Detection of bedrock fractures and lithologic changes using borehole radar at selected sites
No abstract available.
Geology topics
Publications and source records attributed to John H. Williams.
No abstract available.
The geohydrology of infiltration from five tributary streams along a 3.6-mile reach of Marsh Creek valley in north-central Pennsylvania was investigated during 1983-85. Marsh Creek valley is underlain by up to 100 feet of stratified drift that overlies Devonian bedrock. The stratified drift is overlain by up to 30 feet of alluvial-fan deposits near the tributary streams. Four of the five tributary streams lose large amounts of water to the stratified-drift aquifer in Marsh Creek valley. Along reaches away from the valley wall, infiltration losses from the streams averaged about 2 cubic feet per second per 1,000 feet of wetted channel length. Estimated hydraulic conductivity of the deposits near these streams ranges from 31 to 100 feet per day and averages 61 feet per day. Silty beds of lower permeability near the streams may significantly affect infiltration. The low permeability of the sediments near the fifth stream, which probably consist largely of fine-grained alluvium and swamp deposits, may account for the lack of infiltration losses along this stream. Tributary-stream infiltration accounted for more than 70 percent of the estimated recharge to the stratified-drift aquifer along the reach investigated during water year 1985, in which annual precipitation was below average. The sources of recharge and their estimated rates were: (1) direct infiltration of precipitation on the valley, 1.7 cubic feet per second; (2) unchanneled runoff and ground-water inflow from the uplands, 2.7 cubic feet per second; and (3) tributary-stream infiltration from Asaph Run, 3.7 cubic feet per second, Straight Run, 3.7 cubic feet per second, Dantz Run, 1.2 cubic feet per second, and Canada Run, 1.9 cubic feet per second. The temporal variation in recharge from tributary-stream infiltration greatly affects drawdowns caused by pumping from the wellfield at the National Fisheries Research and Development Laboratory near Straight Run.
Cross-borehole flow tests provided insights into hydraulic connections in fractured and dipping mudstone and sandstone that were consistent with the lithostratigraphic and structural framework of a VOCcontaminated bedrock research site in west-central New Jersey. Two cross-borehole flow tests were completed. Each test involved measurement and analysis of transient flow in a newly installed deep corehole with a long open interval during short-term pumping and recovery in an adjacent shallow well with a short open interval. The cross-borehole flow test in the mudstone identified a hydraulic connection through a dipping fractured bed between the pumped interval in the well and a flow zone at an intermediate depth in the corehole. The presence of a hydraulic connection between the pumped well and the corehole was not obvious because the water-level response in the corehole was dominated by a shallow zone of high transmissivity, which was hydraulically isolated from the pumped interval. In the sandstone, the cross-borehole flow test identified a hydraulic connection along dipping fractured beds as well as a connection to a deep high-angle fracture that cuts across bedding. These results suggest that application of cross-borehole flow tests at other contaminated fractured-bedrock sites could provide insights into hydraulic connections useful the design and implementation of monitoring and remediation programs.