Scale problems in assessment of hydrogeological parameters of groundwater flow models
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Date
2015-09
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Instytut Geologii UAM
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Abstract
An overview is presented of scale problems in groundwater flow, with emphasis on upscaling of hydraulic conductivity,
being a brief summary of the conventional upscaling approach with some attention paid to recently emerged approach-
es. The focus is on essential aspects which may be an advantage in comparison to the occasionally extremely extensive
summaries presented in the literature. In the present paper the concept of scale is introduced as an indispensable part
of system analysis applied to hydrogeology. The concept is illustrated with a simple hydrogeological system for which
definitions of four major ingredients of scale are presented: (i) spatial extent and geometry of hydrogeological system,
(ii) spatial continuity and granularity of both natural and man-made objects within the system, (iii) duration of the
system and (iv) continuity /granularity of natural and man-related variables of groundwater flow system. Scales used
in hydrogeology are categorised into five classes: micro-scale – scale of pores, meso-scale – scale of laboratory sample,
macro-scale – scale of typical blocks in numerical models of groundwater flow, local-scale – scale of an aquifer/aquitard
and regional-scale – scale of series of aquifers and aquitards. Variables, parameters and groundwater flow equations for
the three lowest scales, i.e., pore-scale, sample-scale and (numerical) block-scale, are discussed in detail, with the aim
to justify physically deterministic procedures of upscaling from finer to coarser scales (stochastic issues of upscaling
are not discussed here). Since the procedure of transition from sample-scale to block-scale is physically well based, it is
a good candidate for upscaling block-scale models to local-scale models and likewise for upscaling local-scale models
to regional-scale models. Also the latest results in downscaling from block-scale to sample scale are briefly referred to.
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Keywords
scale problem, upscaling, hydraulic conductivity, hydrogeological models
Citation
Geologos, 2015, 21, 3. s.179-185
ISBN
978-83-232187-4-6