Abstract
Geo-electrical soundings using the Schlumberger configuration were carried out in the coastal city srea of Khulna, Bangladesh, to identify different water bearing horizons within the coastal plain sands. Geo-electrical sounding data were interpreted by partial curve matching technique to obtain the initial model parameters. This initial model was then used to obtain the final layer parameters through inversion technique. The best-fitted models were correlated with the litholog. Results show that two major water bearing horizons exist in the area: (i) an upper zone consisting of fine grained sands having apparent resistivity of 2–10 Ω m and (ii) a lower zone consisting of medium to coarse grained sands with 6–38 Ω m apparent resistivity value. The resistivities for most of the aquifer zones are found to be very low, which may be due to the salinity of groundwater besides their packing and grain size.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Adhikari DK, Roy MK, Datta DK, Roy PJ, Roy DK, Malik AR, Alam AKMB (2006) Urban geology: a case study of Khulna City Corporation. J of Life Earth Sci 1(2):17–29
Alam M (1990) Bangladesh in world regional geology. Columbia University Press, New York
Azeem MA, Khalequzzaman M (1994) Geology of the southern parts of Khulna and Bagerhat Districts. Bangladesh. Geol. Surv, Bangladesh (GSB)
Babu DSS, Hindi EC, Filho EF, Bittencourt AVL (2002) Characteristics of Valadares Island aquifer, Paranagua coastal plain, Brazil. Environ Geol 41:954–959
El-Waheidi MM, Merlanti F, Pavan M (1992) Geoelectric resistivity survey of the central part of Azraq basin (Jordan) for identifying saltwater/freshwater interface. J Appl Geophys 29:125–133
Gondwe E (1991) Saline water intrusion in southeast Tanzania. Geophys J R Astron Soc 27:25–34
Hussain J, Karim M (1994) Characteristics of the Bangladesh Coastal Region, part-II. Bangladesh Space Research and Remote Sensing Organization (SPARSO), Dhaka, p 22
Islam MR, Hayashi D (2008) Geology and coal bed methane resource potential of the Gondwana Barapukuria Coal Basin, Dinajpur, Bangladesh. Int J Coal Geol 75:127–143
Kearey P, Brooks M (1984) An introduction to geophysical exploration. Blackwell scientific publications, London, p 296
Keller GV, Frischnesht FC (1966) Electrical methods in geophysical prospecting. Pergamon, Oxford
Khan. M.S.A. and Kumar. U. (2010) Water security in peri-urban South Asia adapting to climate change and urbanization. Scoping study report: Khulna. P.9.
Lloyd JW, Heathcote JA (1985) Natural inorganic hydrochemistry in relation to groundwater. Oxford University Press, Oxford, p 291
Morgan JP, Mcintire MG (1959) Quaternary geology of the Bengal basin, East Pakistan and India. Bull Geol Soc Amer 70:319–341, Newyork
Petalas CP, Diamantis IB (1999) Origin and distribution of saline groundwaters in the upper Miocene aquifer system, coastal Rhodope area, northern Greece. Hydrogeol J 7:1–12
Telford WM, Geldart LP, Sheriff RA (1990) Applied geophysics, 2nd edn. University Press, Cambridge
Urish DW, Frohlich RK (1990) Surface electrical resistivity in coastal groundwater exploration. Geophys J R Astron Soc 26:267–289
Vengosh A, Ben-Zvi A (1994) Formation of a salt plume in a coastal plain aquifer of Isreal Be-er Toviyya region. J Hydrol 156:389–430
Woobaidullah ASM, Rahman M, Romer A, Arndt R (1996) Geoelectric resistivity survey for suitable freshwater aquifer identification in the coastal Belt of south-west Bangladesh. Jb Geol B-A 139:127–137
Woobaidullah ASM, Matin KH, Ullah S, Aziz Z, Karmaker U, Biswas DK, Arafin KS (2004) Assessment of consequence of saline water intrusion and land erosion on the coastal ecosystem of Bangladesh. Final report. Ministry of Forest and Management, Bangladesh Environmental Management Project, p 92
Zohdy AAR, Eaton GP, Mabey DR (1974) Application surface geophysics to ground-water investigation. Techniques of water-resources investigation. Geological Survey, U.S., p 116
Acknowledgments
The authors are thankful to geologists of Nuclear Minerals Unit and local people of the Khulna City area for their assistance during field work. The authors are also grateful to various water agencies for access to some of their records. This work is financed by the Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of The People’s Republic of Bangladesh under the Special Allocation program 2012–2013.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
An erratum to this article is available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12517-014-1746-7.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Khalil, I. Geo-electrical soundings and analysis to investigate groundwater aquifers at Khulna City, coastal area of Bangladesh. Arab J Geosci 8, 5325–5334 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-014-1636-z
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-014-1636-z