Investigation of hydraulic parameters in unconsolidated sediments: a comparison of methods

In this study the potential of a hydraulic travel-time based inversion approach with analytical solutions for the evaluation of short term pumping tests is assessed. The data base comprises measurements from short-term pumping tests performed in a sand and gravel aquifer using a tomographic measurement array. The evaluation, which is based on an analytical solution, has shown that it is not possible to delimit aquifer zones with different hydraulic properties. The comparison with multi-level slug tests has revealed that the pumping test results are dominated by a zone with a relatively high hydraulic conductivity located close to the bottom of the aquifer. This finding is surprising due to the short pumping time of 200 seconds and due to the hydraulically isolated pumping and observation intervals. The travel-time based inversion, however, allows the reconstruction of vertical and lateral changes in hydraulic diffusivity, between pumping and observation wells, with a high resolution.