Paleoclimatic controls on natural tracer profiles in biogenic sedimentary formations of the Horonobe area, Japan

Arthur, R.*; Sasamoto, Hiroshi   ; Alt-Epping, P.*; Tachi, Yukio  

The experience gained in modeling the evolution, from past to present, of natural tracer profiles in geologic media can help support safety assessment of disposal concepts for radioactive wastes in deep geologic repository. Solute-transport models were developed in the present study using a forward modeling approach constrained by boundary conditions inferred from the paleo-hydrogeological evolution of the Horonobe area in Hokkaido, Japan. Apparent differences in transport behavior at the two boreholes location considered in this study, which were situated only about 1 km apart, appear to have resulted from relatively small differences in accessible porosity and hydraulic conductivity, which in turn may have been controlled by local differences in fracture density and fracture connectivity.