Mapping DNAPL transport contamination in sedimentary and fractured rock aquifers with high resolution borehole seismic imaging Project No. SF11SS13 FY01 Annual Report

摘要

This report covers the work performed in the first year of a three-year project funded by the USDOE's Subsurface Contaminant Focus Area (SCFA). The objectives of this project are to develop, demonstrate and evaluate, at appropriate field sites, the utility of high frequency seismic imaging methods to detect and characterize non-aqueous phase liquid (NAPL) contamination in sedimentary and fractured rock aquifers. Field tests consist of crosswell seismic tomography acquired before, during and after any remediation action that would potentially affect fluid distributions. Where feasible, other characterization data is obtained, such as crosswell radar, borehole conductivity and cone penetration testing (CPT). Crosswell data are processed to obtain tomographic images, or two-dimensional distributions, of velocity and attenuation. The interpretation of the tomograms utilizes all available site characterization data to relate the geophysical attributes to lithology and fluid phase heterogeneities. Interpretations are validated by evaluation and testing of field cores. Laboratory tests on core retrieved from surveyed locations are performed to determine the relationships between geophysical parameters and solid and fluid phase composition. In the case of sedimentary aquifers, proof of principle has been demonstrated previously in homogeneous sand-packs at the centimeter and half-meter scale (Geller and Myer, 1995; Geller et al., 2000). The field tests will provide proof-of-principle at the field-scale, by working in an unconsolidated sand aquifer with known presence of NAPL. The ability to upscale from the laboratory to the field is evaluated by conducting field measurements over a range of frequencies that overlap the lowest frequencies used in the laboratory tests. In the fractured rock case, previous field work has shown that fracture zones can be detected by crosswell seismic tomography (Daley et al., 2001; Daley et al., 2000). Laboratory studies have demonstrated that the seismic wave signature is sensitive to the fracture stiffness, and that stiffness is affected by fracture-filling fluids (Pyrak-Nolte and Morris, 2000; Pyrak-Nolte, 1996). The field and laboratory experience provide a physical basis for the potential detection of fractures that would be the important flow paths for NAPL contaminants.