Abstract
The East–West oriented Kachchh Mainland Fault (KMF) is a major primary fault in an active Kachchh rift basin in the western part of India. In the present work, we made an attempt to understand the tectonic features of the KMF system and the hydrological characteristics of the fault zone using a time domain electromagnetic (TDEM) survey. The TDEM investigations are carried out at 52 sites, distributed along six profiles, three across the fault and three along the fault zone, to study the hydrological phenomenon. The resistivity sections of these six profiles are correlated with well log and lithology data provided information up to a depth of around 250 m and suggest a multilayer aquifer system. The resistivity sections also show KMF as a sharp contact between the Mesozoic rocks and the Quaternary alluvium overlain on Tertiary rocks. Most of the groundwater potential aquifer zones are towards the South and very few groundwater potential aquifer zones are found in the North. In this region, streams are flowing towards Rann of Kachchh. We infer that the KMF zone is impervious that possibly bisects the aquifer zones and acts as a barrier for the groundwater flow in the North–South direction and conduit for the parallel flow in the East–West direction. The study highlights the significant tectonic controls of the groundwater flow in the Kachchh rift.
Research highlights
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The study provides the hydrological characteristics of Kachchh Mainland Fault zone.
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Time domain electromagnetic investigations for Fault zone hydrology and tectonic controls of the groundwater flow in the Kachchh rift.
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Delineation of groundwater potential zones around Fault zone.
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Acknowledgements
We are thankful to the Director General of ISR for his kind permission to publish the present work. We also thank the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of Gujarat for sponsoring this work. We are also thankful to WCR, Central Groundwater Board, Central Govt. of India for the borehole data and groundwater data. The study forms part of the doctoral thesis of Rakesh Nikam. We sincerely thank the Editor and an anonymous reviewer for their constructive comments for improving the MS.
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Rakesh Nikam collected and analysed the data, performed modelling and manuscript writing. Sumer Chopra and G Pavan Kumar conceived the idea, overviewed the MS writing and supervised the work. Indu Chaudhary, Mehul Nagar, Himanshu Chaube, Dinesh Singh and Durga Prasad collected the data and analysed datasets. Nagarjuna assisted in results interpretation and MS writing.
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Communicated by Arkoprovo Biswas
Supplementary material pertaining to this article is available on the Journal of Earth System Science website (http://www.ias.ac.in/Journals/Journal_of_Earth_System_Science)
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Nikam, R., Chopra, S., Kumar, G.P. et al. Investigation of hydrological characteristics of the Kachchh Mainland Fault (KMF) Zone, Gujarat, Western India using time domain electromagnetic study. J Earth Syst Sci 131, 248 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12040-022-02004-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12040-022-02004-x