H ALLSTEIN LI E & AGUST G U D M U N D SSO N NGU-BU LL 43 9, 2002 - PAGE 5 1

The im portance of hydrau lic gradient, lineament trend,

proximity to lineaments and surface drainage pattern
for yield of groundwater wells on Ask0y, West Norway
HALLSTEI N LIE & AGUST GUDMUNDSSON

Lie, H.& Gudmundsson, A. 2002:The im port ance of hydr aulic gradient, lineament trend , proximity to lineaments and
surface drainage patt ern for yield of groundwater wells on Askey, West Norway. Norges geologiske undersekelse
Bulletin 439, 51-60.

Groundwater and lineament stu dies we re made on Askey, an island northwest of Bergen. ln add ition to field mea-
surements of lineament s and associated fractures, a total of 2695 photolineament s and 409 topolineaments were
analysed in relation to yield of drilled ground water wells.The results of stat istical analyses in geographical informa-
tion systems (GISl,as well as num erical modelling of groundwater flow, highlight two parameter s that affect yield of
gro und water wells. These facto rs are proximit y of groundwater wells to lineament s and lineament t rend s. The
result s indicate t hat, on Askey, NE-SW-tr ending lineament s, and t hose t hat st rike subparallel to th e slope of th e
topog raphy, are most likely to provide high-yield ground water we lls. Alth ough t he stat ist ical significance in the se
analyses is not high, th e results indicate th at the methods may be generally very useful, part icularly for areas w ith a
large number of drille d wells. The surface drainage patt ern on Askey is partly contro lled by lineament s and other
tecton ic elements. In particu lar, the st reams commo nly follow topographic lineaments, many of wh ich are fault
zones,ind ivid ual fractu res, contacts or ot her mechanical di scontinuit ies in th e rock mass.We conclude th at by com-
bining data on lineament tr ends and surface drainage, it may be possible to characterise hydraulic differences
betwe en lineament s of different tr end s.

Hall stein Lie', Agust Gudmundsson'; ') Statoit, N-4035 Stava nger, Norwa y (Hallstein.Lie@s tatoil.com); ' ) Geological
Instit ute, University of Bergen, A//(!ga ten 4 1, N-5007 Bergen, Nor way (Agust.Gudmundsson@geol.uib.no )

Introduction The aim of th is pape r is to evaluat e how the lineament

There have been several recent studi es on the possible cor-
relation between the yield of dr illed groundwater wells and
the ir distances to nearby lineaments (Boeckh 1992,
Greenbaum 1992, Yin & Brook 1992, Gustafsson 1993,
Morland 1997, Braathen et al. 1999).ln general, th e we ll yie ld
is expected to increa se when ap proaching lineaments. One
reason for th is is that most lineaments are depres sion s that
receive water by topography-driven flow. Another reason is
that many lineaments have a high fracture frequency, and
thus norma lly high hyd raulic conductivity, close to their cen-
tra l parts. However, the corre lations between the yield of
wells and th eir di stances to lineaments generally show large
variations wh ich cannot be enti rely exp lained in term s of
pro ximity to lin eame nt s.These variations suggest that othe r
factors, such as hydr aulic pro per ties, lineament tre nd and
influence of topography, must also be con sidered.
Lineam ent s are commonly mapp ed from topograph ical
maps, aerial photographs and satell ite images. Here, we
defin e lineam ents as all mappabl e linear or curvilinear fea-
tures that may repr esent maj or discontinuities (mechanical
bre aks) in t he bedrock (Braathen & Gabrie lsen 1998, Lie
2001). Major morphological discontinuities at the int ersec-
t ion s between surface and fol iat ion are included in th is t erm
because these lineament s com mo nly rep resent foli ation
structures th at have been reactivated as j oints or faults.
trend and the hydraulic gradient affect the groundwater
potential on th e island of Askey (Fig. 1). For t his p urpose we
use groundwater well yield data , mapped lineament s, topo-
gra phic al data and sim ple nu merical f low mod els. Since sur-
face and subsurface drainage is part ly con t rolled by lin ea-
ments , we also com bine maps of stream system s with those
of lin eam ents to evaluate w hat possible differences in
hydraulic properties exist between the lineament trends.
Hydrogeological background
Geology of t he Bergen area
The region around Bergen can be divided into two main
units: Precamb rian crystalline bedrock and Caledonia n
thrust nappes. The basement consi sts of metamorph ic
Precambria n m igmatites, gra nite s and mafic rocks from th e
cratonic part of Baltica (Mi lnes & Wennberg 1997, Fossen
1998). The nappes are grouped into t he Lower, Mid dle and
Upper Allochthons (Milnes & Wennberg 1997).The two low -
ermost tectonostratig rap hic uni t s include mylonitic, gran -
uli ti c, gran itic and sedime nta ry rocks w hile t he Up per
Alloc hthon, which d om inates in t he Bergen region, includes
metamorphic Precambrian granu lit es and ano rthosites as
well as granitic/mi gm at it ic rocks, meta -arkoses, conglomer-
ates and oph iolitic complexes (Milnes & Wennberg 1997).
Most Precamb rian rocks in th e Bergen area in clude various
 N GU -BU L L 439 , 200 2 - PAG E 52
N Main Caledonian Thrust Zone is
Uneaments: 0-180 degrees
- - N-S, I (0 - 22.5)
w
+.
NE-SW (22.5 - 67.5)
- - E-W (67.5 - 112.5)
- - NW-SE (112.5 - 157.5) ...
- - N-S, 11 (157.5 - 180)
lakes s This means t hat along defined pro -
___-=====::1 Kilometres
B o 2 4 6 we ll yield from th e weste rn part of
st ruct ures of Precambrian age which are ove rprinted by
Caledo nian ductile deformation struc tures (Fossen 1992 ,
1998, Milnes & Wennberg 1997).
Aroun d Bergen, the Upper Allochthon is stru ctu rally
dom inated by the Bergen Arc System w hich is a Caledon ian
nappe complex (Kolderup & Kolde rup 1940, Fossen 1998).
The Bergen Arc Syst em consists of arcuate structures that, in
map view, are concave to t he west (Ragnhild stveit &
Hell iksen 1997 ). The pattern of fault and joi nt t races (linea-
ment s), and especially the orient ati on of th e met amorp hic
foli at ion, is related to th e arcs. The Precambrian 0ygarde n
Gneiss Comp lex is th e we stern most un it of t he Bergen Arc
System and consists mo stly of gneis s (graniti c, amph ibol it ic,
ton alit ic and granod ior it ic, some of w hich are mylon it isedJ,
but also includes me tased im entary, amph ibolit ic and
ign eou s rocks (Fo ssen & Ragnhildstveit 1997, Ragnh ildst veit
HALLSTEIN LI E s AG US T G UD M UNDSSON
Fig. 1. (A) Map of South Norway show ing
the locatio n of the study area, Askey, an
island nort hwest of the city of Sergen on
t he western coast of Norway. (B)
Phot olin eaments (n=2695) on Askcy are
deriv ed from aeria l pho tos at t he scale of
1:15,000. The photol ineame nts are
g rouped into 4 groups accordi ng to t rend.
N-S-trending lineamen ts dominate as
indicated in the rose diagram. (C) Map of
Askoy showing three subareas based on
an assessment of t he spatial distribution
of t he 4 lineament groups.The varying d is-
t rib ut ions of trends ind icate different
structural histories between the regions.
and Hell iksen 1997 ). Almost t he
ent ire island of Askey belongs to
t he 0ygarden Gneiss Comp lex, but
along the east coast, w here the
exposed , t here are rocks, main ly
metased iments and my lon it ic
gneiss, from the Minor Bergen Arc
(Milnes & Wennberg 1997,
Ra g nhild stvei t & Helliksen 1997 ,
Fossen 1998).
Bedrock hydrogeological
studies in Norway
In southern Nor way, there is a corre-
lati on (on a reg ional scale) bet ween
the yie ld of ground water well s and
current postg lacial up lift rates
(Rohr-Tor p 1994, Morland 1997).
files t here is a near-linea r increase in
sout hern Norway to its eastern inte-
rior part. One exp lanat ion for t his increase is t hat w ell yield is
relat ed to t he str ess field s generated by postglacial dom ing
(Rohr-Torp 1994, Gud mundsson 1999 ).
In Norway, several studies have been made of the poten-
t ial cor relation between t he yield of drilled wells and surface
morphology, bedr oc k lithology and pro xim ity to lineaments.
Henr iksen (1995) concluded t hat t here is a posit ive correla-
t ion between val ley bottoms/ flatland s and well yield .
Morland (1997) found signifi cant variations in yiel d between
di ffe rent lithologi es, but a low cor relat ion between well
yield and di stance to lineame nts ma pped from satelli te
images in Norway. However, Braathen et al. (1999) report ed
no sign ifi cant corr elation s betw een well yield and distance
to linea men ts, alt hou gh t hey concluded that high-yield
wells are most likely to be ob tained w hen dr illing into the
damage zon es of fracture zones.
 HALLSTEIN LIE & A G UST G U DM U N DSS O N N G U-BU L L 4 3 9, 2 0 0 2 - PAG E 5 3

On a local scale,yield of dri lled we lls in crysta lli ne rocks is

gen erally thought to be spatial ly related t o specific lin ea-
ment s, parti cularly th ose t hat are fract ure zones (Gust afsson
1993). This is because clustered fracturi ng normally causes
increased fracture por o sity as wel l as conn ecti vity and thu s
incr eased permeability. Field st udies indicate th at, for many
fractu re zones in Norway, th e fractu re intensit y is a function
of distance from th e cent ral part of th e zone (Braat hen &
Gabrielsen 1998, Berg 2000). Som e fractu re zones, however,
show litt le or no chang e in f ractu re freque ncy on approach-
ing t he cent re of th e f ract ure zone. For ot hers,a sig nificant ly
higher fractu re int ensity occur s mainl y w it hin the morpho-
logi cal escarp ments of th e fract ure zone, com pared to th e
host rock (Lie 200 1).These results sugg est t hat th e gro und-
water pot ent ial d oes not always increa se line arly w hen
approachi ng lineam ents .For mod ell ing groundwater po te n-
t ial close to lin eament s, one mu st also make field measure-
N
ment s and correlat io n analyses focu sing o n line amen t tr end
and hyd romechanical str uct ure in relation to th e hyd raulic
gradient.
Commonly, a fault zone can be divided into two main
hyd rom echanical units: a core and a damage zone (Caine et
al. 1996, Caine & Forster 1999). Field studies in Norway
(Braat hen & Gabri elsen 1998, Braathen et al. 1999) indicate
that th e dam age zon e is no rmally the most favourable for
conducting w ater and therefore shou ld be the t arget zone __-=== ::JIKilometres
for t he locat io n of potential ly high yielding well s. A o 2 4
A gro undwater potentia l map for a part of the Bergen
Fig.2. (A) Map of Ask0Yshow ing to po lineaments (n=409) mappe d from
Area (Elling sen 1975, 1978) covers th e sout hern part of
hillshade map s of a digi tal elevat ion mod el (DEMl, combi ned wit h t he
Ask0Y. Other st udies relevant for the hydrogeology of Ask0Y original contour lines of elevat ion. (B) Hill shade map, w it h illu min ation
include Kold erup & Kolde rup (1940) and Askvik (1965, 1971) from th e northwest at an alt it ude-ang le of 45 degrees, emphasises t he
w ho focu s on structural geology and petrog raph y. patt ern of lineament s in a part of Ask0Y.

Com parison of deformation structures in th e 0ygarden

Gneiss Comp lex and th e Jurassic Bjoroy Format ion , as we ll as
field st udies, indica te a clear mecha nical difference between
t he non-cohesive Late Jurassic or younger gouge zone s and
the older more brittle and cohesive fracture zones (Fossen et
al. 1997, Fossen 1998). Fossen (1998) also corr elates NNE-
SSW-tren di ng fract ure zone s on Askoy w it h the NE-SW-
t rending faul ts on Sotra (west of Bergen) w hich t here pre-
date joint systems trending NNW-SSE.This pap er is primarily
based on the most recent hydrogeo logical study of Askey,
that by Lie (200 1).
Mapping and analysing lineaments
The lineament s wer e derived from two different data
sources, namely as photo line aments and topolineaments,
and th en analysed in GIS. Aerial photographs we re used for
stereographic mapping of photo line aments on Ask0Y (Fig.
1B).To defi ne more clearly t he larger topograp hical linea-
ments , many topolin eament s (Fig. 2) were mapped inside a
GIS-interface from digita l elevat ion data. The photol inea-
ments were imported into GIStogether w it h drilled ground-
water wells from the bedr ock borehole databa se of the
Geo logical Survey of Norway (NGU). Numerical valu es for
azim ut h and length of lineaments, as we ll as distance fro m
dri lled groundwat er wells to their nearest lineamen ts, were
provided using spatial GISoperat io ns.
Photolineaments
A to tal of 2695 pho to lineaments longer th an 75 m were
obtained from aerial photograph s at th e scale of 1:15,000
(Fig. 1B). Most of th e photolin eament s on Ask0Y p resumably
represent fractures, as ind icated by field studies and t he
morphologica l charactisti stics of th e lineament s. The N-S-
t rendi ng photo lineame nts do mi nate the frequency distribu-
tion, fol low ed by t he NW-SE-trending lineaments (Fig. 1B).
Nor malising the frequency distribution with lineament
length, however, provides a different, and perhap s more
usable, output for groundwater st udies (Fig. 3A). ln th is way,
short lineament s coun t less tha n lon g ones,and the NW-SE-
tre ndi ng p hotolinea ments becom e more dominating (Fig.
3A). Visual inspect ion of the map (Fig. 1B) also show s a pro-
nounced NE-SW trend which, however, is not very di sti nct in
the two frequency distributions (Fig. 1B, 3A). Using t rend s as
the on ly crite ria, the photoline aments can be classified into
 N GU -BU LL 439 , 2002 - PAGE 54 HALLSTEIN LIE & A GU ST G U D M UN DS SO N

8 9
8
7
6
"i ~6
- 5 s:
.:: ", 5
g, 4 c:
~ 4
~
U 3
u
~ 3
'" 2 '" 2

0 0
~ .o eo eo
'" '"
-e- '" '" ~ l!l '"
;! :R 18
io
~ to eo l!l 18 :B '"
'" '" -e- '"
'" '" eo '" '" '"
en '" '"
~ '" '" '"
~ '"
en
-
io
~ ~
N <D "- 00
~ ~ ;! ~ ~
N
'" "- ~
A azimuth (0-180°)
B azim uth (0-180°)

81 8.0
E-W :=~N::,:W=-S=E= ~
~ =~N~E~-S~W=:._i1i_.
7 7.0
6.0 D estimated permeable trend
_ 6
eft - 5.0 D estimated impermeable trend
:; 5 ~ 4 ,0
g, 4 ::: 3.0
c:
~ ~ 2.0
U 3 ~ 1.0
u
J I~'
-r-
'" 2 :;; 0 .0

o
'" .o
h-mrn-rr -1.0
-2.0 -
-3.0 .L.--
LJ---J
- - - - - - - - -
o0
-
0_
-
0N
-
oM
-
0
~
-
0
1.0
-
0
-
<0
0
-
,.....
0
co
-

c azim uth (0-180°) D azim ut h (0-180°)

Fig. 3. Azim ut h frequency distributi on of ph otoli neament s (A), topo lin eament s (B) and river segm ents (C) wh en wei ghted according to the lengt h of
the feat ures.The vertical scale is percent age. The difference bet w een the relative distribution s of to po lineaments (B) and river segments (C) in each
t rend class cou ld thus be calculated as in D.Thi s difference is a measure of the relative permeab ility diffe rence between t he lineament trend s.

four main gro ups, str ikin g N-S, NE-SW, E-W and NW-SE (Fig.
1B).These groups show differences in appearance and spa-
tial di stribution.
The N-S group dom inat es on Ask0Y, but is less intense in
t he sout hern part of the island (Fig. 1B, black lines).Some lin-
eaments are curved and may be shallow -dippin g fault s, or
consist of t wo or more struct ures wi th different t rends.
The NE-SW group (Fig. 1B, yellow lines) is sparsely but
evenly distri buted on the island.The gro up consists part ly of
long and st raig ht structures, some of whic h are know n to be
fault s (Askvik 1971, Fossen 1998).
The E-W gro up is represented by lineament s mainly in
two areas, name ly aroun d Davang erfjord and in a small area
in t he sout hern part of the island (Fig. 1B, red lines) .
Lineaments of the NW-SE group occur throughout th e
island, but are relati vely sparsely represented in the region
around Davangerfjord (Fig. 1B, blue lines).The largest NW-SE
lineament s occur in th e northeaste rn part of Askey, po ssibly
wit h an increasing frequenc y when approaching the Main
Ca ledonian Thrust Zone (Milnes & Wenn berg 1997) to th e
northeast.
The spatial di stribution of the four lineament popu la-
tio ns has been used as a basis fo r a structural classificat ion of
Ask0Y into t hree subareas (Fig. 1C). The rose diagram s indi-
cate th at t he N-S-tr ending lineaments in th e north are
slightly clockwise rot ated relati ve to those in t he central part
of the island (Fig. 1B, C).The NE-SW g roup is most evident in
the rose diag ram for the southern most subarea (Fig. 1C).The
classification into subareas thus shows that there may be a
large local variatio n in lineament patt ern and inten sit y. On
Ask0Y th is is, at least partly, du e to t he bedrock heter ogen-
eity (Ragnhildstveit & Helliksen 1997), but structura l and
stress-field variations proba bly also affect t he lineament dis-
t ribut ion.These variati ons include changes in or ientation of
foliation (Kolderup & Kolderup 1940, Bj erkaas 1951, Lie
2001), proximity to th rust zones, and th e somew hat differ ent
stress fiel ds, at t he time of lineament format ion, associated
wi t h th e different tecton ic uni ts. Many lineaments are also
t hought to have developed parallel to the arc struct ures of
the Bergen Arc System (Kolderup & Kolderup 1940,
Ragnhild stveit & Helliksen 1997).
Topolineaments
A total of 409 topol ineam ent s were mapped fro m a dig ital
elevation mod el (DEM) th at was made using t he Arclnfo
softwa re (ESRI 1999). Contour elevation data at 5 and 20 m
intervals,and spread points of known elevation, were used
to compu te the DEM wi th the TOPOGRIDTOOL mod ule
(Hut chinson 1989). Hillshade maps (Fig. 2 B) were calculated
for fou r ill umi nation azimut hs using Arc View Spatial Analyst
(ESRI 1996), and from t hese maps th e maj or depressions and
hills w ere mapped.The frequ ency distribution of topoli nea-
ments, mo st ly large to pographical depression s, indi cates
three main tre nds: N-S, NW-SE and NE-SW (Fig. 2A).They all
 HA LLSTEf N LIE & AGUST GUDMUNDSSON N G U -BUL L 439 , 2002 - PA GE SS

remain pronounced after being normal ised by the linea-
ment leng ths (Fig.3B).
Bedrock borehole database
To explore th e spatial well yield dist ribution on Askey,
groundwater well data were taken from the bedrock bore-
hole database of the Geological Survey of Norway (NGU). ln
statistical analyses, well yield (litres per hour) is used as an
estimator (test variable) forth e grou ndwa te r pote ntia l of t he
bedrock . Yield values divided by well depth are also
analysed, but the results are about the same as for th e
unmodified yield values.Only high-quality dat a were used in
th e analyses. For examp le, we excluded th ose dri lled we lls
t hat d ue to locat ion errors are sit uat ed in t he sea,as well as
th ose for which important info rmati on (coordin at es or well
yield ) is lacking . A tot al of 72 wells were used for the analysis
on Ask0Y.
Lineaments and yield of drilled
bedrock groundwater wells on Ask0Y
Proximity analyses
As indi cated above, many consider th e yield of drill ed
bedrock gro undwater wells to increase when approachi ng
struct ural lineament s (Boeckh 1992, Greenbaum 1992,
Gustafsson 1993,Braathe n et al. 1999). However, many inves-
tigation s show little or no correlatio n between di st ance to
lineament s and wel l yield (Mo rland 1997).This may be partl y
due to contra sting hydraulic pro perti es in the vici nity of dif-
ferent lineaments . In the following analyses the lineament
tr end and the hydraulic gradient, as well as the proximit y t o
lineament s, are used to evaluat e th e characte rist ics of th ose
lineamen ts th at are most likely to be good conductors of
groundwater.
Several factors indicate th at indi vid ual lineament s have
different hydraulic properties. First, most fracture zones are
highly permeable only for relat ively short periods of time
following a seismogenic fault slip (Gudmundsson 2000).
Since ope n, cond uctive fract ures dominate the fluid flow in
fract ured media, thi s imp lies t hat recent ly active fracture
zones are thos e mo st likely to yield much grou nd water.
Second, the hyd raulic properties of lineaments depen d on
t heir tre nds. This is partly because the regional st ress field
(Hicks et al. 2000) generates diff erent stress concentrations
around lineaments of different tr end s (Lyslo 2000). Only
those lineament s with the greatest stress concent ratio ns are
likely to be reactivated in th e present st ress field; and only
t hose th at become reactivated are likely to increase signifi-
cantly, but tempo rarily,t heir hydraulic conductivity.The third
main factor is th e angular relationship between a lineamen t
and th e regional hydr aulic gradient, w hich has large effect s
on th e local gro undwater fl ow (Phillips 1991,Gudmundsson
2000). Because the hydraulic gradient commo nly coin cid es
with the topographic gradi ent (Domenico & Schwartz 1998),
this suggests that classification of lineaments according to
the slope of topography is likely to be useful in groundwater
yield st udies.
The distance t o the nearest photolineament for every
single groundwater well is easily calculated in a vector-
based GIS.The resulting t able, consisting of a di stance value
and unique identificatio n (ID) numbers for every well and
lineament in pairs, allows relating every yield value to th e
distance to, and azimu th of, the nearest lineament. The dis-
tance from every well to the nearest lineament in each of
t he four tr end classes (Fig. 1B)is th en calculated and th e well
yield plotted against th e distance to th e lineament. The
inte nsity of t he local stress field, and th us t he associated
fracture frequ ency, falls off wi th increasing distance from the
lineamen ts.It follow s th at t he perm eabi lity and yield of well s

3000 • NW-SE 3000 . N-S

~ 2500 o o NE-SW ~ 2500 • O E-W
:::!. 2000
"0
o • :::!. 2000
"0
• o
a; 1500 a; 1500
~ 1000 ~ • • ~ 1000 • •
~ 500 , 00 • & ., 0 0
~ 500 • • 0 + o o
o .:~ ~'O ~~~ooo :'§ 0. • • 0 •• I ••• : • • o~
o • :. ~J•.,.. :~ • •~ ~ 5 • t> • ••
A o 50 100 150 200 250 C o 50 100 150 200 250

600 500
:2 500 . ~ 400 ~t
2.
"'C
400 ~
0
00
~_ . _..
~
• •
:::!. .,.
~ 300 · 1
. 'A
8+.....
•
••
0
~ :~ •
0 8 0 0 00

a; 300 ~o ';28 ~ er' CD

'>, 200 ·
0
~
's; 200 · .~ \...~. 0 o
- •• lil °'!l<ll>°oco ..... ~o.etl '<>. o. t o O. .~.
~ 100 •••
0
~ 100 I ••
o o.
o 50 100 150 200 250 o 50 100 150 200 250
B distance to lineamen t (m) D distance to lineament (m)

Fig. 4. Scatt er plot s showi ng g ro undwater we ll yield versus di stance to lin eament s of different trend s. (A) Yield corr elated w it h di stance to NW-SE-
tr end ing lin eament s (filled squares) and NE-SW-tr ending lineament s (open circles), (B) As in A, but here the data are smoo t hed by movin g averages of
15 values.(C) Yield correlated w it h distance to N-S-t rending lineam ents (fi lled squares) and E-W-trendin g lin eament s (open circles), (D) As in C. but the
dat a are smoo t hed by moving averages of 15 valu es.
 N GU - BUL L 43 9 , 2002 - PA G E 5 6 HAL LSTEI N LI E & A G UST G UD M UND SSON

Lineaments class ified as

11 Topograph ical h .

m
eight I

'~Si <~
~
A " parallel obl ique transve rse

- to the general, topograph y.<Jriven flo w d irect ion

1200
:2 1000
::J 800
!lJJ 500 -,
s: 400 -
!lJJ
::J
"C "C 300 -r •
• •
~
Qi 600 Qi
's, • 's,

~ 200
400
• ~ 2°O
1 0~
L~:
0 .~l i 1

B 0 25 50 75 100 125 C 0 25 50 75 100 125

d is tance to lin ea ments (m) d istance to lineam en ts (m)

s:
1200
1000
• •
D s: 400
500 -r

1 •
• DJ
•
d 800 d 300 • •
"C
Qi 600
"C
Qi • • • •
'>, '>, 200
400
Qi Qi
:= 100
:= 200
•
0 r---•• ----,-----+-------.--- + • 1
.----, 0
D 0 25 50 75 100 125 E 0 25 50 75 100 125
d istance to lin eaments (m) d istance to lin ea men ts (m)

Fig. 5. (A) Lineamen ts are classified as parallel (group I), obl ique (group 11) and t ransverse (g roup Ill) to t he assumed topography-dr iven gro undwater
flow . (B) Scatt er plot showing well yield correlated with distance to group I lineament s (R' = 0.085 ). (C) Scatter plot showing data in B smoothed by
= =
moving averages of 5 values (R' 0.55 ' ). (D) Scatt er plot showing we ll yield corr elated wi t h d istance to g roup III lineaments (R' 0.004 ). (E)Scatter plot
show ing data in D smooth ed by moving average of 5 values (R' = 0.007). R' denotes the goo dn ess-of -fit for linear correlation s.

are affected only out to a certain lim ited dist ance from a
nearby lineament. For many lineament s, this distance would
be of th e order of several hundred metres. Here, we t ake the
average distance to be 250 m, so tha t only wells wi thin 250
m of a lineament are considered in th e analyses.
Visual inspection of the raw data does not ind icate any
very clear relationship between well yield and distance to
nearby lineaments (Fig. 4A, C). However, after smoothing the
data by a moving average of 15 values t he pattern app ears
less accidental (Fig. 4B, D). For the NE-SW group there is a
clear increase in the yield of wells from a distance of - 100 m
to th e centra l parts of the lineaments (Fig.4B). For th e NW-SE
struct ures, t he smoothed data indi cate an increase in yield
of wells from a distance of - 160 m to - 75 m, but then a
decrease to the centr al parts of the lineaments (Fig. 4B).The
N-S-trend ing lineaments show results sim ilar to those of th e
former group, except that the increase in yield start s at a dis-
tance of - 250 m from th e lineament centres and cont inue s
to - 20 m from t he centr es whe re the yield suddenly
decreases (Fig. 4D). The well yield shows littl e variatio n on
approachi ng the E-W lineaments (Fig.4D).
Photol ineamen ts were divided into three groups accord-
ing to th e slop e of th e topograph y. Lineament s may be
transverse, ob lique or parallel to t he local topography slope
(Fig. SA). We assume topo graph y-dr iven flow and open
aqu ifers,in which case the hydrauli c gradient is similar to the
general slope of th e topography close to the lineaments.
Well yield was plotted against th e distance to the nearest
lineament in each of the different groups . The num ber of
wells is q uite low and the results have low significance (Fig.
sB, D). Neverth eless, aft er smooth ing t he yield values, t here
are indications of an increase in well yield wh en approach-
ing lineaments th at trend parallel to th e esti mated hydraulic
grad ient (topog raphy grad ient ) (Fig. sC). while t here is little
variation in t he well yield w hen appr oach ing lineament s
that trend transverse to th e hydrau lic grad ient (Fig. SE).
Properties of the lineament trends
Fracture profiles
Fracture profil es across fract ure zones help to quant ify t heir
architectu re and th e att it ude and spatial dist ribution of
associated fractures. Vegetation and sedimen ts, however,
cover the important, cent ral parts of many fracture zones on
Askey (Fig. 6 A), and infor mati on on th e central part s is thus
 H AL LSTEI N LI E s AGUS T GUDMUNDSSON NG U -BU LL 4 39 , 2 0 0 2 - PAGE 5 7

Fig. 6. (A) An aerial phot o-

graph (photo: Fjellanger
Wideroe AS) of th e north -
ern coast of Askey is put on
top of a digital elevation
mod el (DEM). Fractu re
zones t rendi ng N(NE)-
S(SW) are indicated w ith
arrows, and a NW-SE-tr end-
ing lineament is marked
wi t h a dashed line. (B) A
small N-S-striking fracture
zone in A has a cent ral part
t hat is weak and eroded.
Mino r fractu res subparallel
to the fract ure zone do mi-
nate th e local fract ure fre-
quency distrib ut ion . Ham-
mer for scale. View to t he
sw. For more details on
th ese st udies, see Lie
(2001). (Cl Concept ual
model for the major N-S-
:::'"' t rendi ng fracture zone in A.
.;,:
o
c .;,:
0 show ing a damage zone
N
2 " 2 th at is limited outwa rds by
er-
c th e escarpments of th e
..:::
topographic lineament. On
Askey, th ere is generally a
low correlation between
fractu re frequency and dis-
tance to the central part of
lineaments outside t heir
morp hologi cal escarp-
ment s. (D) Many fractur es
in th e damage zone of t he
fractu re zone in A are faults
wit h a dip-slip compo nent.
(E)There is evidence of high
fractur e intensity in t he
centr al part of t he majo r
lineament in A.

gained only from a few fract ure profil es. In t he well-expo sed
areas, th at is outside th e eroded, inner depression s of th e
fracture zones, th ere is little apparent correlation between
the fracture frequ ency and th e di stance to th e central part s
of the fracture zones (Lie 2001).There exist, however, exam-
ples of very high fracture intensities in th e cent ral parts of
some lin eament s (Fig. 6E). The results present ed here indi -
cate that, for most fractu re zones on Askey, th e zone of high
fracture intensity is narrow and lim it ed outwards by the frac-
ture zone escarpm ent s (Fig. 6A-C). This stre sses t he im por-
tanc e of accuracy both in fi eld measurem ent s, well position s
and location of lineam ent s w hen deali ng w ith grou ndwater
flow in fractured rocks. In some fractu re zones on Askey, par- Fig. 7. (A) Rivers and lakes on Askoy (digital map N50, Norw egian
Mapping Authority). Rivers are mostly gu ided by top ograph ical depres-
ticu larly in small, N-S-trending zones in th e sout hern part of
sions, w hich are mapped as top olineame nts (Fig. 2). (B) The rivers are
th e island, th e cent ral parts cont ain non -cohesive clay min- defined by nod es, indi cated by small squares. In GIS, th e rivers are split
erals w hich may reduce t he zon e-t ransverse permeabilit y. into segments defi ned by th ese nod es. The length and azimut h of t he
segments can be easily calculated. (Cl N-S-trendi ng segments dom inate
in number as for lineament s. Since river bend s are normally defined by
lineament and drainage frequ en cy distributions
many points, th e imp ortan ce of short segments may be over-emp ha-
The distribution of to polineament s provid es a large-scale sised.Therefore,th e azimut h di stribution should be normalised w it h th e
framework for pote ntia l g roundwa te r flow (cf. Berg 2000, segment length s (Fig. 3 Cl.
 NGU -BULL 439 , 2002 - PAGE 58 H A LLSTEIN LIE & AG US T G UD M UNDSSON

Braat hen & Gabrielsen 2000). This is because most topo-

graph ic depr ession s reflect fract ure zones, many of whi ch
may consist of open and interconnected fractures of sig nifi-
cant permeabil it y.
The topo lineame nt s, being linear or near-linear d epres-
sions, also serve as a framework for river flow (Singhal &
Gupta 1999). Although only some of the m are occupie d by
rivers, the distribu tion of river segm ent s is simi lar to th at of
t he lin eame nts (Fig. 7), indica tin g t hat rivers and streams
tend to follow the lineament s. In general, little associated
surface runoff along lineame nts may indi cate hig h subsur-
face drain age (Singhal & Gupta 1999, Berg 2000, Braathen &
Gabrielsen 2000) and, t hus,a n inte grate d evaluatio n of linea-
ments and rive rs may give indicat ions of t he yield potent ial
of nearby wells .
The difference in relati ve di stribution of topol in eame nt s
and rivers is calcul ated in Fig. 3D. For th e purpose of com par-
ing t he azimu th freq uency distri butions for river segmen ts
and lineaments, t he azim uth freq uency num bers are
weig hted accordi ng to t he lengt hs of the feat ures, and t he
numb ers are conv erted int o percent ages (Fig. 3B,C).The his-
togram in Fig. 3D is calculated by subt racti ng the values for
t he rivers (Fig. 3C) from the values for the topolineaments
(Fig. 3B) for each t rend class. The results can be used as an
indicator for w het her th ere is mu ch or littl e gr oundwater
t ransport alo ng a given lineament t rend . The N-S- and NE-
SW-t rend ing lineaments appear to have the greatest , and Fig. 8. (A) Simu lated flow field around a highl y permeable fracture zone
t he NW-SE-trending lineaments th e least, permeability (Fig. that is subparallel to the hydrau lic grad ient. (B)Three-dimens ional view
of the estimated groundwater surface indicati ng that groundwater is
3D).The NW-SE lineame nts strike at acut e ang les to t he ESE-
drained int o th e fractur e zone upstream and expelle d from it down-
di rect ed ridg e-push in th e area (Hicks et al. 2000) and would stream. This simple model suggests that the target area for high -yield-
thu s be expe cted to con centrate high shear stresses. ing gro undwater wells is the do wn stream part of fracture zones that
However, many of t he lineaments trendin g NW-SE are sub- run parallel wit h the gene ral slope of the top ograph y.

parallel to, and may also be gene ti cally related to, t he pene -
trat ive, metam or ph ic foli at ion . Thus, th ese lineame nt s may
have significa nt ly different deformat ion hi stories and there-
fore differ ent hyd raulic pro perties to those of the other lin-
eamen t tr ends.
Numerical models
The local groundwater flow pattern around a condu ctive
fractu re depend s on t he angle it makes wi t h the hyd raulic
g radient. Analyti cal solution s (Philli ps 1991) indicate th at an
op en fract ure no rmal to t he ge neral groundwat er flow
direct io n has littl e infl uence on the flow pattern so long as
th e fract ure apertu re is sim ilar to t he di mensions of the
pores in the host rock . By contrast, a highly cond uct ive frac-
t ure at a low angle to the hyd raulic gradient may have large
effects on t he ground water flow.
The model in Fig.8,c alculated using th e MODFLOW cod e
in th e PM5 software (Chiang & Kinzelbach 1998, Harbaug h
et al. 2000), simulates a vertica l active fractu re zone th at
str ikes parallel to t he slope of t he topography. Fro m general
fie ld data and laboratory measurements, we estimate t he
average hyd raulic conductivit y of t he fract ure zone as 1xl 0 3
m/s and tha t of the host rock as 1xl 0 '0 m/ s (Lee & Fa rmer
1993, Dom enico & Schwartz 1998). Using topog raph ical
maps of Askey, the hyd raul ic grad ient is estimated at 0.05.
The mod elled frac ture zone has a lengt h of 1500 m and a
thic kness of 10 m.The whole mo del is 7 km x 4 km.The size
of the model is designed to be large enou g h to avoid that
the side-wa lls affect the flow pattern.The gr id is enhanced in
t he central part of t he model to prov ide more prec ise solu-
t ion s close to th e fracture zone.
The lineament influences the pattern so that the flow
lines conve rge towards it s upstream part and diverge from
its downstream part (Fig. 8A, B).This means tha t groundwa-
ter is drain ed into t he fract ure zone upstream and expelled
from it downstrea m (Fig. 8B). A similar numerical model, but
run for a vertical fracture zone that is obl ique to the ind uced
hydraulic gradient, indicates that the groundwater flow pat -
tern is still affected, but to a lesser degree than in Fig. 8.The
results indic ate th at, for maxim um yield , groundwater wells
should normally be placed inside, or nearby, t he do wn -
stream parts of active lineaments that t rend parallel to the
hydraulic (or topog rap hic) grad ient.
 HALL STEIN LIE & A G U ST GUD MUND SS O N
Discussion
In this paper, we have focused on lineaments as t he main
target s fo r th e locat ion of ground w ater well s th at are d rilled
into bed rock. Many of t hese lineaments are fracture zones
w hich have been erod ed to becom e topographic depres-
sions.Thus, they gain topog raphy-dri ven groun dwater fl ow.
In add ition, because the permeability of lineaments is nor-
mally greater th an tha t of th e host rock,th ey are likely to be
the main conductors of subsurface water in bedrock.
Lineaments are here groupe d accord ing t o t heir t rend
and their relation to the hydraulic gradient. The analyses
indicate that th e correlatio ns between well yie ld and prox-
imity to lineament s depend both on lineame nt t rend and
t he hydraulic (t opographic) gradient. When taking the linea-
ment tr end int o considerat ion, we can account for the influ -
ence of region al stress (Hicks et al. 2000 ) as well as the possi-
ble different mechanical and hydr aulic propertie s between
lineamen t s of diffe rent trends. Topographic variati ons are
partly includ ed in th e hydraulic gradie nt.The importance of
the hydr aulic gradient , and thu s topography, is well known
both fro m num erical (Fig. 8) and analytical gro undwater
flow models (Phillips 1991, Lie 2001 ). On Askey, th e greatest
increase in well yield occurs wh en app roachin g th e NE-SW-
trending lineam ents th at strike parallel to the topographi c
slope.
The integration of lineaments and drainage is based on
th e assumption that most rivers follow the topographic
depressions th at are mapp ed as lineament s. Furthe rmor e,
we assume that little surface runoff along lineaments indi-
cates high subsurface drainage . We have made the analysis
as simpl e as possible, and do not conside r any qua nt itative
measures from catchme nt areas or vo lumetric flow rates in
the rivers. Also, we use the drainage map s from th e
Norwegian Mapping Authority without modificat ions. For
similar analyses in the futu re, we plan t o go into more detail
concerning these factors .
This st udy is, in some ways, similar t o the one by
Greenbaum (1992) in that we consider variations in well
yield as a funct ion of azimut h of associated lineament s.
However, in our st udy the well yield is also analysed accord-
ing to t he di stance between wells and lineament s and rela-
tionships t o th e hydraulic gradient. By cont rast, Greenb aum
(1992) compared well-yield classes, within a cert ain distance
from lineament s, w it h lineament tr end. We conclude th at for
mo st act ive fractu re zones, t he hyd raulic cond ucti vity (and
t hus th e expected wel l yield) decreases wi t h distance from
t he centr e of th e lineament . Aerial photo graphs, digi tal ele-
vation data and t he fieldwork present ed here indica te th at,
on Askey, th e damage zones of the fault lineaments tend to
be narrow and well define d. Because t hese wou ld com -
mo nly be t he t arget zones for groundwater wells, the accu-
rate location of potenti ally high -yielding we lls should nor-
mally be easy on Ask0Y.
In the futu re, additio nal result s may be provided by
impro ved dat a collection procedures (yield measurement s,
NGU -B U L L 4 3 9 , 2 0 02 - PAGE 59
and mo re accurate we ll coo rdinates) as well as mo re
det ailed mapping of lineament s. For detailed mapping, it is
possibl e to use GIS to comb ine high -resolution sate llite
images, orthophot os and DEMs. We suggest th at a bett er
und erstanding of how local and regional st resses affect th e
permeabilit ies of lineamen ts and other struct ures may be
obtai ned by combi ning remo te-sensing data wi t h numerical
mod els of crustal st resses and gro undwa te r flow.
Acknowledgements
We th ank th e muni cip alit y of Askey, t he Geo logical Survey of No rway,
t he No rweg ian Map p ing Aut ho rity and Fjellanger Wideroe AS for da ta
and sup por t, and Helge Askv ik, Alvar Braat hen , Bj orn Freng stad and Erik
Rohr -Torp fo r help ful and co nst ruct ive comm ents . This wo rk was sup-
ported by g rants from t he Research Council of No rway and the
Euro pean Com m issio n.
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