Conceptual Model of the Geometry and Physics of Water Flow in a Fractured Basalt Vadose Zone: Box Canyon Site, Idaho

Abstract

A conceptual model of the geometry and physics of water flow in a fractured basalt vadose zone was developed based on the results of lithological studies and a series of ponded infiltration tests conducted at the Box Canyon site near the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL) in Idaho. The infiltration tests included one two-week test in 1996, three two-day tests in 1997, and one four-day test in 1997. For the various tests, initial infiltration rates ranged from 4.1 cm/day to 17.7 cm/day and then decreased with time, presumably due to mechanical or microbiological clogging of fractures and vesicularbasalt in the near-surface zone, as well as the effect of entrapped air. The subsurface moisture redistribution was monitored with tensiometers, neutron logging, time domain reflectrometry and ground penetrating radar. A conservative tracer, potassium bromide, was added to the pond water at a concentration of 3 g/L to monitor water flow with electrical resistivity probes and water sampling. Analysis of the data showed evidence of preferential flow rather than the propagation of a uniform wetting front. We propose a conceptual model describing the saturation-desaturation behavior of the basalt, in which rapid preferential flow through vertical column-bounding fractures occurs from the surface to the base of the basalt flow. After the rapid wetting of column-bounding fractures, a gradual wetting of other fractures and the basalt matrix occurs. Fractures that are saturated early in the tests may become desaturated thereafter, which we attribute to the redistribution of water between fractures and matrix. Lateral movement of water was also observed within a horizontal central fracture zone and rubble zone, which could have important implications for contaminant accumulation at contaminated sites.