Application of direct-fitting, mass integral, and multirate methods to analysis of flowing fluid electric conductivity logs from Horonobe, Japan

The flowing fluid electric conductivity (FFEC) logging method is an efficient way to provide information on the depths, salinities, and inflow strengths of individual conductive features intercepted by a borehole, without the use of specialized probes. Using it in a multiple-flow rate mode allows, in addition, an estimate of the transmissivities and inherent (far-field) hydraulic heads in each of the conductive features. The multirate method was successfully applied to a 500-m borehole in a granitic formation and reported recently. The present paper describes the application of the method to two zones within a 1000-m borehole in sedimentary rock, which produced, for each zone, three sets of logs at different pumping rates, each set measured over a period of about 1 day. The data sets involve several complications, such as variable well diameter, gradual water level decline in the well during logging, possible fluid flow through the unfractured rock matrix, and effects of drilling mud. Various techniques were applied to analyze the FFEC logs: direct-fitting, mass integral, and the multirate method mentioned above. In spite of complications associated with the tests, analysis was able to identify 44 hydraulically conducting fractures distributed over the depth interval 150-775 m below ground surface. The salinities (in FEC), and transmissivities and hydraulic heads (in dimensionless form) of these 44 features were obtained and found to vary significantly among one another. These results were compared with transmissivity and head values inferred from eight packer tests that were conducted in this borehole over the same depth interval. FFEC results were found to be consistent with packer test results, thus demonstrating the robustness of the FFEC logging method under nonideal conditions.