Solution Exercise 27
Abutting and crossing fracture terminations are, by definition, connected to other fractures. Blind fracture terminations end within the matrix and do not connect to other fractures. Diagram (a) has a larger distribution of abutting and crossing fracture terminations, which suggests greater connectivity of the fracture networks and, therefore, greater overall permeability that diagram (b). The answer, therefore, is the aquifer represented in diagram (a).