Hydrostratigraphic analysis of the MADE site with full-resolution GPR and direct-push hydraulic profiling

Full-resolution 3D Ground-Penetrating Radar (GPR) data were combined with high-resolution hydraulic conductivity (K) data from vertical Direct-Push (DP) profiles to characterize a portion of the highly heterogeneous MAcro Dispersion Experiment (MADE) site. This is an important first step to better understand the influence of aquifer heterogeneities on observed anomalous transport. Statistical evaluation of DP data indicates non-normal distributions that have much higher similarity within each GPR facies than between facies. The analysis of GPR and DP data provides high-resolution estimates of the 3D geometry of hydrostratigraphic zones, which can then be populated with stochastic K fields. The lack of such estimates has been a significant limitation for testing and parameterizing a range of novel transport theories at sites where the traditional advection-dispersion model has proven inadequate. Citation: Dogan, M., R. L. Van Dam, G. C. Bohling, J. J. Butler Jr., and D. W. Hyndman (2011), Hydro-stratigraphic analysis of the MADE site with full-resolution GPR and direct-push hydraulic profiling, Geophys. Res. Lett., 38, L06405, doi: 10.1029/2010GL046439.