Preferential fluid flow pathways in embankment dams imaged by self‐potential tomography

Bolève, A.; Revil, A.; Janod, F.; Mattiuzzo, J. L.; Fry, Jean‐Jacques

doi:10.3997/1873-0604.2009012

Cited by 84 publications

(68 citation statements)

References 69 publications

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“…While self-potential mapping has been applied for a long time to detect preferential fluid flow pathways in embankments and earth dams (Bogoslovsky and Ogilvy 1973;Gex 1980;Merkler et al 1989;Wilt and Corwin 1989;AlSaigh et al 1994;Howie 2001, 2003), it has recently emerged as a powerful quantitative method in determining flow properties in such environments (Rozycki et al 2006;Sheffer and Oldenburg 2007;Rozycki 2009;Bolève et al 2009). The self-potential method was used by Rozycki et al (2006) to diagnose quantitatively leakages in dams and embankments.…”

Section: Applicationsmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…Kulessa et al (2003a, b) showed that high self-potential signals are generated during Earth tide deformation of glaciers and groundwater flow in permeable channels organized between the glaciers and the underlying substratum. Bolève et al (2009) developed a scheme to locate leakages in embankments and to determine the flow rate in the leaking area (Fig. 5).…”

Section: Applicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Review: Some low-frequency electrical methods for subsurface characterization and monitoring in hydrogeology

et al. 2012

Self Cite

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Low-frequency geoelectrical methods include mainly self-potential, resistivity, and induced polarization techniques, which have potential in many environmental and hydrogeological applications. They provide complementary information to each other and to in-situ measurements. The self-potential method is a passive measurement of the electrical response associated with the in-situ generation of electrical current due to the flow of pore water in porous media, a salinity gradient, and/or the concentration of redoxactive species. Under some conditions, this method can be used to visualize groundwater flow, to determine permeability, and to detect preferential flow paths. Electrical resistivity is dependent on the water content, the temperature, the salinity of the pore water, and the clay content and mineralogy. Time-lapse resistivity can be used to assess the permeability and dispersivity distributions and to monitor contaminant plumes. Induced polarization characterizes the ability of rocks to reversibly store electrical energy. It can be used to image permeability and to monitor chemistry of the pore water-minerals interface. These geophysical methods, reviewed in this paper, should always be used in concert with additional in-situ measurements (e.g. in-situ pumping tests, chemical measurements of the pore water), for instance through joint inversion schemes, which is an area of fertile on-going research.

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Section: Applicationsmentioning

confidence: 98%

Section: Applicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Review: Some low-frequency electrical methods for subsurface characterization and monitoring in hydrogeology

et al. 2012

Self Cite

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“…Despite the complications mentioned above, the SP method continues to receive considerable interest in hydrogeology as SP data are sensitive to contaminant transport (e.g., Maineult et al, 2004Maineult et al, , 2005Revil et al, 2009), redox processes (e.g., Linde and Revil, 2007), flow in saturated (e.g., Maineult et al, 2008;Bolève et al, 2009;Jardani et al, 2007) and unsaturated porous media (e.g., Thony et al, 1997;Doussan et al, 2002;Linde et al, 2007a), flow in fractures (e.g., Wishart et al, 2006), the water table elevation (e.g., Fournier, 1989;Revil et al, 2003;Rizzo et al, 2004), or the thickness of the vadose zone (Aubert and Yéné Atangana, 1996), etc. For example, the SP method might potentially be used to estimate water fluxes in the vadose zone (Thony et al, 1997).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Self-potential investigations of a gravel bar in a restored river corridor

Linde

Doetsch

Jougnot

et al. 2011

Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci.

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Abstract. Self-potentials (SP) are sensitive to water fluxes and concentration gradients in both saturated and unsaturated geological media, but quantitative interpretations of SP field data may often be hindered by the superposition of different source contributions and time-varying electrode potentials. Self-potential mapping and close to two months of SP monitoring on a gravel bar were performed to investigate the origins of SP signals at a restored river section of the Thur River in northeastern Switzerland. The SP mapping and subsequent inversion of the data indicate that the SP sources are mainly located in the upper few meters in regions of soil cover rather than bare gravel. Wavelet analyses of the timeseries indicate a strong, but non-linear influence of water table and water content variations, as well as rainfall intensity on the recorded SP signals. Modeling of the SP response with respect to an increase in the water table elevation and precipitation indicate that the distribution of soil properties in the vadose zone has a very strong influence. We conclude that the observed SP responses on the gravel bar are more complicated than previously proposed semi-empiric relationships between SP signals and hydraulic head or the thickness of the vadose zone. We suggest that future SP monitoring in restored river corridors should either focus on quantifying vadose zone processes by installing vertical profiles of closely spaced SP electrodes or by installing the electrodes within the river to avoid signals arising from vadose zone processes and time-varying electrochemical conditions in the vicinity of the electrodes.Correspondence to: N. Linde

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“…However, ERT fails to identify local groundwater flow direction because it is not sensitive to the groundwater fluxes, in contrast to the self-potential (SP) technique (Corwin and Hoover, 1979;Sill, 1983;Fournier, 1989;Aubert and Atangana, 1996). SP data have been used to detect flow paths (Fagerlund and Heinson, 2003;Revil et al, 2005;Jardani et al, 2006;Suski et al, 2008), leakages in dams (Al-Saigh et al, 1994;Bolève et al, 2009), and more recently to infer by inversion the fluxes within the preferential flow path (Jardani et al, 2007;Bolève et al, 2009). The last requires the knowledge of the streaming potential coupling coefficient (Revil et al, 1999) and supposes that the electrokinetic effect is the dominant contribution of the SP signals.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A salt tracer test monitored with surface ERT to detect preferential flow and transport paths in fractured/karstified limestones

et al. 2012

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In hard-rock aquifers, fractured zones constitute adequate drinking water exploitation areas but also potential contamination paths. One critical issue in hydrogeological research is to identify, characterize, and monitor such fractured zones at a representative scale. A tracer test monitored with surface electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) could help by delineating such preferential flow paths and estimating dynamic properties of the aquifer. However, multiple challenges exist including the lower resolution of surface ERT compared with crosshole ERT, the finite time that is needed to complete an entire data acquisition, and the strong dilution effects. We conducted a natural gradient salt tracer test in fractured limestones. To account for the high transport velocity, we injected the salt tracer continuously for four hours at a depth of 18 m. We monitored its propagation with two parallel ERT profiles perpendicular to the groundwater flow direction. Concerning the data acquisition, we always focused on data quality over temporal resolution. We performed the experiment twice to prove its reproducibility by increasing the salt concentration in the injected solution (from 38 to [Formula: see text]). Our research focused on how we faced every challenge to delineate a preferential flow and solute transport path in a typical calcareous valley of southern Belgium and on the estimation of the transport velocity (more than [Formula: see text]). In this complex environment, we imaged a clear tracer arrival in both ERT profiles and for both tests. Applying filters (with a cutoff on the relative sensitivity matrix and on the background-resistivity changes) was helpful to isolate the preferential flow path from artifacts. Regarding our findings, our approach could be improved to perform a more quantitative experiment. With a higher temporal resolution, the estimated value of the transport velocity could be narrowed, allowing estimation of the percentage of tracer recovery.

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Preferential fluid flow pathways in embankment dams imaged by self‐potential tomography

Cited by 84 publications

References 69 publications

Review: Some low-frequency electrical methods for subsurface characterization and monitoring in hydrogeology

Review: Some low-frequency electrical methods for subsurface characterization and monitoring in hydrogeology

Self-potential investigations of a gravel bar in a restored river corridor

A salt tracer test monitored with surface ERT to detect preferential flow and transport paths in fractured/karstified limestones

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