Characterization of a fluvial aquifer at a range of depths and scales: the Triassic St Bees Sandstone Formation, Cumbria, UK

Fluvial sedimentary successions represent porous media that host groundwater and geothermal resources. Additionally, they overlie crystalline rocks hosting nuclear waste repositories in rift settings. The permeability characteristics of an arenaceous fluvial succession, the Triassic St Bees Sandstone Formation in England (UK), are described, from core-plug to well-test scale up to ~1 km depth. Within such lithified successions, dissolution associated with the circulation of meteoric water results in increased permeability (K~10−1–100 m/day) to depths of at least 150 m below ground level (BGL) in aquifer systems that are subject to rapid groundwater circulation. Thus, contaminant transport is likely to occur at relatively high rates. In a deeper investigation (> 150 m depth), where the aquifer has not been subjected to rapid groundwater circulation, well-test-scale hydraulic conductivity is lower, decreasing from K~10−2 m/day at 150–400 m BGL to 10−3 m/day down-dip at ~1 km BGL, where the pore fluid is hypersaline. Here, pore-scale permeability becomes progressively dominant with increasing lithostatic load. Notably, this work investigates a sandstone aquifer of fluvial origin at investigation depths consistent with highly enthalpy geothermal reservoirs (~0.7–1.1 km). At such depths, intergranular flow dominates in unfaulted areas with only minor contribution by bedding plane fractures. However, extensional faults represent preferential flow pathways, due to presence of high connective open fractures. Therefore, such faults may (1) drive nuclear waste contaminants towards the highly permeable shallow (< 150 m BGL) zone of the aquifer, and (2) influence fluid recovery in geothermal fields

Implications of observed and simulated ambient flow in monitoring wells

A recent paper by Hutchins and Acree (2000) has called attention to ground water sampling bias due to ambient (natural gradient-induced) flows in monitoring wells. Data collected with borehole flowmeters have shown that such ambient flows are ubiquitous in both confined and unconfined aquifers. Developed herein is a detailed three-dimensional model of flow and transport in the vicinity of a fully penetrating monitoring well. The model was used to simulate a measured ambient flow distribution around a test well in a heterogeneous aquifer at the Savannah River Site (SRS) near Aiken, South Carolina. Simulated ambient flows agreed well with measurements. Natural flow was upward, so water entered the well mainly through high K layers in the lower portion of the aquifer and exited through similar layers in the upper portion. The maximum upward discharge in the well was about 0.28 L/min, which implied an induced exchange of 12 m(3)/month from the bottom half of the aquifer to the upper half. Tracer transport simulations then illustrated how a contaminant located initially in a lower portion of the aquifer was continuously transported into the upper portion and diluted throughout the entire well by in-flowing water. Even after full purging or micropurging, samples from such a well will yield misleading and ambiguous data concerning solute concentrations, location of a contaminant source, and plume geometry. For all of these reasons, use of long-screened monitoring wells should be phased out, unless an appropriate multilevel sampling device prevents vertical flow

Detrimental effects of natural vertical head gradients on chemical and water level measurements in observation wells: identification and control

It is well known that vertical head gradients exist in natural aquifer systems, and borehole flowmeter data have shown that such gradients commonly set up spontaneous vertical flows in monitoring wells, often called ambient flows. What has not been fully appreciated until recently is the serious detrimental effects such flows can have on solute concentration [Ground Water 39 (2001) 853] and hydraulic head measurements in monitoring wells. This communication explores the possibilities of diminishing ambient flows by increasing the hydraulic resistance to vertical flow within monitoring wells and limiting the penetration of such wells. Analyzed also are the surprising effects that vertical gradients may have on the equilibrium water level in a monitoring well. Results are based on collected data, numerical flow simulations, and hydraulic analysis in the near-well vicinity. Raising wellbore hydraulic resistance is of increasing importance and impact in thicker aquifers with higher horizontal hydraulic conductivities (K-h). A systematic analysis of screen penetration revealed that the reduction of ambient flow also depends on aquifer thickness. On a first order basis, the results for homogeneous aquifers may be used to estimate the behavior of a heterogeneous aquifer by computing a power-law average of the heterogeneous K-h(z). Finally, it is evident from the analysis of vertical gradients on well water levels that in the presence of sufficiently high gradients (partial derivativeh/partial derivativez > 0.5) it is physically possible for a well screen to be fully submerged below the water table, and yet have an internal water level below the top of the screen. Contrary to common perceptions, water levels in wells spanning the water table deviate significantly from the elevation of the formation water table when the local vertical gradient exceeds about 0.1. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved