A B S T R A C TThe percolation of water in the ground is responsible for measurable electric potentials called self-potentials. These potentials are influenced by the distribution of the electrical conductivity of the ground. Because sinkholes are associated both with self-potential and electrical conductivity anomalies, a joint inversion of EM-34 conductivity and self-potential data is proposed as a way of delineating the location of these features. Self-potential and EM conductivity data were obtained at a test site in Normandy (France) where sinkholes and crypto-sinkholes are present over a karstic area in a chalk substratum overlain by clay-with-flint and loess covers. The presence of sinkholes and crypto-sinkholes is associated with negative self-potential anomalies with respect to a reference electrode located outside the area where the sinkholes are clustered. The sinkholes also have a conductivity signature identified by the EM-34 conductivity data. We used the simulated-annealing method, which is a global optimization technique, to invert jointly EM-34 conductivity and self-potential data. Self-potential and electrical conductivity provide clear complementary information to determine the interface between the loess and clay-with-flint formations. The sinkholes and crypto-sinkholes are marked by depressions in this interface, focusing the groundwater flow towards the aquifer contained in the chalk substratum. I N T R O D U C T I O NIn Normandy (France), some of the sinkholes penetrating into the chalk substratum are masked by a loess and clay-with-flint sedimentary cover (Laignel et al. 2004). Hydrogeological data indicate that the karst has a binary flow, consisting of a slow recharge, associated with infiltration of water through the matrix of the sedimentary cover, and rapid events, associated with strong rains and the fast percolation of water through the network of sinkholes. Locating sinkholes in the chalk substratum is important for several reasons. The sinkholes are responsible for the vulnerability of the chalk aquifer to agricultural water, *
Two surface magnetic surveys, covering the Lucky Strike hydrothermal area, are merged into a single magnetic anomaly description, which, when inverted in the presence of topography, shows a magnetization low at the segment center, close to the central volcano, in the middle of which is located the hydrothermal vent. To test if this magnetization is in any way connected with the hydrothermal vent field, we devised a method to distinguish a “regional” field that can be attributed to the “normal” spreading geometry from the “local” field that can be attributed to the hydrothermal vent area itself. This is achieved by the computation of a three‐dimensional regional magnetic field that takes into consideration bathymetry, location of the “zero‐age” axis, asymmetry in the half spreading rates, magnetization decay with age, polarity reversals, and the transition between consecutive magnetic blocks. This model was fitted to the observed surface magnetic data, and the “magnetic residual” was inverted to allow a better definition of the magnetization anomalies. We show that as far as surface magnetic data are concerned, the magnetization low has only partial correlation with the hydrothermal field and is the signature of a relatively large area in which bulk magnetization is lower than average.
Abstract. Karst groundwater systems are characterized by the presence of multiple porosity types. Of these, subsurface conduits that facilitate concentrated, heterogeneous flow are challenging to resolve geologically and geophysically. This is especially the case in evaporite karst systems, such as those present on the shores of the Dead Sea, where rapid geomorphological changes are linked to a fall in base level by over 35 m since 1967. Here we combine field observations, remote-sensing analysis, and multiple geophysical surveying methods (shear wave reflection seismics, electrical resistivity tomography, ERT, self-potential, SP, and ground-penetrating radar, GPR) to investigate the nature of subsurface groundwater flow and its interaction with hypersaline Dead Sea water on the rapidly retreating eastern shoreline, near Ghor Al-Haditha in Jordan. Remote-sensing data highlight links between the evolution of surface stream channels fed by groundwater springs and the development of surface subsidence patterns over a 25-year period. ERT and SP data from the head of one groundwater-fed channel adjacent to the former lakeshore show anomalies that point to concentrated, multidirectional water flow in conduits located in the shallow subsurface (< 25 m depth). ERT surveys further inland show anomalies that are coincident with the axis of a major depression and that we interpret as representing subsurface water flow. Low-frequency GPR surveys reveal the limit between unsaturated and saturated zones (< 30 m depth) surrounding the main depression area. Shear wave seismic reflection data nearly 1 km further inland reveal buried paleochannels within alluvial fan deposits, which we interpret as pathways for groundwater flow from the main wadi in the area towards the springs feeding the surface streams. Finally, simulations of density-driven flow of hypersaline and undersaturated groundwaters in response to base-level fall perform realistically if they include the generation of karst conduits near the shoreline. The combined approaches lead to a refined conceptual model of the hydrological and geomorphological processes developed at this part of the Dead Sea, whereby matrix flow through the superficial aquifer inland transitions to conduit flow nearer the shore where evaporite deposits are encountered. These conduits play a key role in the development of springs, stream channels and subsidence across the study area.
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