Developing the Conceptual Model

Conceptual site models (CSMs) are now increasingly developed in a quantitative manner from the beginning of most commercial projects and are ready to be translated into numeric models effortlessly, at any stage of the project. Using a quantitative CSM and a numeric model simultaneously is invaluable for assessing uncertainties in both, and provides a very much needed feedback for their improvement. Notwithstanding that a professional hydrogeologic judgment is irreplaceable at the end, this presentation focuses on application of geostatistical, probabilistic, and visualization programs for CSM development and includes discussion on various interactions between conceptual and numeric models, as well as their potential misuse.