indirect measurements used to characterize the heterogeneity of granular aquifers at multiple scales. The multiscale integrated characterization was carried out at a heterogeneous deltaic aquifer located north of Quebec City, Canada. This aquifer has been the object of a complete hydrogeological characterization and thus provides a wide range of existing data against which the acquired data can be compared. This communication will focus on the multiscale methodology for the granular aquifer characterization including FO-DTS measurements. Based on an existing numerical hydrogeological model, three sites with a range of horizontal groundwater fluxes were selected for active FO-DTS heat tracer experiments. At one of the sites, direct push monitoring wells were also installed downstream to measure the hydraulic conductivity of the hydrofacies and the arrival of the thermal front from the heat tracer test. A previous study established a relationship between the hydrofacies of the deltaic aquifer to cone penetration test (CPT) response. As such, each FO cable and monitoring well direct-push installation was preceded by a co-located CPT. Soil cores were also taken for laboratory measurements of hydraulic and thermal properties. The vertical profiles of groundwater fluxes from FO-DTS were found to correlate well with the relative magnitude of permeability of the hydrofacies identified with CPT profiles. FO-DTS could thus provide a qualitative or quantitative proxy for hydraulic conductivity and allow the recognition of hydrofacies at a fine scale. At the aquifer scale, the total flux measured by FO-DTS can also be compared to fluxes obtained from numerical models and thus provide a constraint to validate models. Overall, this study shows that not only does FO-DTS provide coherent results with other characterization methods, but it also adds the key measurement of groundwater flux that cannot be easily obtained by other means. FO-DTS thus has the potential to become a significant addition to existing characterization methods for granular aquifers

CHARACTERIZATION OF HETEROGENEOUS PROPERTIES AND GROUNDWATER FLUXES IN A GRANULAR AQUIFER USING DIRECT PUSH ACTIVE FIBER OPTIC DTS

International audienceThe development of fiber optic (FO) Distributed Temperature Sensing (DTS) as a tool for hydrogeological measurements with high spatial and temporal resolution has shown potential for characterizing aquifer heterogeneity, which remains a challenge and is needed to predict contaminant transport. Recent studies have shown that groundwater fluxes can be quantified along a vertical profile in granular aquifers by inverting the thermal responses from active heat tracer tests using FO cables. Here, we further investigate the use of active FO-DTS methods and the resulting high resolution profiles for granular aquifer characterization by comparing results with cone penetration tests (CPT), which provide indications of hydrofacies. A multiscale characterization and active heat tracer experiments were performed in a well-studied heterogeneous deltaic aquifer located north of Quebec City, Canada.Four active FO-DTS heat tracer experiments were conducted by deploying fiber optic cables by direct push at locations with a previous CPT. Interpretation of thermal responses from the active FO-DTS experiments was done with analytical solutions for heat transport, providing independent and accurate estimates of thermal properties and fluxes every 25 centimeters. The resulting profiles of fluxes from DTS measurements correlate well with the response obtained with CPT. Furthermore, as a previous study established a relationship between CPT response and different aquifer materials and their hydraulic properties, the resulting flux profiles from active FO-DTS can be used to obtain a stratigraphy of the different hydrofacies.Active FO-DTS experiments can thus provide a qualitative or quantitative proxy for hydraulic conductivity and allow the recognition of hydrofacies at a sub-metric vertical scale. At the aquifer scale, the total flux estimated from FO-DTS measurements can also be compared and used as constraints for fluxes obtained from a numerical model. Overall, this study shows that not only does FO-DTS provide coherent results with other characterization methods, but it also adds the key measurement of groundwater flux with great accuracy that cannot be easily obtained by other means. FO-DTS has thus the potential to become a significant addition to existing characterization methods for granular aquifers

Inferring high-resolution aquifer hydraulic conductivity and groundwater fluxes by active heat tracer using direct push fiber optics

International audienceCharacterizing aquifer heterogeneity for contaminant transport prediction remains a challenge in subsurface hydrology. In recent years, fiber optics (FO) Distributed Temperature Sensing (DTS) has enabled the study of transient hydrogeological processes with high spatial and temporal resolutions. Recent studies have shown that vertical profiles of groundwater fluxes can be quantified in granular aquifers through inversion of the thermal responses from active heat tracer tests using FO cables installed by direct push. Here, we further investigate the potential of active FO-DTS methods for granular aquifer characterization by performing a multiscale characterization and active heat tracer experiment in a well-characterized heterogeneous deltaic aquifer located north of Quebec City, Canada. This aquifer has been the object of detailed hydrogeological characterization and thus provides a wide range of existing data. In particular, we will test whether the vertical distribution of groundwater fluxes in the sub-surface determined by these inversions can be used to estimate hydraulic properties at a spatial scale that can be used to assess the impact of aquifer heterogeneity on mass transport and dispersion. This communication focuses on a site where two FO cables were installed 10 m apart by direct push. An active heat tracer experiment was carried out with the two FO cables, and the resulting thermal responses were inverted to obtain high-resolution vertical profiles of the groundwater fluxes at each FO cable. Heating was carried out in the saturated zone, between depths of 12 to 40 m with a 25-cm vertical sampling. Using data from a piezometric survey, the groundwater fluxes from the FO-DTS were used to estimate a range of hydraulic conductivities (K). A previous study at the field site has shown that cone penetration test (CPT) profiles can be used to recognize the different hydrofacies with distinct ranges of hydraulic conductivity present in the deltaic aquifer. As the two FO cables were co-located with a previously done CPT profile, the measured fluxes and estimated K values could be compared to known ranges of K. Results show quite varying temperature profiles and accordingly distinct groundwater fluxes. These varying fluxes are coherently correlated to the different hydrofacies identified with the co-located CPT responses at a similar vertical scale. The two FO-DTS temperature profiles are also quite similar when considering the small variations in hydrofacies found along their length. These results show that FO-DTS heat tracer tests provide consistent and representative measurements of groundwater fluxes in agreement with the heterogeneous distribution of K as indicated by CPT. Thus, compared with existing hydraulic methods, FO-DTS heat tracer tests provide new and complementary data that have a great potential for characterizing solute transport in granular aquifers with a high spatial resolution