Evidence of hydraulic connectivity across deformation bands from field pumping tests: Two examples from Tucano Basin, NE Brazil

It is assumed that deformation bands may compartmentalize aquifers or hydrocarbon reservoirs because these low-permeability structures may behave as barriers to fluid flow. To address the question whether there is, at a reservoir scale, hydraulic connectivity across a damage zone dominated by cataclastic deformation bands, we present results of two pumping tests carried out in a fluvial-deltaic phreatic sandstone aquifer from the Ilhas Group at Tucano Basin (NE Brazil) where intense concentration of deformation bands occurs. Both test sites are associated with macroscopic damage zones that are approximately 1 km in length and 15 m thick. In situ permeability measurements show values of 2000 mD for host rock and 0.1 mD for deformation bands. GPR profiles reveal good continuity of the primary sedimentary structures with almost no deformation band vertical offsets (less than 10 cm). The well locations for the pumping tests were chosen so that the damage zone is located between pumping and monitoring wells. Pumping tests in both cases revealed hydraulic connectivity across the damage zone since the observed stationary drawdown at monitoring wells was a considerable fraction of the drawdown observed in the pumped well. In one experiment using eight monitoring wells the drawdown cone is evolving through the damage zone instead of contouring it. Local deviations in the natural groundwater flow allow to say that the damage zone dimensions are quite large both in horizontal and vertical directions compared to the distances among the wells. The interpretation of all experimental results is that deformation bands do not fully compartmentalize the aquifer. Generalization of this result to hydrocarbon reservoirs has to take into account capillary effects which are not present in the studied case.