The performances of kriging, stochastic simulations and sequential
self-calibration inversion are assessed when characterizing a
non-multiGaussian synthetic 2D braided channel aquifer. The comparison
is based on a series of criteria such as the reproduction of the
original reference transmissivity or head fields, but also in terms of
accuracy of flow and transport (capture zone) forecasts when the flow
conditions are modified. We observe that the errors remain large even
for a dense data network. In addition some unexpected behaviours are
observed when large transmissivity datasets are used. In particular, we
observe an increase of the bias with the number of transmissivity data
and an increasing uncertainty with the number of head data. This is
interpreted as a consequence of the use of an inadequate multiGaussian
stochastic model that is not able to reproduce the connectivity of the
original field. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.