Reassessing the MADE direct-push hydraulic conductivity data using a revised calibration procedure

Abstract

In earlier work, we presented a geostatistical assessment of high-resolution hydraulic conductivity (K) profiles obtained at the MADE site using direct-push (DP) methods. The profiles are derived from direct-push injection logger (DPIL) measurements that provide a relative indicator of vertical variations in K with a sample spacing of 1.5 cm. The DPIL profiles are converted to K profiles by calibrating to the results of direct-push permeameter (DPP) tests performed at selected depths in some of the profiles. Our original calibration used a linear transform that failed to adequately account for an upper limit on DPIL responses in high-K zones and noise in the DPIL data. Here we present a revised calibration procedure that accounts for the upper limit and noise, leading to DPIL K values that display a somewhat different univariate distribution and a lower lnK variance (5.9 ± 1.5) than the original calibration values (6.9 ± 1.8), although each variance estimate falls within the other's 95% confidence interval. Despite the change in the univariate distribution, the autocorrelation structure and large-scale patterns exhibited by the revised DPIL K values still agree well with those exhibited by the flowmeter data from the site. We provide the DPIL and DPP data, along with our calibrated DPIL K values, in the Supporting Information.