Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dzt6s Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-18T19:19:46.115Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The impact of faults on the hydrogeological conditions in the Roer Valley Rift System: an overview

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 2016

V.F. Bense ,
R.T. Van Balen  and
J.J. De Vries
V.F. Bense*
Affiliation:
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam – Faculty of Earth and Life Sciences – De Boelelaan 1085, 1081 HV Amsterdam, the Netherlands; e-mail: [email protected]
R.T. Van Balen
Affiliation:
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam – Faculty of Earth and Life Sciences – De Boelelaan 1085, 1081 HV Amsterdam, the Netherlands; e-mail: [email protected]
J.J. De Vries
Affiliation:
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam – Faculty of Earth and Life Sciences – De Boelelaan 1085, 1081 HV Amsterdam, the Netherlands; e-mail: [email protected]
*
1Corresponding author

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

The hydrogeology of the Roer Valley Rift System is strongly influenced by the hydraulic properties of faults. The hydrogeological impact of faults is illustrated by examples from the SE Netherlands and the adjacent lignite mining areas within the Roer Valley Rift System, near Bonn in Germany. Hydraulic head discontinuities over the main faults in the latter area can be up to tens of meters as a result of extremely large groundwater extractions in combination with the relatively low conductivity of the main faults. Within the Netherlands, outside the mining areas, such large groundwater extractions do not take place, and groundwater fluxes are smaller. In this situation natural hydraulic head differences over the main faults are limited to several meters. Hydraulic head profiles over faults provide a first estimate of fault hydraulic properties that can be quantified using simple analytical solutions. The impact of faults on near surface processes is reflected in vegetation patterns and the structure of drainage networks, aquifer structure and hydraulic head patterns. Faults can thus be of great influence on transport processes in the subsurface as well as on water-related phenomena at the surface, and should accordingly be taken into consideration in studies related to water-management, contamination and environmental impact. Faults that have an enhanced vertical permeability are difficult to detect when horizontal groundwater flow is studied, which is probably the main reason why they are rarely described. Though, these faults may form important preferential paths to vertical groundwater flow.

Keywords

HydrogeologyfaultsRoer Valley Rift Systemthe Netherlands
Type
Research Article
Information
Netherlands Journal of Geosciences , Volume 82 , Special Issue 1: Geofluids in the Netherlands , April 2003 , pp. 41 - 54
Copyright
Copyright © Stichting Netherlands Journal of Geosciences 2003

References

Bon, J., 1968. The configuration of the groundwater table. In: Determination of the optimum combination of water management systems in areas with a microrelief. Institute for Land and Water management research: 188 pp.Google Scholar
Csónka, J., 1968. Report on the possibilities for application of the geothermal method in the Netherlands [in Dutch]. Netherlands Institute for Applied Geosciences, Delft, OS 92–40A: 59 pp.Google Scholar
Darby, D., Haszeldine, R.S. & Couples, G.D., 1996. Pressure cells and pressure seals in the UK Central Graben. Marine and Petroleum Geology 13: 865–878.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
De Glee, G.J. & Brandenburg, S., 1926. Report on the possible expansion of the ‘Prise d’Eau’ and the pumping activities of the Tilburg Water Supply Company [in Dutch]: 107 pp.Google Scholar
De Vries, J.J., 1974, Groundwater flow systems and stream nets in the Netherlands. PhD thesis, Amsterdam, Vrije Universiteit: 226 pp.Google Scholar
De Vries, J.J., 1994. Dynamics of the interface between streams and groundwater systems in lowland areas, with reference to stream net evolution. Journal of Hydrology 155: 39–56.Google Scholar
Ernst, L.F. & De Ridder, N.A., 1960. High resistance to horizontal ground-water flow in coarse sediments due to faulting. Geologie en Mijnbouw 39: 66–85.Google Scholar
Geluk, M.C., Duin, E.J.T., Dusar, M. & Rijkers, R.H.B., 1994, Stratigraphy and tectonics of the Roer Valley Graben. Geologie en Mijnbouw 73: 129–141.Google Scholar
Haneberg, W.C., 1995. Steady state groundwater flow across idealized faults. Water Resources Research 31: 1815–1820.Google Scholar
Harper, T.R. & Lundin, E.R., 1997. Fault seal analysis: reducing our dependance on empiricism. In: Møller-Pedersen, P. and Koestier, A.G. (eds) Hydrocarbon seals: Importance for exploration and production, NPF Special Publication 7, Elsevier, Singapore: 149–165.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Houtgast, R.H. &Van Balen, R.T., 2000. Neotectonics of the Roer Valley Rift System, the Netherlands. Global and Planetary Change 27: 131–146.Google Scholar
Knott, S.D., 1993. Fault seal Analysis in the North Sea. American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin 77: 778–792.Google Scholar
Miedema, R. & Jongmans, T., 2002. Soil formation in Late Glacial Meuse sediments related to the Peel Boundary Fault activity. Netherlands Journal of Geosciences/Geologie en Mijnbouw 81 (1): 71–81.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Paulissen, E., Vandenberghe, J. & Gullentops, F., 1985. The Feldbiss fault in the Maas valley bottom (Limburg, Belgium). Geologie en Mijnbouw 64: 79.Google Scholar
Stuurman, R.J. & Atari, R.H., 1997. The Groundwater situation around the ‘Wijstgronden’ near Uden. NITG-TNO, 97-212(a): 67 pp.Google Scholar
Stuurman, R.J., 2000. Transboundary hydrogeological processes in the southern Netherlands. In: Evaluation and protection of groundwater resources. IAH Conference Wageningen 2000, IAH (Delft): 59–77.Google Scholar
TNO-NITG, 1974a, Groundwater map of the Netherlands; 1:50.000 - ‘s-Hertogenbosch; 45 West - 45 East [in Dutch]. Netherlands Institute for Applied Geosciences (NITG), Delft.Google Scholar
Van Baien, R.T., Van Bergen, F., de Leeuw, C. Pagnier, H., Simmelink, H., Van Wees, J.D. & Verweij, J.M., 2000. Modelling the hydrocarbon generation and migration in the West Netherlands Basin, me Netherlands. Geologie en Mijnbouw/Netherlands Journal of Geosciences 79: 29–44.Google Scholar
Van den Berg, M., Vaneste, K., Dost, B., Lokhorst, A., Van Eijk, M. & Verbeeck, K., 2002. Paleoseismic investigations along the Peel Boundary Fault: geological setting, site selection and trenching results. Netherlands Journal of Geosciences 81: 39–60 Google Scholar
Van Zanten, E., 1996. Risk Analysis of the Gilze-Rijen fault system [in Dutch], Internal Report, Tilburg, Tilburg Water Supply Company: 77 pp.Google Scholar
Vandenberghe, J., 1982. Geoelectric investigations of a fault system in Quartenary deposits, Geophysical Prospecting 30: 879–897.Google Scholar
Vandenberghe, J., 1990. Morphological effects of Pleistocene faulting in unconsolidated sediments (Central Graben, Netherlands). Zeitschrift fur Geomorphologie N.F. Heft 1: 113–124.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Visser, W.C., 1948. The problem of the “Wijstgronden” (Badlands) [in Dutch], Journal of the Dutch Society of Earth Sciences 65: 798–823.Google Scholar
Wallbraun, A., 1992. Impact of the block bounding faults in the Lower Rhine Embayment on groundwater discharge [in German]. PhD-thesis, Aachen, Rheinisch-Westfälischen Technischen Hochschule: 118 pp.Google Scholar
Willemse, E.J.M., Pollard, D.D. & Aydin, A., 1996. Three-dimensional analyses of slip distributions on normal fault arrays with consequences for fault scaling. Journal of Structural Geology 18: 295–309.Google Scholar
Winstanley, A.M., 1993. A review of the triassic play in the Roer Valley Graben, SE onshore Netherlands. In: Parker, J.R. (ed.), Petroleum Geology of Northwest Europe, Proceedings of the 4th Conference: 595–607.Google Scholar
Ziegler, P.A., 1994. Cenozoic rift system of western and central Europe: an overview. Geologie en Mijnbouw 73: 99–127.Google Scholar
Zijl, W. 1993. Scale analysis in groundwater hydrology. Brussels, Vrije Universiteit Brussel: 328 pp.Google Scholar