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Multifractal characterization of airborne geophysical data at the Oak Ridge facility

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Abstract

Scaling analyses on geophysical measurements of electrical conductivity, gamma radiation, and magnetic fields, at the Oak Ridge Reservation were conducted. The electrical conductivity and magnetic data exhibited multifractality in the north-south and east-west directions. The radiation data were observed to be non-scaling; a variogram with a sill was found to be more appropriate. The scaling of the EC and magnetic was generally within a range smaller than the maximum distance selected, as periodicity dominated at the larger distances. The electrical conductivity had anisotropy in the scaling of their variograms. But the magnetic data appear to have an isotropic scaling. The underlying statistics of the fields were near Gaussian for the electrical conductivity, but essentially Gaussian for the magnetic data. In environmental hydrogeology, knowledge of the spatial distribution of the intrinsic permeability, K, is very helpful in understanding the transport and spreading of contaminant plumes. Our previous studies have shown that the subsurface permeability, K, is multifractal. Detailed measurement of K is costly. Hence, large data sets of value collected both on a fine scale and over large distances are rare. In this study, we hypothesize that geophysical data could be used indirectly as a surrogate measurement for K, for obtaining statistical information on scale limited K data, and perhaps, directly at sites where K and electrical conductivity are correlated.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported in part by the US Environmental Protection Agency, National Exposure Research Laboratory, Athens, GA under Contract No. 2L-2490-NTEX. However, it does not reflect the views of EPA, and no official endorsement should be inferred.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Temple University, 1947 N 12th Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19122, USA

    Lilantha Tennekoon & Michel C. Boufadel

  2. Department of Geology, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, 19122, USA

    Jonathan E. Nyquist

Authors
  1. Lilantha Tennekoon
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  2. Michel C. Boufadel
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  3. Jonathan E. Nyquist
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Correspondence to Michel C. Boufadel.

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Tennekoon, L., Boufadel, M.C. & Nyquist, J.E. Multifractal characterization of airborne geophysical data at the Oak Ridge facility. Stoch Environ Res Ris Assess 19, 227–240 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00477-004-0227-z

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