Solution Exercise 14
Although the weathering indicates flow along the sheeting joints, it is reported in the literature that the hydraulic conductivity of horizontal joints tends to decrease considerably with depth. This happens because the vertical stress (weight of the rock column), which acts directly on the horizontal fracture as a normal stress, increases with depth and causes a gradual decrease of the joint aperture. The sheeting joints themselves are closely spaced within the first tens of meters from the ground surface. However, they tend to disappear below depths of 100 m.
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