School of Earth and Environment
Untitled Document

Noelle Odling Dr Noelle Odling

Lecturer: Hydrogeology; Programme Manager: MSc Hydrogeology

Telephone number: +44(0) 113 34 32806
Email address: n.e.odling@leeds.ac.uk
Room: 10.18d

EU Marie Curie Initial Training Network 'IMVUL'

Biography

Education

I undertook my BSc (Hons) in Geology at Edinburgh University (1976) and during my Ph.D. worked as a teaching assistant at Queens University while registered part-time at Edinburgh University. My PhD (1980) was in the structural geology of the Lewisian of the Gairloch area, NW Scotland and involved structural mapping, strain analysis and modelling strain paths, and textural development of mylonites.

Postdoctoral Studies

After my PhD, I worked as a research scientist in the Precambrian Research Unit at the Department of Geology in University of Cape Town for 3 years looking at the structural geology of a highly folded major lead-zinc ore body in the NW Cape, South Africa. Then I look up a postdoctoral fellowship for two years in the Department of Geology at the Technical University of Trondheim, Norway to investigate the structural setting of a folded and thrusted copper-lead-zinc ore body in the Caledonides of Nord Trondelag, Norway.

Research Career

Over the next 14 years, I worked as a research scientist in a number of research institutions in Norway including, in Trondheim, the Institute for Continental Shelf Research (IKU) and, in Bergen, the Bergen IBM Scientific Centre, the Department of Geology, University of Bergen, and the Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Centre (NERSC). During this time I was involved in a number of Norwegian and EU research projects and my research including numerical modelling of basin development, characterization and scaling of natural fracture systems, and numerical modelling of flow and contaminant in fractured rocks.

In 2000, I left Norway and moved to Leeds to work as a research fellow at the Rock Deformation Research Unit of Leeds University (now RDR Ltd). There I worked on numerical modelling of flow in fault damage zones where the fractures form partial flow barriers, in collaboration with Rob Knipe and Simon Harris (a NERC project).

Present position and activities

In 2004, I joined the staff in the School of Earth and Environment as a lecturer and set up the MSc in Hydrogeology of which I am currently Programme Manager. During my time at Leeds I have become more involved in hydrogeological research and field work, particularly through studies in the Chalk aquifer of East Yorkshire. This has involved carrying out a multi-well tracer test in the Chalk aquifer and modelling flow and transport in the saturated zone of the dual porosity Chalk aquifer as part of the EU FW5 project SALTRANS, and characterization of the vertical permeability structure of the Chalk Aquifer through flow logging and dilution techniques and (in collaboration with Jared West).

At present, I am the coordinator of a major EU funded, FW7 Marie Curie Initial Training Network (IMVUL Towards Improved Groundwater Vulnerability Assessment) which has partners in the UK, France, Spain, Italy, Israel and Norway, with 11 PhD students (2 of whom are at Leeds) and 4 postdocs. The IMVUL research at Leeds involves the use of barometric effects on borehole water levels as an aid to assessing aquifer vulnerability, and studies of transport in the unsaturated zone (in collaboration with Jared West).

Complementary to my scientific work, has been my work on art-science collaborative projects through YQA (Yorkshire Quarry Arts) in collaboration with Bobbie Millar (Faculty of the Environment), David Walker Barker (School of Design), Vicki Scott (free lance artist) and others. These projects have focussed on public perception of the quarried environment and have involved working with artists as well as painting, drawing and printmaking (a long term hobby of mine) from the view point of a scientist. These activities resulted in an exhibition at the University of Leeds and a published book, The Naked Quarry.

Summary of Research Interests

  • Characterization of natural fracture systems and their scaling behaviour

  • Numerical modelling of flow and transport in fractured rocks

  • Flow and transport in fault damage zones

  • Tracer tests and modelling of flow and transport in dual porosity aquifers

  • Analysis of pump tests in fractured aquifers

  • Dilution testing and flow logging in fractured aquifers

  • Analysis of barometric effects on borehole water levels in confined and semi-confined aquifers

  • Flow and transport in the unsaturated zone

Teaching

Programme manager (since 2004) of MSc Hydrogeology:

The MSc in Hydrogeology was started up in 2004 in response to a skills shortage in the water industry. I was instrumental in its design and have run the MSc since then. Since 2004, the course has proved popular with from 7 to 16 students per year. The MSc has provided me with an opportunity to integrate my research interests with teaching through my teaching in field hydrogeology, fractured aquifers and groundwater modelling.

MSc level modules:

  • Groundwater modelling teaching the use of software commonly used in the water industry including Groundwater Vistas and Modflow, a 3D numerical modelling package.

  • Advanced Hydrogeology teaching the occurrence, flow and transport in fractured aquifers and field hydrogeology

  • Hydrocarbon prospectivity of basins teaching structural geology of basin development to MSc structural geology and geophysics students.

  • Reservoir structural geology teaching structure of fractured reservoirs and their hydraulic properties to MSc structural geology students.

Publications

  • Parker, AH; West, LJ; Odling, NE; Bown, RT (2010) A forward modeling approach for interpreting impeller flow logs., Ground Water, 48, pp.79-91. doi:10.1111/j.1745-6584.2009.00600.x
  • Roy, A; Perfect, E; Dunne, WM; Odling, N; Kim, JW (2010) Lacunarity analysis of fracture networks: Evidence for scale-dependent clustering, J STRUCT GEOL, 32, pp.1444-1449. doi:10.1016/j.jsg.2010.08.010
  • Johnston, PB; Atkinson, T; Barker, J; Odling, N (2009) Constraining the uncertainty in fracture geometry using tracer tests, HYDROGEOL J, 17, pp.527-539. doi:10.1007/s10040-008-0378-y
  • Odling, NE; Walker-Barker, D (2008) The Naked Quarry, first, Mercury Print, Leeds, pp.1-108.
  • West, LJ; Odling, NE (2007) Characterisation Of A Multi-Layer Aquifer Using Open Well Dilution Tests, Ground Water, 45, pp.74-84.
  • Allshorn, SL; Bottrell, SH; West, LJ; Odling, NE (2007) Rapid karstic bypass flow in the unsaturated zone of the Yorkshire chalk aquifer and implications for contaminant transport, In: Parise, M; Gunn, J (Ed) Natural and Anthropogenic Hazards in Karst Areas: Recognition, Analysis and Mitigation, Geological Society Special Publications , Geological Society of London, pp.111-122.
  • Payne, SS; Worthington, MH; Odling, NE; West, LJ (2007) Estimating permeability from field measurements of seismic attenuation in fractured chalk, GEOPHYSICAL PROSPECTING, 55, pp.643-653.
  • Hartmann, S; Odling, NE; West, LJ (2007) A multi-directional tracer test in the fractured Chalk aquifer of E. Yorkshire, UK, J CONTAM HYDROL, 94, pp.315-331. doi:10.1016/j.jconhyd.2007.07.009
  • Parker, AH; West, LJ; Odling, NE; Bottrell, SH (2006) Influences on spatial transmissivity variations in the Chalk Aquifer in East Yorkshire, Cave and Karst Science, 33, pp.91-92.
  • Pokar, M; West, LJ; Odling, NE (2006) Petrophysical characterization of the Sherwood Sandstone from East Yorkshire, UK, In: Barker, RD; Tellam, JH (Ed) 263, pp.103-118.
  • Johnston, PB; Atkinson, TC; Odling, NE; Barker, JA (2005) Models of tracer breakthrough and permeability in simple fractured porous media, In: Shaw, RP (Ed) Understanding the micro to macro behaviour of rock-fluid systems, Geological Society of London Special Publication , 249, London: The Geological Society, pp.91-102.
  • Odling, NE; Harris, SD; Vazsi, A; Knipe, RJ (2005) Properties of fault damage zones in siliciclastic rocks: a modelling approach, In: Shaw, RP (Ed) Understanding the Micro to Macro behaviour of rock-fluid systems, Geological Society of London Special Publication , The Geological Society, pp.43-59.
  • Odling, NE; Harris, SD; Knipe, R (2004) Permeability scaling properties of fault damage zones in siliclastic rocks, J STRUCT GEOL, 26, pp.1727-1747. doi:10.1016/j.jsg.2004.02.005
  • Harris, SD; McAllister, E; Knipe, RJ; Odling, NE (2003) Predicting the three-dimensional population characteristics of fault zones: a study using stochastic models, J STRUCT GEOL, 25, pp.1281-1299.
  • Bour, O; Davy, P; Darcel, C; Odling, N (2002) A statistical scaling model for fracture network geometry, with validation on a multiscale mapping of a joint network (Hornelen Basin, Norway), J GEOPHYS RES-SOL EA, 107, . doi:10.1029/2001JB000176
  • Odling, NE (2001) The scaling of hydraulic conductivity in rock fracture zones, GEOPHYS RES LETT, 28, pp.3019-3022.
  • Bonnet, E; Bour, O; Odling, NE; Davy, P; Main, I; Cowie, P; Berkowitz, B (2001) Scaling of fracture systems in geological media, REV GEOPHYS, 39, pp.347-383.
  • Odling, NE; Larsen, O (2000) Vein architecture in the Devonian sandstones of the Hornelen basin, western Norway, and implications for the palaeostrain history, NORSK GEOL TIDSSKR, 80, pp.289-299.
  • Odling, NE; Gillespie, P; Bourgine, B; Castaing, C; Chiles, JP; Christensen, NP; Fillion, E; Genter, A; Olsen, C; Thrane, L; Trice, R; Aarseth, E; Walsh, JJ; Watterson, J (1999) Variations in fracture system geometry and their implications for fluid flow in fractured hydrocarbon reservoirs, Petroleum Geoscience, 5, pp.373-384.
  • Odling, NE; Roden, JE (1997) Contaminant transport in fractured rocks with significant matrix permeability, using natural fracture geometries, Journal of Contaminant Hydrology, 27, pp.263-283.
  • Odling, NE (1997) Scaling and connectivity of joint systems in sandstones from western Norway, Journal of Structural Geology, 19, pp.1257-1271.
  • Banks, D; Odling, NE; Skarphagen, H; Rohr-Torp, E (1996) Permeability and stress in crystalline rocks, Terra Nova, 8, pp.223-235.