Characterizing aquifer heterogeneity using hydraulic tomography
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Issue Date
2008-07-29Author
Wachter, Brian James
Publisher
University of Kansas
Format
150 pages
Type
Thesis
Degree Level
M.S.
Discipline
Geology
Rights
This item is protected by copyright and unless otherwise specified the copyright of this thesis/dissertation is held by the author.
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Show full item recordAbstract
Fine-scale heterogeneity in a geologic medium determines rates and directions of flow and of contaminant transport. Traditional methods of determining hydraulic conductivity provide only average values of hydraulic conductivity, as opposed to a distribution throughout the aquifer. Hydraulic tomography can be used to relate phase shifts and amplitude decays of a sinusoidal pressure signal to hydraulic conductivity. Hydraulic tomography can provide fine-scale interwell resolution, but processing methods require extensive time and computing power to handle the large amounts of data necessary. This tomography study comprises a combination of multiple offset gather surveys taken at the University of Kansas' Geohydrologic Experimental and Monitoring Site, a well-studied site in northeastern Kansas. A computer program has been developed to analyze the data by extending the 3D homogeneous spherical radial equation to the heterogeneous case. The analysis program is capable of efficiently resolving zones with dimensions of about one meter on each side.
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- Geology Dissertations and Theses [232]
- Theses [3943]
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