Abstract
Large-Scale Natural Gradient Tracer Test in Sand and Gravel, Cape Cod, Massachusetts 3. Hydraulic Conductivity Variability and Calculated Macrodispersivities
U.S. Geological Survey, Water Resources Division, Marlborough, Massachusetts
ENSR Consulting and Engineering, Acton, Massachusetts
Department of Civil Engineering, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey
Hydraulic conductivity (K) variability in a sand and gravel aquifer on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, was measured and subsequently used in stochastic transport theories to estimate macrodispersivities. Nearly 1500 K measurements were obtained by borehole flowmeter tests and permeameter analyses of cores. The geometric mean for the flowmeter tests (0.11 cm/s) is similar to that estimated from other field tests. The mean for the permeameter tests (0.035 cm/s) is significantly lower, possibly because of compaction of the cores. The variance for the flowmeter (0.24) is also greater than that for the permeameter (0.14). Geostatistical analyses applying negative exponential models with and without nuggets reveal similar spatial correlation structures for the two data sets. Estimated correlation scales range from 2.9 to 8 m in the horizontal and from 0.18 to 0.38 m in the vertical. Estimates of asymptotic longitudinal dispersivity (b.35–0.78 m) are similar in magnitude to that observed in the natural gradient tracer test (0.96 m) previously conducted at this site.
Received 29 March 1991; accepted 17 March 1992; .
Citation: (1992), Large-Scale Natural Gradient Tracer Test in Sand and Gravel, Cape Cod, Massachusetts 3. Hydraulic Conductivity Variability and Calculated Macrodispersivities, Water Resour. Res., 28(8), 2011–2027.
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