Insights of 3D geological modelling in distributed hydrogeological models of Karstic carbonate aquifers

Abstract

Flow simulation in karstic aquifers with distributed hydrogeological models may be used to numerically model the spatial distribution, the connectivity and the geometry of the karstic network. A new approach is proposed to characterize the karstic network and to reproduce it by the use of 3D geological modelling. The observed karstic network is first decomposed into sets of unidirectional elements which are analysed in 3D with variograms in term of dimension and distribution. These sets of karst directions are then stochastically simulated in 3D in a curvilinear grid that is consistent with the orientation of inception horizons. Several probability maps or 3D probability fields can be added as secondary data in order to constrain the distribution and the connectivity of the simulated karstic network.