Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Oxford University Press (OUP)
Résumé : International audience
Tilt fluctuations can potentially reflect the response of hydrosystems to important rainfall. In this context, long baseline tiltmeters have been installed in an underground tunnel penetrating the Fontaine de Vaucluse karst to study the medium deformation related to solicitations exerted by water infiltrating the hydrosystem. The instruments monitor the tilt as well as its spatial variation. Northward tilts reaching a 1 μrad amplitude are observed consecutively to rainfalls. The tilt amplitude is highly correlated with the Fontaine de Vaucluse outlet flow fluctuations. The measured tilt signal is also relatively homogeneous over a 150 m length. Different types of structure likely to produce such observations are tested in order to identify their location with respect to the tiltmeters, their dimension as well as the amount of water level variation in the structure. Following rainfalls, the infiltration of water modifies the pore pressure, inducing a medium deformation. The hypothesis of an homogeneous surface loading on the Vaucluse plateau is first refuted since the related tilt is much lower than the one measured. The water supplied by rainfalls has to accumulate in discontinuities in order to generate a higher tilt. So, the deformation related to a pressure exerted on a fracture filled by water is assessed. A first study reveals the interest of the tilt homogeneity information that constrains strongly the fracture properties. Thus, the fracture must be located at a distance more than a few hundreds metres from the tiltmeters in order to produce a tilt homogeneous in space. If the fracture is initially dry, it must also be filled on a height higher than 150 m consecutive to a rainfall in order to generate a tilt amplitude in the same magnitude as the one measured. Then, we explore the influence of water level variations on the tilt produced by a fracture located at the interface between the saturated and unsaturated zones, which are thereby permanently flooded. Since several parameters of that model satisfactorily explain the field observations, we discuss how simultaneous geodetical observations could provide complementary information that would further constrain the geometry of the structure at the origin of the medium deformation.
ISSN: 0956-540X

insu-01408482
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01408482
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01408482/document
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01408482/file/Lesparre-2017.pdf
DOI : 10.1093/gji/ggw446

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : International audience
In many geological reservoirs, open fractures or fault zones generally induce high spatial variability of hydrodynamical properties and shape the main deep-seated flow paths. It is of crucial interest to determine their structure and properties in order to achieve a sound and sustained exploitation of resources or to estimate the risk of failure of any underground storage. Tiltmeters have emerged as new tools to observe deformation generated by groundwater flow. As such instruments are highly sensitive to pressure gradients, they are perfectly suited for monitoring channelized flow in connected fractures and fault zones. Hence, they provide a unique insight of these reservoirs' geometry and dynamics over broad time scales. Here we demonstrate that continuous tilt data from surface long baseline tiltmeters (LBT) can be used alone to evaluate the general functioning of a fractured hardrock system and estimate the hydraulic properties of its main conductive features. The study is applied to the pumping site of Ploemeur observatory (Brittany, France) which is well documented and instrumented, and therefore forms a convenient setting for introducing LBT as tools for fractured media hydrology. On the short term, tilt signals are strongly correlated with pumping cycles and associated head level changes in well-connected boreholes. Besides, when pumps are stopped the maximal tilt direction is systematically perpendicular to a subvertical fault zone whose azimuth of strike has thereby been refined down to degree precision. By using a semi-analytical model of deformation, we establish the link between tilt and pressure change during pumping interruptions which then allows for hydraulic properties estimation from tilt measurements only. Finally, we validate our results with previous estimates obtained from other studies and discuss the orientation of future work that could enhance these estimates.
AGU Fall Meeting 2014
San Francisco, United States

insu-01093437
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01093437

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD American Geophysical Union
Résumé : International audience
The aim of this study is to bring new information on water storage dynamics in karst systems from tiltmeter measurements. Newly developed long-base hydrostatic tiltmeters are installed at two sites on the Larzac plateau (France) in a karst aquifer of similar to 100 km(2) recharge area. Each site is located within a karst cave where two tilt directions are monitored. Significant reversible tilt deformation reaching amplitudes of 10(-6) to 10(-5) rad was observed at both sites following heavy precipitation. Elastic parameters were determined with an experiment in which a tiltmeter site was loaded by up to 25 t of weight at strategic locations at the ground surface. Mechanisms responsible for the observed tilt were then examined by means of finite element modeling. Deformation induced by water pressure changes in fractures is our preferred interpretation as the most plausible mechanism. Within this scope, we used the tiltmeter responses to extract time constants using lumped parameter modeling. Time constants are interpreted to be associated with the filling and emptying of fractures nearby the tiltmeters. These instruments therefore appear as useful tools to study the local dynamics of water infiltration in karst systems.
ISSN: 0043-1397

hal-00534461
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00534461
DOI : 10.1029/2009WR008082

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : International audience
Characterizing the hydraulic properties of heterogeneous and complex aquifers often requires field scale investigations at multiple space and time scales to better constrain hydraulic property estimates. Here, we present and discuss results from the site of Ploemeur (Brittany, France) where complementary hydrological and geophysical approaches have been combined to characterize the hydrogeological functioning of this highly fractured crystalline rock aquifer. In particular, we show how cross-borehole flowmeter tests, pumping tests and frequency domain analysis of groundwater levels allow quantifying the hydraulic properties of the aquifer at different scales. In complement, we used groundwater temperature as an excellent tracer for characterizing groundwater flow. At the site scale, measurements of ground surface deformation through long-base tiltmeters provide robust estimates of aquifer storage and allow identifying the active structures where groundwater pressure changes occur, including those acting during recharge process. Finally, a numerical model of the site that combines hydraulic data and groundwater ages confirms the geometry of this complex aquifer and the consistency of the different datasets. The Ploemeur site, which has been used for water supply at a rate of about 106 m3 per year since 1991, belongs to the French network of hydrogeological sites H+ and is currently used for monitoring groundwater changes and testing innovative field methods.
AGU Fall Meeting 2014
San Francisco, United States

insu-01088596
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01088596

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Taylor & Francis
Résumé : International audience
The astronomical and geodetic observatory OCA, located on the karst plateau of Calern (Caussols, France), has been monitoring earth deformation for several years. Two long baseline tiltmeters have been installed in a shaft in 2007, along with classical hydrogeological monitoring tools in order to investigate the relationship between current karst deformation and hydrology. Dye tests have shown that the plateau is drained towards the East, to the spring of Bramafam, except for its Western third. Karst tilting, as recorded by the tiltmeters, is linked to rainfall events. These instruments bring additional information to characterize different reservoirs: the deep karst aquifer of Bramafan with high amplitude oscillations of its water table, up to 100 m, the perched aquifer of Moustiques shaft whose response is attenuated, and several slope aquifers with reduced oscillations (Fontaniers, Castel Bon Pré). Tilt deformation reaches 8 μrad with a definite orientation between N90°E and N100°E. The best correlation between hydrology and tilts is observed for the deep aquifers. If the first autumn rainfall is ineffective on tilt, it recharges the epikarst and refills the reserves. The winter rains cause the water to flush towards the eastern deep aquifer and provokes a quick tilting of the plateau. Finally, the long term variations in tilt and water table show a very good correlation The relationship between current hydrological deformations and tectonics is also analyzed; broken and shifted speleothems in the shafts indicate a general shift of the plateau towards the south.
ISSN: 0985-3111

hal-00708116
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00708116
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00708116/document
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00708116/file/2010_Geodinamica_Calern_final.pdf
BIBCODE : 10.3166/ga.23.49-64