Wellbore‐Wall Compression Effects on Monitored Groundwater Levels and Qualities

The effects of wellbore‐wall compression from rough excavation on monitored groundwater levels and qualities under natural hydraulic gradient conditions were investigated in a shallow clayey Andisol aquifer. Nine wellbores reaching the underlying aquitard at about 2.6‐m depth were constructed by dynamic cone penetrometry to mimic rough wellbore construction. Five of these were constructed under wet aquifer soil conditions and the remaining four under dry conditions. A 15‐month period monitoring showed that the groundwater levels in the wellbores constructed under wet conditions responded significantly in retard of, and in narrower ranges than, those constructed under dry conditions. The wellbore‐wall hydraulic conductivities at the former wellbores were calculated to be more than one to two orders of magnitude lower than those at the latter ones. Furthermore, remarkable nitrate removal attributable to the occurrence of a heterotrophic denitrification was observed in one of the former wellbores. In contrast, the groundwater levels and qualities in the latter wellbores appeared to be generally similar to those monitored in the conventional soil coring and augering‐derived wellbores. Our results suggest that the wellbore‐wall compression induced by rough excavation under wet and soft aquifer soil conditions leads to a substantial decrease in the wellbore‐wall hydraulic conductivity, which in turn can lead to unreliable groundwater levels and qualities. This problem can occur in clayey Andisols whenever the aquifer soil is wet; however, the problem can be largely avoided by constructing the wellbore under dry and hard aquifer soil conditions.     

GEOGRAPHICAL LITERATURE IN JAPAN

This is the third in a series of reports on Japanese geographic research prepared in cooperation with the Association of Japanese Geographers (AJG). Like the two previous reports, which appeared in the August and November issues, it has been modified for the English-speaking readership of THE PROFESSIONAL GEOGRAPHER. However, unlike the previous articles, each of which aimed at providing data regarding Japanese research on specific geographic topics, this paper is intended to supply the reader with an inventory of those materials that will be needed for the conduct of research in Japan. —H. Jesse Walker, Member, U.S. National Committee, IGU.     

Frequency-dependence of velocity and attenuation of elastic waves in granite under uniaxial compression

Velocity as well as attenuation factorQ ^–1 ofP-wave in a dry granitic rock sample under uniaxial compressions were measured in the range of frequency between 100 kHz and 710 kHz by using the pulse transmission technique. Above the stress of 0.5 _f , where _f is the fracture stress, theP-wave velocity decreases with increasing axial stress, whereasQ ^–1 increases. Particularly, the change ofQ ^–1 is greater for high frequency than for low frequency. At a given stress level, the higher the frequency, the higher theP-wave velocity and the largerQ ^–1. This result means that the velocity decrease with increasing stress is smaller for higher frequency. Because of this frequency-dependence of velocity decrease, theP-wave in the rock under dilatant state shows dispersion. The body wave dispersion is more remarkable at higher stress, and is not found in a homogeneous material with no cracks. Thus the disperison is attributed to the generation of cracks. When the frequency-dependence ofQ ^–1 is approximated asf ⁿ in the present frequency range, the exponentn takes a value from 0.63 to 0.77.     

The effect of a thin weak layer covering a basalt block on the impact cratering process

To clarify the effect of a surface regolith layer on the formation of craters in bedrock, we conducted impact-cratering experiments on two-layered targets composed of a basalt block covered with a mortar layer. A nylon projectile was impacted on the targets at velocities of 2 and 4 km s^?1, and we investigated the crater size formed on the basalt. The crater size decreased with increased mortar thickness and decreased projectile mass and impact velocity. The normalized crater volume, π_V, of all the data was successfully scaled by the following exponential equation with a reduction length λ₀: ${\pi }_{\text{V}}=b_0{\pi }_{\text{Y}}^{-b_1}\exp (-\lambda /{\lambda }_0)$, where λ is the normalized thickness T/L_p, T and L_p are the mortar thickness and the projectile length, respectively, b₀ and b₁ are fitted parameters obtained for a homogeneous basalt target, 10^?2.7±0.7 and ?1.4 ± 0.3, respectively, and λ₀ is obtained to be 0.38 ± 0.03. This empirical equation showing the effect of the mortar layer was physically explained by an improved non-dimensional scaling parameter, ${\pi }_{\text{Y}}^1$, defined by ${\pi }_{\text{Y}}^1=Y/({\rho }_{\text{t}}{u}_{\text{p}}^2)$, where u_p was the particle velocity of the mortar layer at the boundary between the mortar and the basalt. We performed the impact experiments to obtain the attenuation rate of the particle velocity in the mortar layer and derived the empirical equation of $\frac{u_{\text{p}}}{v_{\text{i}}}=0.50\exp \left(-\frac{\lambda }{1.03}\right)$, where v_i is the impact velocity of the projectile. We propose a simple model for the crater formation on the basalt block that the surface mortar layer with the impact velocity of u_p collides on the surface of the basalt block, and we confirmed that this model could reproduce our empirical equation showing the effect of the surface layer on the crater volume of basalt.