New Paradigm for Fractured Rock Cleanup

Cross-sectional conceptualization of fractured rock hydraulics at the Mirror Lake Site in New Hampshire. Colored areas are high permeability zones located within lower permeability (gray) rock.

Many thought that contaminated sites in fractured bedrock were so uniquely complex that there was little hope for gaining a systematic understanding of how to clean them up. Toxics Program scientists did a comparative analysis of hydraulic tests conducted in a variety of rock environments that showed predictable similarities in the hydraulic responses at each of the sites. The key to these tests was that the major fractures in the test boreholes were isolated from each other, which allowed for the collection of meaningful data. In the past, many hydraulic tests have been conducted on the full length of a borehole(s) without isolating fractures, thus masking the true response of the fractures to the test and making the problem intractable. The scientists further demonstrated that the complex properties of fractured-rock aquifers can be simulated with off-the-shelf computer models used to design monitoring, management, and remediation strategies. This knowledge is leading to an improved approach for cleaning up contamination that was once thought to be intractable.

References

Aquifer Testing in Fractured Rock: Conceptual Similarities in Aquifer Heterogeneity From Varied Geologic Settings,

by Shapiro, A.M., and Hsieh, P.A.

Tiedeman, C.R., and Hsieh, P.A., 2001,

Assessing an open-well aquifer test in fractured crystalline rock: Ground Water, v. 39, no. 1, p. 68-78.

Related Headlines

• New Report Presents a Framework for Assessing the Sustainability of Monitored Natural Attenuation
• What Controls the Migration of Chlorinated Solvents in Fractured Rock?

More Information

• Ground Water Flow and Transport in Fractured Rock
• Geochemical and Microbiological Processes that Affect Migration and Natural Attenuation of Chlorinated Solvents in Fractured Sedimentary Rock -- Naval Air Warfare Center (NAWC) Research Site, West Trenton, NJ
• Multidisciplinary Characterization of Fluid Flow and Solute Transport in Fractured Rock -- Mirror Lake, New Hampshire
• Transport Phenomena in Fractured Rock
• Hydrology of Fractured Rocks
• Branch of Geophysics Research with the Toxic Substances Hydrology Program - Contains information on the geophysical investigation of fractured rock.
• Borehole Geophysics as Applied to Geohydrology
• Using Seismic Tomography to Characterize Fractured Bedrock

Other USGS Information About Fractured Rock Hydrology

• The Pennsylvania District Fractured Rock Hydrology Research Unit
  

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