Characterization, Modeling, Monitoring, and Remediation of Fractured Rock (2020) / Chapter Skim
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Pages 1-8
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Fundamental understanding of the physical nature of fractured rock has changed little since 1996, but many new characterization tools have been developed, and there is now greater appreciation for the importance of chemical and biological processes that can occur in the fractured rock environment. Findings in this report can be applied to all types of engineered infrastructure and engineered in situ processes, but especially to engineered repositories for buried or stored waste and to fractured rock sites that have been contaminated as a result of past disposal or other practices.
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However, although flow is dominated generally by only a few of the rock fractures in a fractured rock system, storage takes place predominantly within the rock matrix. This fundamental distinction between transport and storage has profound implications to fractured rock characterization, modeling, monitoring, and remediation.
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Take an interdisciplinary approach to engineering in fractured rock and use site geologic, geophysical, geomechanical, hydrologic, and biogeochemical information to conceptualize transport pathways, storage porosities, fate-and-transport mechanisms, and the coupled processes that control rock fracture-matrix interactions. Use available geologic, hydrogeologic, and geophysical information to conceptualize flow pathways, fluid and contaminant storage, alteration, or attenuation through geochemical reactions and transformations via biological processes.
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Characterization of microbial communities and activities in fractured rock allows better characterization and prediction of fluid and contaminant fate and transport, as well as more effective application of bioremediation technologies. Subsurface microbial communities can affect physical and geochemical characteristics and may be responsible for a variety of dynamic processes including mineral formation and dissolution, as well as changes in redox chemistry, fluid surface tension, and acidity.
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Research is needed on how to extend use of geophysical tools commonly used in porous media to fractured rock applications. Techniques such as seismic, microseismic, and hydraulic tomography, hydraulic interference, and tracer testing techniques need to be developed that allow for characterization of flow paths at different scales, and that advance joint inversion methodologies for fracture process parameterization.
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Develop appropriate hydrostructural conceptual models for fracture and rock matrix geometries and properties, and perform preliminary calculations (e.g., analytic or simple numerical) to better inform and allocate resources for site characterization, modeling, and remediation.
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Develop and communicate realistic expectations related to remediation effectiveness through realistic goal setting and through explicit consideration of uncertainties in design, realistic use of natural attenuation, comprehensive monitoring programs, and dissemination of performance data to the technical community. Best practices for remediation can be advanced through publicly accessible practitioner-driven and government-facilitated research-level documentation that details the remediation technologies applied across a variety of fractured rock settings.
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An effective monitoring system includes meaningful sampling frequencies to monitor trends, and allows feedback that informs monitoring strategies in response to new trends or findings. Efficient monitoring system design is site specific and designed to require the minimal amounts of analytes to quantify performance effectiveness given localized discrete pathways, contaminant storage in the rock matrix, and geologic heterogeneity and anisotropy.
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