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SUMMARY:Characterising the Geosphere: Predicting spatial and temporal vari
 ations in along-fault fluid flow - Rebecca Lunn (University of Strathclyde
 \, Department of Civil Engineering)
DTSTART:20091104T150000Z
DTEND:20091104T160000Z
UID:TALK20362@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Ian Farnan
DESCRIPTION:Geological disposal of radioactive wastes poses a number of te
 chnical challenges that must be met to ensure the long-term isolation of r
 adionuclides from the environment.  The characterisation of faults\, espec
 ially their influence on patterns of groundwater flow\, is an important as
 pect of characterising a site for geological disposal.  One important cha
 llenge is to develop an understanding of the potential for vertical migrat
 ion of radionuclides along faults\, and to incorporate this understanding 
 into the design of a successful geological disposal facility.  Over-simpli
 stic conceptualisations of faults\, in which they are represented as unifo
 rm features with a permeability that is either higher or lower than the su
 rrounding bedrock\, generate models that indicate short travel times for g
 roundwater to reach the surface.  The accuracy of such models is open to 
 doubt\, hence\, the development of skills related to characterisation of t
 he hydrogeological characteristics of faults is important to future site c
 haracterisation work.\nFaults are highly heterogeneous\, both in time and 
 space. Limited research exists on quantifying spatial permeability variati
 on within individual fault zones but this has largely been focussed on pre
 dicting across-fault flow in sedimentary sequences of interest to the hydr
 ocarbon industry. No research has been published to-date that enables pred
 iction of temporal variations in along-fault flow. Yet long time-scale tem
 poral (episodic) variations in along-fault flow are known to occur\, and c
 an be caused by: build up of tectonic stress\; activity on neighbouring fa
 ults or large regional faults\; changes in surface/groundwater pressure (e
 .g. due to changing climate or reservoir construction)\; mining\; oil and 
 gas production and exploration\; and other underground excavations. \nI wi
 ll present research from a number of projects\, based on multi-disciplinar
 y data sources\, that collectively aims to characterise fault flow over bo
 th space and time. This research investigates behaviour of a range of anal
 ogue systems by combining numerical modelling and statistical analysis wit
 h data from seismic events\, hydrothermal flows and structural fault archi
 tecture.
LOCATION:Harker 2 lecture room\, Department of Earth Sciences\, Downing Si
 te
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