Field study of dispersion in a heterogeneous aquifer: 3. Geostatistical analysis of hydraulic conductivity

Abstract

Observations of the spatial variability of hydraulic conductivity at a tracer test site, located at Columbus Air Force Base in Mississippi, are presented. Direct measurements of hydraulic conductivity of the heterogeneous alluvial aquifer at the site were made using borehole flowmeter logging, slug tests, and a laboratory permeameter to test undisturbed soil cores. Indirect methods estimating hydraulic conductivity were also evaluated, including soil grain size analyses, surface geophysical surveys, and mapping of sediment facies. The spatial covariance of the 2187 hydraulic conductivity values obtained with the borehole flowmeter method was examined. The log hydraulic conductivity variance (σln2K) and the horizontal and vertical correlation scales (λh and λv) of 4.5, 12.8 m, and 1.6 m, respectively, were estimated assuming second‐order stationarity of the conductivity field. The covariance parameters are uncertain with bounding values that are 24–76% above or below the estimate. Covariance parameters estimated with more limited nonflowmeter data were within the same magnitude as those obtained using the extensive flowmeter data, suggesting that data from a variety of methods may be used to provide approximate values of the autocovariance parameters. Nonstationarity of the ln K field was examined by removing three‐dimensional polynomial trend surfaces and calculating variograms of the residuals. Significantly lower estimates for σln2K, λh and λv of 2.7, 4.8 m, and 0.8 m, respectively, were obtained from the third‐order log conductivity residuals. After trend removal, the bounding parameter values differ 15–44% from the estimated values. Accounting for unsteady flow and the uncertainty in the covariance parameters of the third‐order log conductivity residuals, the calculated longitudinal and horizontal transverse macrodispersivities ranged from 1.5 m to 1.8 m and 0.3 m to 0.6 m, respectively.