A comparison of fracture transmissivities in granite water wells before and after hydrofracturing |
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| Authors: | Email author" target="_blank">David?HartEmail author |
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| Institution: | 1.Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey,Madison,USA |
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| Abstract: | In many regions of the world, crystalline bedrock aquifers are the only choice for groundwater supply. This is the case in northern Wisconsin, located in the upper Midwest of the continental United States. Here, groundwater flow to wells occurs only through fractures in the granitic basement. Although hydrofracturing of these wells is common and generally increases well yield, the precise mechanism for the increased yields remained unknown. Stressed and ambient flow logs were obtained in two 305-m-deep granitic boreholes in northern Wisconsin prior to hydrofracturing. From those logs, it was determined that nearly all of the groundwater flow to the boreholes occurred in less than 10 fractures in the upper 80 m, with no measureable contribution below that depth. Following hydrofracturing of the boreholes, stressed and ambient flow logs were again obtained. The transmissivity of the two boreholes increased by factors of 8.6 and 63 times. It was found that (1) the fractures that had contributed flow to the boreholes increased in transmissivity, (2) although the applied pressures were large enough in some instances to create new fractures, those new fractures did not increase the borehole transmissivities significantly, and (3) fractures without measureable flow before hydrofracturing remained without measureable flow. Hydrofracturing increases yield in granitic boreholes; however, that increase seems to only occur in fractures where flow was pre-existing and in the upper 80 m of the boreholes. These observations suggest that efforts to enhance yield in granitic aquifers should be focused on the upper part of the borehole. |
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