Mapping aquifer geometry using electrical resistivity tomography: a case study from Şanlıurfa, south‐eastern Turkey

Abstract

A shallow aquifer system was investigated with 2D electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) to determine the hydrogeological setting of the Balıklı Lake region, Şanlıurfa, Turkey. Many spring waters are found in the study area where groundwater flow paths merge and reach the surface. A recreation complex was planned near the Balıklı Lake by the Municipality of Şanlıurfa. Therefore, an ERT survey was carried out to reveal the subsurface characterization, particularly to investigate the possible shallow aquifer system beneath the recreation area. Consequently, 2D resistivity data along thirteen profiles were acquired in the study area and the data were inverted by a tomographic inversion technique. The conductive layers in the ERT results indicated a shallow aquifer zone probably related to a karstic environment. The high conductivity observed in this layer might be caused by pollution resulting from the industrial and domestic wastes of the residential areas. The high resistive bottom layer was considered to be the basement in the study area. The geometry of the shallow aquifer environment was confirmed by slicing maps obtained from the ERT data. To build the conceptual geological model, a 2D forward resistivity modelling study was also achieved after the inversion studies. The inversion parameters and borehole result underlie the background of the forward model. Field and synthetic data were compared to each other and tested in means of calculation of the misfits to determine the reliability of these models.

Imaging Rainfall Infiltration Processes with the Time-Lapse Electrical Resistivity Imaging Method

“…Electrical resistivity imaging (ERI) has been widely used in resource exploration, hydrogeology surveys, engineering geology surveys, and environment geology surveys (AHMED and SULAIMAN 2001;CHANG et al 2012;DE BARI et al 2011;DRAHOR et al 2011;FIKOS et al 2012;HERMANS et al 2012a, b;LEHMANN et al 2013;LONG et al 2006;MAITI et al 2012;MARTINEZ-PAGAN et al 2010;METWALY et al 2013;MUCHINGAMI et al 2012;PERRONE et al 2014;PUJARI et al 2007;REVIL et al 2010;SINGH et al 2010;SIRHAN and HAMIDI 2013;SONKAMBLE 2014;TANG et al 2007;TRAVELLETTI et al 2012). It can also be used for monitoring the groundwater flow and river water discharge patterns (COSCIA et al 2011(COSCIA et al , 2012HAYLEY et al 2009;SUZUKI and HIGASHI 2001).…”

“…It can also be used for monitoring the groundwater flow and river water discharge patterns (COSCIA et al 2011(COSCIA et al , 2012HAYLEY et al 2009;SUZUKI and HIGASHI 2001). In the recent years, the time-lapse ERI method has been applied to monitor the preferential flow paths within the rock/soil mass (DRAHOR et al 2011;HERMANS et al 2012b;MAITI et al 2012;MUCHINGAMI et al 2012) and the geological system of CO 2 storage for the real-time purpose (BERGMANN et al 2012;CHRISTENSEN et al 2006;PICOTTI et al 2013). Compared with other geotechnical and hydrological methods used for monitoring rainfall infiltration processes, the time-lapse ERI method can perform live, high-resolution monitoring of changes in the physical properties of a subsurface (PERRONE et al 2014) in terms of the variation of subsurface resistivity distribution.…”

Characterization of a Shallow Coastal Aquifer in the Framework of a Subsurface Storage and Soil Aquifer Treatment Project Using Electrical Resistivity Tomography (Port de la Selva, Spain)

“…The most widely used method for hydrological applications and shallow aquifers characterization is probably the direct-current (DC) resistivity, which is highly responsive to detailed subsurface electrical conductivity changes related to geological and hydrological heterogeneities [24]. Electrical resistivity (also called DC resistivity) methods measure the apparent electrical resistivity of the formation and have been widely used to delineate the geometry of shallow aquifers [25][26][27] and saltwater intrusion [28][29][30][31][32]. However, ERT has rarely been used in SAT projects framework and it could define better the boundary conditions in its hydrogeological models, which is important for understanding and predicting subsurface flow and transport.…”