Abstract
Groundwater is under constant threat of exploitation with increasing demands. Therefore, there is a need for more advanced methods for exploring potential groundwater zones to meet people requirements. Groundwater in hard terrain areas is present in fractured zones, whereas in lateritic terrain it occurs in layered strata. Electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) is an advanced geophysical technique used in our present study; a quasi-3D ERT survey was conducted using different arrays. 2D Geophysical data were acquired along 18 ERT profiles of Wenner and Wenner–Schlumberger arrays and 13 ERT profiles of Dipole–Dipole array. Each profile of 200 m length was kept parallel to each other at 5 m spacing in the E–W direction. The inverted response was generated and, based on resistivity distribution, different geological layers of clay, sand and laterite were delineated using various ERT arrays. A conductive zone was marked as a potential aquifer zone at depths of 7–10 m below ground level. Thus, the quasi-3D geoelectrical approach was applied successfully in a lateritic environment for deciphering potential groundwater zones.
Similar content being viewed by others
Availability of data and materials
Data will be available on request.
References
Al-Garni, M. A., Hassanein, H. I., & Gobashy, M. (2005). Ground-magnetic survey and Schlumberger sounding for identifying the subsurface factors controlling the groundwater flow along Wadi Lusab, Makkah Al-Mukarramah, Saudi Arabia. Journal of Applied Geophysics, 4, 59–74.
Arkoprovo, B., Adarsa, J., & Animesh, M. (2013). Application of remote sensing, GIS and MIF technique for elucidation of groundwater potential zones from a part of Orissa coastal tract, Eastern India. International Science Congress Association.
Arkoprovo, B., Adarsa, J., & Prakash, S. S. (2012). Delineation of groundwater potential zones using satellite remote sensing and geographic information system techniques: A case study from Ganjam district, Orissa, India.
Aziz, N. A., Abdulrazzaq, Z. T., & Agbasi, O. E. (2019). Mapping of subsurface contamination zone using 3D electrical resistivity imaging in Hilla city, Iraq. Environmental Earth Sciences, 78(16), 502.
Bharti, A. K., Pal, S. K., Singh, K. K. K., Singh, P. K., Prakash, A., & Tiwary, R. K. (2019). Groundwater prospecting by the inversion of cumulative data of Wenner–Schlumberger and dipole–dipole arrays: A case study at Turamdih, Jharkhand, India. Journal of Earth System Science, 128(4), 107.
Bhunia, G. S., Samanta, S., Pal, D. K., & Pal, B. (2012). Assessment of groundwater potential zone in Paschim Medinipur District, West Bengal–a meso-scale study using GIS and remote sensing approach. Assessment, 2(5), 41–59.
Castilho, G. P., & Maia, D. F. (2008). A successful mixed land-underwater 3D resistivity survey in an extremely challenging environment in Amazônia. In Symposium on the application of geophysics to engineering and environmental problems 2008 (pp. 1150–1158). Society of Exploration Geophysicists.
Chandra, S., Rao, V. A., Krishnamurthy, N. S., Dutta, S., & Ahmed, S. (2006). Integrated studies for characterization of lineaments used to locate groundwater potential zones in a hard rock region of Karnataka, India. Hydrogeology Journal, 14(6), 1042–1051.
Chowdhury, A., Jha, M. K., & Chowdary, V. M. (2009). Delineation of groundwater recharge zones and identification of artificial recharge sites in West Medinipur district, West Bengal, using RS, GIS and MCDM techniques. Environmental Earth Sciences, 59(6), 1209.
Dahlin, T. (2001). The development of DC resistivity imaging techniques. Computers & Geosciences, 27(9), 1019–1029.
Dahlin, T., Bernstone, C., & Loke, M. H. (2002). A 3-D resistivity investigation of a contaminated site at Lernacken, Sweden. Geophysics, 67(6), 1692–1700.
Daily, W., Ramirez, A., LaBrecque, D., & Nitao, J. (1992). Electrical resistivity tomography of vadose water movement. Water Resources Research, 28(5), 1429–1442.
DeGroot-Hedlin, C., & Constable, S. (1990). Occam’s inversion to generate smooth, two-dimensional models from magnetotelluric data. Geophysics, 55(12), 1613–1624.
Dey, A., & Morrison, H. F. (1979). Resistivity modeling for arbitrarily shaped three-dimensional structures. Geophysics, 44(4), 753–780.
Gharibi, M., & Bentley, L. R. (2005). Resolution of 3-D electrical resistivity images from inversions of 2-D orthogonal lines. Journal of Environmental and Engineering Geophysics, 10(4), 339–349.
Griffiths, D. H., & Barker, R. D. (1993). Two-dimensional resistivity imaging and modelling in areas of complex geology. Journal of Applied Geophysics, 29(3–4), 211–226.
Griffiths, D. H., Turnbull, J., & Olayinka, A. I. (1990). Two-dimensional resistivity mapping with a computer-controlled array. First Break, 8(4), 121–129.
Koefoed, O. (1979). Geosounding Principles 1: Resistivity Sounding Measurements. Amsterdam: Elsevier Science Publishing Company.
Kumar, D., Mondal, S., Nandan, M. J., Harini, P., Sekhar, B. S., & Sen, M. K. (2016). Two-dimensional electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) and time-domain-induced polarization (TDIP) study in hard rock for groundwater investigation: a case study at Choutuppal Telangana, India. Arabian Journal of Geosciences, 9(5), 355.
Kumar, D., Rao, V. A., & Sarma, V. S. (2014). Hydrogeological and geophysical study for deeper groundwater resource in quartzitic hard rock ridge region from 2D resistivity data. Journal of Earth System Science, 123(3), 531–543.
Kumar, P., Tiwari, P., Biswas, A., & Acharya, T. (2020). Geophysical and hydrogeological investigation for the saline water invasion in the coastal aquifers of West Bengal, India: A critical insight in the coastal saline clay–sand sediment system. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, 192(9), 1–22.
Loke, M. H. (1999). Electrical imaging surveys for environmental and engineering studies. User’s Manual for Res2dinv. Electronic version available from https://geometrics.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Lokenote.pdf.
Loke, M. H. (2003). Rapid 2D resistivity & IP inversion using the least-squares method. Geotomo Software. Manual.
Loke, M. H. (2004). Tutorial: 2D and 3D electrical imaging surveys. Electronic version available from https://sites.ualberta.ca/~unsworth/UA-classes/223/loke_course_notes.pdf.
Loke, M. H., & Barker, R. D. (1996). Rapid least-squares inversion of apparent resistivity pseudosections by a quasi-Newton method 1. Geophysical Prospecting, 44(1), 131–152.
Loke, M. H., & Dahlin, T. (2010). Methods to reduce banding effects in 3-D resistivity inversion. In Near surface 2010–16th EAGE European meeting of environmental and engineering geophysics (pp. cp–164). European Association of Geoscientists & Engineers.
Mondal, S. (2012). Remote sensing and GIS based ground water potential mapping of Kangshabati irrigation command area, West Bengal. J Geogr Nat Disast, 1(1), 1–8.
Mukherjee, A., & Sengupta, P. (2014). Project completion report on International Training Workshop on Borehole Geophysics and Groundwater. Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, India.
Niyogi, D. (1975). Quaternary geology of the coastal plain of West Bengal and Orissa. Indian Journal of Earth Science, 2(1), 51–61.
Noel, M., & Xu, B. (1991). Archaeological investigation by electrical resistivity tomography: A preliminary study. Geophysical Journal International, 107(1), 95–102.
Panda, K. P., Sharma, S. P., & Jha, M. K. (2018). Mapping lithological variations in a river basin of West Bengal, India using electrical resistivity survey: Implications for artificial recharge. Environmental Earth Sciences, 77(17), 626.
Park, S. K., & Van, G. P. (1991). Inversion of pole-pole data for 3-D resistivity structure beneath arrays of electrodes. Geophysics, 56(7), 951–960.
Park, S., Yi, M. J., Kim, J. H., & Shin, S. W. (2016). Electrical resistivity imaging (ERI) monitoring for groundwater contamination in an uncontrolled landfill, South Korea. Journal of Applied Geophysics, 135, 1–7.
Raghunath, H. M. (2006). Hydrology: Principles, analysis and design. New Age International.
Sandberg, S. K., Slater, L. D., & Versteeg, R. (2002). An integrated geophysical investigation of the hydrogeology of an anisotropic unconfined aquifer. Journal of Hydrology, 267(3–4), 227–243.
Sasaki, Y. (1992). Resolution of resistivity tomography inferred from numerical simulation 1. Geophysical Prospecting, 40(4), 453–463.
Sengupta, S. (1966). Geological and geophysical studies in western part of Bengal basin, India. AAPG Bulletin, 50(5), 1001–1017.
Storz, H., Storz, W., & Jacobs, F. (2000). Electrical resistivity tomography to investigate geological structures of the earth’s upper crust. Geophysical Prospecting, 48(3), 455–472.
Tardy, Y. (1992). Diversity and terminology of lateritic profiles. In Developments in earth surface processes (Vol. 2, pp. 379–405). Elsevier.
Tardy, Y. (1997). Petrology of laterites and tropical soils. AA Balkema.
Telford, W. M., Telford, W. M., Geldart, L. P., Sheriff, R. E., & Sheriff, R. E. (1990). Applied geophysics. Cambridge University Press.
Terrameter, L. S. (2012). Instruction manual. ABEM100709.
Usifo, A. G., Adeola, A. J., Akinnawo, O. O., & Onaiwu, K. N. (2018). Evaluation of lateritic soil using 2-d electrical resistivity methods at Alapoti, Southwestern Nigeria. Global Journal of Pure and Applied Sciences, 24(1), 25–36.
Yi, M. J., Kim, J. H., Song, Y., Cho, S. J., Chung, S. H., & Suh, J. H. (2001). Three-dimensional imaging of subsurface structures using resistivity data. Geophysical Prospecting, 49(4), 483–497.
Zhang, P. S., Liu, S. D., Wu, R. X., & Cao, Y. (2009). Dynamic detection of overburden deformation and failure in mining workface by 3D resistivity method. Chinese Journal of Rock Mechanics and Engineering, 28(9), 1870–1875.
Acknowledgments
We thank EIC Prof. John Carranza and two anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments, which helped us improve the manuscript's quality. Finally, we would like to extend our thanks to IIT Kharagpur for providing the institute fellowship for our work, without which the above work could not be undertaken.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Rupesh, Tiwari, P. & Sharma, S.P. High-Resolution Quasi-3D Electric Resistivity Tomography for Deciphering Groundwater Potential Zones in Lateritic Terrain. Nat Resour Res 30, 3339–3353 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11053-021-09888-4
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11053-021-09888-4