Permeability distribution in the Quaternary of the Upper Rhine glacio-fluvial aquifer

✍ Scribed by Wolf Meinken; Ingrid Stober

• Book ID: 104463158
• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1997
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 272 KB
• Volume: 9
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0954-4879
• DOI: 10.1046/j.1365-3121.1997.d01-16.x

✦ Synopsis

An extraordinarily large and geographically extensive 3D dataset has allowed us to relate permeability to detailed geological features. Permeability data derived from several thousand pumptests in Quaternary sediments (thickness < 120 m) of the Upper Rhine valley vary from K= 4.5 × 10^−7^ m s^−1^ to K= 2.7 × 10^−1^ m s^−1^. The geometric mean of the data is K= 2.25 × 10^−3^ m s^−1^. The permeability distribution maps for four different stratigraphic levels show that the highest values are found in sections beneath recent and historic fluvial systems. Fossil fans of small rivers from the Black Forest can be identified in the Rhine valley on the basis of the permeability pattern. The average hydraulic conductivity decreases S–N along the flow direction which corresponds to a decrease in grain‐size of the fluvial sediments.