Award Abstract # 0510819
Modeling Hierarchical Aquifer Architecture From Centimeter to Kilometer Scales

NSF Org: EAR
Division Of Earth Sciences
Recipient: WRIGHT STATE UNIVERSITY
Initial Amendment Date: June 3, 2005
Latest Amendment Date: May 30, 2008
Award Number: 0510819
Award Instrument: Continuing Grant
Program Manager: L. Douglas James
EAR
 Division Of Earth Sciences
GEO
 Directorate for Geosciences
Start Date: July 1, 2005
End Date: December 31, 2008 (Estimated)
Total Intended Award Amount: $0.00
Total Awarded Amount to Date: $210,714.00
Funds Obligated to Date: FY 2005 = $103,103.00
FY 2006 = $107,611.00
History of Investigator:
  • Robert Ritzi (Principal Investigator)
    robert.ritzi@wright.edu
  • David Dominic (Co-Principal Investigator)
Recipient Sponsored Research Office: Wright State University
3640 COLONEL GLENN HWY
DAYTON
OH  US  45435-0002
(937)775-2425
Sponsor Congressional District: 10
Primary Place of Performance: Wright State University
3640 COLONEL GLENN HWY
DAYTON
OH  US  45435-0002
Primary Place of Performance
Congressional District:
10
Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): NPT2UNTNHJZ1
Parent UEI:
NSF Program(s): Hydrologic Sciences
Primary Program Source: app-0105 
app-0106 
Program Reference Code(s): 0000, 9189, EGCH
Program Element Code(s): 157900
Award Agency Code: 4900
Fund Agency Code: 4900
Assistance Listing Number(s): 47.050

ABSTRACT

0510819
Ritzi

Complexity and uncertainty in ground water flow and transport are related to heterogeneity in the hydraulic properties of natural porous media. In deposits of sediment this heterogeneity is related to the sedimentary architecture, of which the important aspects are the proportions, geometry, and juxtapositioning relationships of sedimentary units. These are units created at different spatial scales under various processes of deposition and erosion and organized within a hierarchical framework. Realistic representations of aquifer architecture within hydrogeologic models must be achieved because the geologic structures reduce entropy in hydraulic properties from the maximally disordered state. At the same time, these structures can create greater entropy in transport statistics compared to those from a maximum entropy spatial field (e.g., models containing interconnected gravel units within a lower permeability background have greater variance in mass residence time statistics than models containing random, unconnected gravel patches).
A digital representation of a sedimentary deposit will be created with realistic architecture from the scale of centimeters up to the scale of kilometers. A model with this range of scales is unprecedented. The digital deposit will represent the hierarchical sedimentary architecture of fluvial braid-belt deposits, common in both aquifers and in petroleum reservoirs. The digital deposit will be a synthetic but realistic data set for use in computational experiments in hydrogeology. As such, it will have a sedimentary architecture that is consistent with known depositional processes, with the shapes and scales of depositional bedforms, and with field measurements of stratification geometries and grain-size variations. Developing a digital deposit over this range of scales will require quantifying the three-dimensional architecture from a large amount of data collected within a modern river system, developing simulation algorithms tailored to those findings, and developing efficient means of computational storage. The model will be created with geometric simulation on a centimeter-spaced regular grid that facilitates its import into other types of numerical models (e.g., models for ground-water flow and transport). The digital deposit, together with its unique storage structure and generating algorithms, will be made freely available to the research community.

PUBLICATIONS PRODUCED AS A RESULT OF THIS RESEARCH

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Guin, A., and R.W. Ritzi "Studying the effect of correlation and finite-domain size on spatial continuity of permeable sediments" Geophysical Research Letters , v.35 , 2008 , p.L10402 doi:10.1029/2007GL032717
Ramanathan, R., R. Ritzi, and C. Huang "Linking hierarchical stratal architecture to plume spreading in a Lagrangian-based transport model" Water Resources Research , v.44 , 2008 , p.W04503 doi:10.1029/2007WR006282
Sun, A.Y., R.W. Ritzi, and D. Sims "Characterization and modeling of spatial variability in a complex alluvial aquifer: Implications on solute transport" Water Resources Research , v.44 , 2008 , p.W04402 doi:10.1029/2007WR006119

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