Project Page Views: [ 714 ]
| Project Metadata Element | Details |
| Project Title | Quantitative analysis of fractures systems and their impact on flow pathways in Irish bedrock aquifers |
| Research Area | Water |
| Project Acronym | |
| Principal Investigator or Lead Irish Partner | John Walsh |
| Lead Institution or Organisation | University College Dublin (UCD) |
| Lead Country | Ireland |
| Latitude, Longitude (of Lead Institution) | 53.30859, -6.22577 |
| Lead Funding Entity | Environmental Protection Agency |
| Approximate Project Start Date | 01/01/2012 |
| Approximate Project Finishing Date | 01/01/2015 |
| Project Website (if any) | |
| Links to other Web-based resources | |
| Project Keywords | Groundwater; Bedrock Aquifers; Fault and Fracture Systems; Pathways |
| Project Abstract | This project will involve the quantitative analysis of fault and fracture systems in the broad range of Irish bedrock types, focussing on developing generic conceptual models for fault/fracture systems in different lithologies and at different depths, and linking them to observed groundwater behaviour. The project will define the quantitative characteristics of the different types of fault/fracture systems encountered in Ireland. A variety of attributes/parameters, all of which are critical determinants of the flow behaviour and pathways of such systems, will be defined from high quality natural outcrops, quarries and mines, including fracture orientations, densities, spacing/clustering, sizes (length/aperture/thickness), scaling and connectivity. Quantitative characteristics of the different fault/fracture systems will be defined in distinctive lithological sequences (e.g. Calp or Waulsortian limestones), in an attempt to provide a mechanical basis for differing fracture system systematics and established differences in the flow and transport conceptualisations across Irish fractured bedrocks, and their variations either in depth or across regional zones. Structural geologic conceptual models and parameterisations will be linked to observed groundwater behaviour (derived from GSI hydrogeological databases and ongoing Griffith and EPA-Strive projects) by undertaking flow simulation of simple generic fracture system models and case studies of flow in Irish fractured aquifers. |