HR: 1340h
AN: H53F-1479 [Abstracts]
TI: MONITORING OF WATER AND THERMIC TRANSFERS IN THE VADOSE ZONE OF A GEOLOGICAL CARBONATE FORMATION : EXAMPLE OF AND UNDERGROUND QUARRY, GIRONDE, FRANCE
AU: * CEREPI, A
EM: adrian.cerepi@egid.u-bordeaux.fr
AF: Institut EGID-Bordeaux3, 1, allée Daguin, Pessac, 33607, France
AU: Loisy, C
EM: corinne.loisy@egid.u-bordeaux.fr
AF: Institut EGID-Bordeaux3, 1, allée Daguin, Pessac, 33607, France
AU: Burlot, R
EM: rené.burlot@egid.u-bordeaux.fr
AF: Institut EGID-Bordeaux3, 1, allée Daguin, Pessac, 33607, France
AU: MAO, L
EM: lsmao@egid.u-bordeaux.fr
AF: Institut EGID-Bordeaux3, 1, allée Daguin, Pessac, 33607, France
AB:
The aim of this study is the monitoring of water and thermic transfers in vadose zone of a geological carbonate
formation during three hydrological cycles (August 2001– November 2004). The application of the Time Domain
Reflectometry (TDR) and Self-Potential (SP) methods to determine the water content of porous rock has been
widely investigated. More than 285 studied point measurements of rock water content observed during three
hydrological cycles and distributed among an abandoned underground quarry in Gironde, France, show a
permanently undersaturated limestone (between 35 and 50 percents). We also investigated the unsaturated zone
in a borehole between 0 and 20 m depth until the water table. 14 TDR and SP electrodes investigate the vadose
zone. For the understanding of the streaming potential and electric behaviour from the SP method of a vadose
zone we performed an experimental device which allows us to quantify the measurements of electrokinetic
coupling coefficient at various saturation conditions. The results show that the vadose zone is characterized by
three different sub-zones which are different water dynamics. The shallow zone down to a depth of seven meters
corresponds to a zone with a significant variation of water saturation related to evapotranspiration dynamic water.
The second zone (so-called transition zone) between seven to sixteen meters displays a high stability. The third
zone (zone of capillary fringe) between sixteen to twenty meter shows a high and constant water saturation.
Experimental results show three periods of maximum water content corresponding to three occurring effective
precipitations. The dephasing and the amplitude attenuation of the hydraulic and thermic waves with the depth
can be modelled and explained by the physical properties of the porous medium in an unsaturated zone such as
the diffusivity, the water relative permeability, the capillarity pressure versus water saturation and the effective
porosity.
DE: 1857 Reservoirs (surface)
DE: 1866 Soil moisture
DE: 1875 Vadose zone
SC: Hydrology [H]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting