Air permeability measurements of the unsaturated Bandelier Tuff near Los Alamos, New Mexico

Kearl, P.M.; Zinkl, R.J.; Dexter, Jaime; Cronk, T.

doi:10.1016/0022-1694(90)90094-e

Cited by 15 publications

(8 citation statements)

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“…Mean K sat values from both wells (Table 1) are lower than K sat estimates of the same Tshirege member of Bandelier Tuff from the nearby Los Alamos National Laboratory that range from 7.6 × 10 −2 to 1.12 m d −1 (Rogers and Gallaher, 1995;Smyth and Sharp, 2006) and 9.3 × 10 −1 to 1.6 × 10 1 m d −1 (Kearl et al, 1990;Smyth and Sharp, 2006). This may be, in part, because slug tests provide localized estimates of the hydraulic conductivity directly surrounding the screened interval of the well in contrast to pumping tests that Table 3.…”

Section: Hydrologic Responsementioning

confidence: 74%

“…The influence of the hydrogeologic environment (i.e., geology, topography, and climate) on the groundwater flow system of a given geographic region has long been accepted as the theoretical framework used to conceptualize groundwater flow. Building on the conceptual model of Toth (1970) and the understanding that one part of the framework informs our knowledge of the other, several studies have focused on topography (Beven and Kirkby, 1979;Woods et al, 1997;Hutchinson and Moore, 2000;Kirchner et al, 2001;McGuire et al, 2005) and rock type (Farvolden, 1963;Freeze, 1972;Kelson and Wells, 1989;Mwakalila et al, 2002) as controls of groundwater flow systems. However, subsurface heterogeneities, which can be abundant and are challenging to identify, can give rise to complex, localized groundwater stores, whose contribution to streamflow can be very difficult to discern.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Distinct stores and the routing of water in the deep critical zone of a snow-dominated volcanic catchment

White

Moravec

McIntosh

et al. 2019

Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci.

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Abstract. This study combines major ion and isotope chemistry, age tracers, fracture density characterizations, and physical hydrology measurements to understand how the structure of the critical zone (CZ) influences its function, including water routing, storage, mean water residence times, and hydrologic response. In a high elevation rhyolitic tuff catchment in the Jemez River Basin Critical Zone Observatory (JRB-CZO) within the Valles Caldera National Preserve (VCNP) of northern New Mexico, a periodic precipitation pattern creates different hydrologic flow regimes during spring snowmelt, summer monsoon rain, and fall storms. Hydrometric, geochemical, and isotopic analyses of surface water and groundwater from distinct stores, most notably shallow groundwater that is likely a perched aquifer in consolidated collapse breccia and deeper groundwater in a fractured tuff aquifer system, enabled us to untangle the interactions of these groundwater stores and their contribution to streamflow across 1 complete water year (WY). Despite seasonal differences in groundwater response due to water partitioning, major ion chemistry indicates that deep groundwater from the highly fractured site is more representative of groundwater contributing to streamflow across the entire water year. Additionally, the comparison of streamflow and groundwater hydrographs indicates a hydraulic connection between the fractured welded tuff aquifer system and streamflow, while the shallow aquifer within the collapse breccia deposit does not show this same connection. Furthermore, analysis of age tracers and oxygen (δ18O) and stable hydrogen (δ2H) isotopes of water indicates that groundwater is a mix of modern and older waters recharged from snowmelt, and downhole neutron probe surveys suggest that water moves through the vadose zone both by vertical infiltration and subsurface lateral flow, depending on the lithology. We find that in complex geologic terrain like that of the JRB-CZO, differences in the CZ architecture of two hillslopes within a headwater catchment control water stores and routing through the subsurface and suggest that shallow groundwater does not contribute significantly to streams, while deep fractured aquifer systems contribute most to streamflow.

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Section: Hydrologic Responsementioning

confidence: 74%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Distinct stores and the routing of water in the deep critical zone of a snow-dominated volcanic catchment

White

Moravec

McIntosh

et al. 2019

Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci.

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“…Other solutions for steady-state analysis of air-permeability tests, such as solutions presented by Kearl et al [1990] and Rasmussen et al [1990], yield similar results. Differences in the assumed flow geometry are responsible for small variations in estimated permeability values using the various analytical solutions.…”

Section: Steady-state Flow Analysismentioning

confidence: 56%

Estimation of fracture porosity in an unsaturated fractured welded tuff using gas tracer testing

Freifeld

2001

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Kinematic fracture porosity is an important hydrologic transport parameter for predicting the potential of rapid contaminant migration through fractured rock. The transport velocity of a solute moving within a fracture network is inversely related to the fracture porosity. Since fracture porosity is often one or two orders of magnitude smaller than matrix porosity, and fracture permeability is often orders of magnitude greater than matrix permeability, solutes may travel significantly faster in the fracture network than in the surrounding matrix. This dissertation introduces a new methodology for conducting gas tracer tests using a field portable mass spectrometer along with analytical tools for estimating fracture porosity using the measured tracer concentration breakthrough curves.Field experiments were conducted at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, consisting of airpermeability transient testing and gas-tracer-transport tests. The experiments were conducted from boreholes drilled within an underground tunnel as part of an investigation of rock mass hydrological behavior. Air-permeability pressure transients, recorded during constant mass flux injections, have been analyzed using a numerical inversion procedure 1 to identify fracture permeability and porosity. Dipole gas tracer tests have also been conducted from the same boreholes used for air-permeability testing. Mass breakthrough data has been analyzed using a random walk particle-tracking model, with a dispersivity that is a function of the advective velocity. The estimated fracture porosity using the tracer test and air-injection test data ranges from .001 to .015. These values are an order of magnitude greater than the values estimated by others using hydraulically estimated fracture apertures. The estimates of porosity made using air-permeability test data are shown to be highly sensitive to formation heterogeneity. Uncertainty analyses performed on the gas tracer test results show high confidence in the parameter estimates made.

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“…Pneumatic injection tests were often conducted in boreholes to estimate air permeability on scales ranging from 1 to 20 m [ LeCain , ; Bossart et al ., ; Illman , ]. For single as well as cross‐holes tests, the methods that are used to estimate permeability are the following: steady‐state analyses [ Kearl et al ., ; Baehr and Hult , ; Jakubick and Franz , ; Guzman et al ., ; LeCain , ; Bossart et al ., ; Illman and Neuman , ], type curve analyses [ Illman and Neuman , ; Illman , ], 3‐D numerical inversions with homogeneous or heterogeneous models [ Vesselinov et al ., ; Vesselinov and Neuman , ; Zhou et al ., ; Ni and Yeh , ], and asymptotic analyses [ Illman and Tartakovsky , ]. Here pneumatic injection tests are conducted in single holes in three settings, having different locations, sizes and geometries.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Field and numerical determinations of pneumatic flow parameters of unsaturated fractured porous rocks on various scales

Guillon

Vu²,

Pili

et al. 2013

Water Resources Research

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[1] Air permeability is measured in the fractured crystalline rocks of the Roselend Natural Laboratory (France). Single-hole pneumatic injection tests as well as differential barometric pressure monitoring are conducted on scales ranging from 1 to 50 m, in both shallow and deep boreholes, as well as in an isolated 60 m 3 chamber at 55 m depth. The field experiments are interpreted using numerical simulations in equivalent homogeneous porous media with their real 3-D geometry in order to estimate pneumatic parameters. For pneumatic injection tests, steady-state data first allow to estimate air permeability. Then, pressure recovery after a pneumatic injection test allows to estimate the air-filled porosity.Comparison between the various studied cases clarifies the influence of the boundary conditions on the accuracy of the often used 1-D estimate of air permeability. It also shows that permeabilities correlate slightly with fracture density. In the chamber, a 1 order-ofmagnitude difference is found between the air permeabilities obtained from pneumatic injection tests and from differential barometric pressure monitoring. This discrepancy is interpreted as a scale effect resulting from the approximation of the heterogeneous fractured rock by a homogeneous numerical model. The difference between the rock volumes investigated by pneumatic injection tests and by differential barometric pressure monitoring may also play a role. No clear dependence of air permeability on saturation has been found so far.Citation: Guillon, S., M. T. Vu, E. Pili, and P. M. Adler (2013), Field and numerical determinations of pneumatic flow parameters of unsaturated fractured porous rocks on various scales, Water Resour.

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Air permeability measurements of the unsaturated Bandelier Tuff near Los Alamos, New Mexico

Cited by 15 publications

References 4 publications

Distinct stores and the routing of water in the deep critical zone of a snow-dominated volcanic catchment

Distinct stores and the routing of water in the deep critical zone of a snow-dominated volcanic catchment

Estimation of fracture porosity in an unsaturated fractured welded tuff using gas tracer testing

Field and numerical determinations of pneumatic flow parameters of unsaturated fractured porous rocks on various scales

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