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Seasonal Permeability Change of the Shallow Crust Inferred From Deep Well Monitoring
Author(s) -
Liao Xin,
Wang ChiYuen
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2018gl080161
Subject(s) - geology , permeability (electromagnetism) , crust , groundwater , clogging , porosity , soil science , pore water pressure , petrology , aquifer , geotechnical engineering , geophysics , history , genetics , archaeology , membrane , biology
Abstract Permeability is a fundamental rock property that controls several important transport processes in Earth's crust. Here we use 10 years of continuous data to analyze the tidal response of water level in a well in SW China to Earth tides and show that permeability of the shallow crust may change seasonally. The relationship between permeability and the groundwater level suggests that the vertical permeability may increase ~6 folds in response to seasonal increases of water level over a threshold equivalent to ~0.1 MPa of pore pressure. The specific storage does not show corresponding change, suggesting that the change in permeability may be related to the clogging and unclogging of existing fractures in low‐porosity rock.