<p>This thesis describes the geomorphology and hydrogeology of karst systems in portions of the northeastern Canyon Ranges of the Mackenzie Mountains and the Norman Range of the Franklin Mountains, N.W.T. In the region, mean annual temperatures are -6 to -8°C, total annual precipitation is 325 to 500 mm, and permafrost has a widespread to continuous distribution. The area was glaciated in the Late Wisconsinan by the Laurentide Ice Sheet.</p> <p>The Canyon Ranges and Norman Range are composed of a sequence of faulted and folded miogeoclinal sedimentary rocks that span the Proterozoic to Eocene. The geology is reviewed with an emphasis on strata that display karst. Included are several dolomite and limestone formations, two of which are interbedded with evaporites in the subsurface. The principal groundwater aquifer is the Lower Devonian Bear Rock Formation. In subcrop, the Bear Rock Formation is dolomite and anhydrite, outcrops are massive calcareous solution breccias. This is the primary karst rock.</p> <p>The regional distribution and range of karst landforms and drainage systems are described. Detailed mapping is presented from four field sites. These data were collected from aerial photography and ground surveys. The karst has examples of pavement, single and compound dolines, subsidence troughs, polje,sinking streams and lakes, and spring deposits. The main types of depressions are subsidence and collapse dolines. Doline density is highest on the Bear Rock Formation. Surficial karst is absent or less frequent in the zone of continuous permafrost or outside the glacial limit.</p> <p>At the field sites, water samples were collected at recharge and discharge locations. Samples were analyzed for a full range of ionic constituents and many for natural isotopes. In addition, several springs were monitored continuously for discharge, temperature, and conductivity. Dye tracing established linkages between recharge and discharge at some sites. These data are summarized for each site, as is the role of permafrost in site hydrology.</p> <p>The relationships between geological structure, topography, and groundwater systems are described. Conduit aquifers are present in both dolomite and limestone. These systems are characterized by discharge waters of low hardness and dissolved ion content. Aquifers in the Bear Rock Formation have a mixed flow regime and often have highly mineralized discharge. At the principal field site, there was a time lag of 40 to 60 days between infiltration and discharge in this unit. At a second site, flow through times were on the order of years. Variability in these systems is attributed to bedrock properties and boundary conditions.</p> <p>Preliminary rates of denudation are calculated from the available hydrochemical data. Total solutional denudation at the primary field site is approximately 45 m³ km^-2 a^-1 (mm ka^-l). The majority is attributed to the subsurface dissolution of halite and anhydrite. The predominance of subsurface dissolution is linked to the high frequency of collapse and subsidence dolines and depressions.</p> <p>The karst features and drainage systems of the northern Mackenzie Mountains date to the Tertiary. Glaciation has had a stimulative effect on karst development through the subglacial degradation of permafrost and the altering of boundary conditions by canyon incision.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

[pt] Nesta dissertação é apresentado um estudo comparativo entre dois métodos de descrição do escoamento de fluidos em meios porosos heterogêneos e compostos de elementos arquiteturais de permoporosidade elevada, chamados fraturas e carstes. Fraturas são descontinuidades nas formações desencadeadas por tensão mecânica e carstes são espaços vazios na rocha formados por dissolução. Ambos são característicos das rochas carbonáticas do Pré-Sal, principais reservatórios produtores de petróleo do Brasil. A presença destes elementos traz grande dificuldade de caracterização e, por consequência, introduz grande incerteza nas curvas de produção previstas para cada campo. Os simuladores numéricos em diferenças finitas de Engenharia de Reservatórios, responsáveis pela geração destas curvas, representam de forma aproximada o escoamento nos espaços vazios da rocha devido à formulação aplicada. Além disso, devido à escala de quilômetros de extensão em que normalmente são utilizados, usam células que incluem os três meios (matriz porosa, carste e fratura), cujas escalas são menores que a de cada célula. Nesta dissertação, busca-se entender a equivalência entre simuladores numéricos black oil e o modelo de Brinkman, ainda não utilizado amplamente, que é um modelo físico constituído por equações que representam mais fielmente o escoamento, tanto na matriz porosa, quanto nas regiões de altíssima porosidade e nas fronteiras entre elas. Para esse objetivo, foi desenvolvido um simulador de Brinkman de fluxo monofásico em duas dimensões e capaz de representar o regime não permanente, utilizando o método dos elementos finitos para resolução das equações diferenciais. Os comportamentos não permanente e permanente do simulador criado foram validados por meio de exemplos da literatura. Os valores obtidos para a propagação da pressão e velocidade de fluxo foram comparados com os de um simulador numérico black oil na reprodução do escoamento em camadas selecionadas do modelo do carbonato do Lajedo Arapuá. Foram realizados estudos com modelos de duplo contínuo (que representam, através de parâmetros específicos, o fluxo na matriz porosa e nas fraturas, com um termo de transferência entre eles) buscando, através da variação da permeabilidade efetiva da fratura e do fator de forma, convergência aos resultados do modelo de contínuo único de referência, selecionado após análise dos resultados comparativos com Brinkman. Os resultados mostraram pouca variação entre os resultados dos métodos em cenários nos quais o sistema cárstico é composto por vugs dispersos e desconectados, enquanto que carstes em forma de condutos e com configurações complexas causam alterações na propagação da onda de pressão e nas velocidades de fluxo entre os modelos, principalmente em cenários com valores de permeabilidade mais próximos entre carste e matriz porosa na simulação black oil. A análise em duplo contínuo mostrou ser possível obter, através de modelos homogêneos e com escala até 10 vezes maiores, resultados semelhantes aos obtidos com uma modelagem black oil heterogênea com caracterização do sistema cárstico. Também foi possível concluir que a permeabilidade efetiva de fratura é suficiente como parâmetro de ajuste para encontrar um modelo equivalente, dentro de um critério de valor de variação, ao modelo de contínuo único. / [en] This dissertation presents a comparative study between two porous media fluid flow description methods applied to heterogeneous reservoirs composed of architectural elements of high permo-porosity, called fractures andkarsts. Fractures are formation discontinuities triggered by mechanical stressand karsts are empty cavities inside the formation generated by dissolution.Both are characteristic of Pre-Salt carbonate rocks, which are the main oil producing reservoirs in Brazil. The existence of these elements brings complexityin characterization and, hence, increases the uncertainty in field productionprediction curves. The Reservoir Engineering numerical simulators, based onfinite differences, that generate these curves model the flow behavior insidethe cavities in an approximate manner due to the mathematical formulationapplied. Besides, due to the kilometric scale in which they are usually applied,these models use cells that comprehend the three media (matrix, karst andfractures), whose scales are smaller than the cell’s. This dissertation evaluatesthe equivalence between black oil simulation and the Brinkman model, still notwidely used, which is a physical model made of equations that represent porousmedia flow inside high porosity regions as well as at the porous matrix andits boundaries. With this objective, a two-dimensional single-phase Brinkmansimulator, capable of representing transient flow, was designed using the finiteelements method to solve differential equations. The simulator s transient andpermanent behaviors were validated through literature analytical solutions.The pressure propagation and flow velocity values obtained while simulatingfluid flow inside selected layers from Lajedo Arapuá s carbonate formation werecompared to the ones from a black oil simulator. Studies were performed usingdual-continuum models (which calculate the fluid flow inside porous matrixand fractures separately and use a transfer term to account for the flow between them) seeking, through variation of the fracture effective permeabilityand the shape factor, convergence to the mono-continuum reference model thatwas selected after Brinkman s results comparative analysis. The results showsmall variation between the two methods when the karst system is composedof sparse and disconnected vugs, while conduit shaped karsts with complexconfiguration increase the variation in pressure wave propagation and flowvelocity values between models, especially in scenarios where matrix permeability values were closer to karst permeability values in the black oil model.The dual-continuum analysis showed that it is possible to obtain, through homogeneous and even ten times coarser models, similar results to those obtainedby a heterogeneous black oil model with karst system characterization. It wasalso possible to conclude that fracture effective permeability was sufficient asa fitting parameter in order to achieve equivalent results to those from themono-continuum model, using a threshold criteria.