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AGU: Journal of Geophysical Research, Solid Earth

 

Keywords

  • hydrogeophysics
  • fractured-rock hydrology
  • elastic properties

Index Terms

  • Hydrology: Geomechanics
  • Hydrology: Groundwater hydrology
  • Physical Properties of Rocks: Fracture and flow
  • Hydrology: Hydrogeophysics
  • Hydrology: Instruments and techniques: monitoring
Abstract
Cited By (0)
 

Abstract

Hydrogeologic controls imposed by mechanical stratigraphy in layered rocks of the Châteauguay River Basin, a U.S.-Canada transborder aquifer

Roger Morin

U.S. Geological Survey, Denver, Colorado, USA

Réjean Godin

Centre d'Études sur les Ressources Minérales, Université du Québec à Chicoutimi, Chicoutimi, Québec, Canada

Miroslav Nastev

Geological Survey of Canada, Québec, Québec, Canada

Alain Rouleau

Centre d'Études sur les Ressources Minérales, Université du Québec à Chicoutimi, Chicoutimi, Québec, Canada

The Châteauguay River Basin delineates a transborder watershed with roughly half of its surface area located in northern New York State and half in southern Québec Province, Canada. As part of a multidisciplinary study designed to characterize the hydrogeologic properties of this basin, geophysical logs were obtained in 12 wells strategically located to penetrate the four major sedimentary rock formations that constitute the regional aquifers. The layered rocks were classified according to their elastic properties into three primary units: soft sandstone, hard sandstone, and dolostone. Downhole measurements were analyzed to identify fracture patterns associated with each unit and to evaluate their role in controlling groundwater flow. Fracture networks are composed of orthogonal sets of laterally extensive, subhorizontal bedding plane partings and bed-delimited, subvertical joints with spacings that are consistent with rock mechanics principles and stress models. The vertical distribution of transmissive zones is confined to a few select bedding plane fractures, with soft sandstone having the fewest (one per 70-m depth) and hard sandstone the most (five per 70-m depth). Bed-normal permeability is examined using a probabilistic model that considers the lengths of flow paths winding along joints and bedding plane fractures. Soft sandstone has the smallest bed-normal permeability primarily because of its wide, geomechanically undersaturated joint spacing. Results indicate that the three formations have similar values of bulk transmissivity, within roughly an order of magnitude, but that each rock unit has its own unique system of groundwater flow paths that constitute that transmissivity.

Received 4 May 2006; accepted 20 November 2006; published 6 April 2007.

Citation: Morin, R., R. Godin, M. Nastev, and A. Rouleau (2007), Hydrogeologic controls imposed by mechanical stratigraphy in layered rocks of the Châteauguay River Basin, a U.S.-Canada transborder aquifer, J. Geophys. Res., 112, B04403, doi:10.1029/2006JB004485.

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