Fractured porous media under influence: The Roselend Experiment

The deformation of the crust and fluid rock interactions are both important problems in the Earth sciences. Observing and measuring these coupled phenomena will improve our understanding of geologic processes acting in fractured porous media and the transfer properties of fluids. These observations can be made via laboratory experiments, but the sample scale is not always satisfying for understanding crustal-scale phenomena. On the contrary, monitoring a natural site at the field-scale provides clues that are directly interpretable in terms of geologic phenomena. The Roselend Experiment is one such endeavor that provides a setting for a multidisciplinary research project. Its goal is to determine transfer processes and transient phenomena at different scales in space and time within a highly dynamic system that is submitted to mechanical, hydrologic, meteorological, and thermal forces.