The Worth of Stochastic Inversion for Identifying Connectivity by Means of a Long‐Lasting Large‐Scale Hydraulic Test: The Salar de Atacama Case Study

Understanding groundwater flow involves characterizing the spatial variability of aquifer attributes and possible hydraulic connectivity structures. The latter are of crucial importance because high permeability channels may control groundwater flow and contaminant transport. In evaporitic aquifer s...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Water resources research 2022-06, Vol.58 (6), p.n/a
Main Authors: Trabucchi, Michela, Fernàndez‐Garcia, Daniel, Carrera, Jesús
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aquifer systems
Aquifers
Brines
Channels
Connectivity
Contaminants
Drawdown
Economic development
Economics
Exploitation
Fault zones
Faults
Flats (landforms)
Geophysics
Groundwater
Groundwater flow
groundwater modeling
hydraulic test
Hydraulic tests
Hydraulics
Identification
Inflow
inverse problem
Inversion
Inversions
Isotopes
Karst
Mixing ratio
Permeability
Pollution transport
Preferential flow
preferential flow‐paths
Sabkhas
Salar de Atacama
Salt flats
Scale effect
Spatial variability
Spatial variations
Stochasticity
Water flow
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Summary:Understanding groundwater flow involves characterizing the spatial variability of aquifer attributes and possible hydraulic connectivity structures. The latter are of crucial importance because high permeability channels may control groundwater flow and contaminant transport. In evaporitic aquifer systems, these preferential channels can consist of karst conduits, developed at different scales, as well as fault zones. These features condition the economic development of salt flats at the Central Andes. Hydraulic connectivity may affect exploitation efficiency by enhancing the inflow of less evaporated brine thus diminishing its mineral content (i.e., concentration of Li and K). In this context, we investigate if it is possible to use (tomographic) stochastic inversion (regularized pilot point method) in order to characterize the presence of connectivity structures in an evaporitic aquifer of great extension (some 1,500 km2) from head response measured at numerous observation points during a year long sequence of three hydraulic tests. Results show that, even though the solution is nonunique, the main preferential flow zones are identified. Numerous inversions yield similar fits to observed drawdowns with maximum errors of few centimeters. Preferential flow is identified not only by elongated high permeability regions, but also by a marked scale effect (model transmissivities are some 30 times larger than their local tests counterparts). The main high conductivity zones are consistent with independent information based on geophysics, isotopes, mixing ratios, piezometric data, and the expected dissolution processes. Key Points A hydraulic test is carried out and monitored in many observation points to assess heterogeneity over a tens of kilometers karst aquifer Stochastic inversion allows us to identify preferential flow paths, which are consistent with independent data A marked scale effect is observed, suggesting that karst structures control large scale permeability
ISSN:0043-1397
1944-7973
DOI:10.1029/2021WR030676