Analysis of Electrical Resistivity Data in Resolving the Saline and Fresh Water Aquifers in West Coast Maharashtra

Abstract

Electrical resistivity methods are widely used for identification of groundwater potential zones and in delineating the lateral and vertical distribution of sub-surface. This method can also characterize the ingress of sea water into inlands thereby getting mixed up with fresh water bodies. The present studies are an attempt to delineate the saline water and fresh water intrusion in parts of Kudal-Vengurla and surrounding coastal region of western Maharashtra. A total of 30 vertical electrical soundings were carried out in a near grid pattern using the Schlumberger configuration. The contour maps for Dar-Zarrouk parameters viz. the transverse resistance (T), longitudinal conductance (S), transverse resistivity (ρ t ) and longitudinal resistivity (ρ l ) were computed to generate the resistivity regime of saline and fresh water bearing formations. The results illustrate that the Dar-Zarrouk parameters provide a constructive solution in delineating the saline and fresh water aquifers, particularly when the resistivity data interpretation encounters constraints due to intermixing of saline water aquifers, fresh water aquifers etc. The pseudo cross-sections of resistivity data over five profiles in the study region show the flow of saline water from the coastal side, partly controlled by the lineaments.

Geo-electrical resistivity survey for fresh groundwater investigation in Mirsharai Economic Zone, Chittagong in the south-eastern coastal areas of Bangladesh

“…The emerging use of geophysical methods for hydrogeological imaging has yielded a new field of research, hydro-geophysics. Electrical resistivity method is one of the most widely used, easiest, highly reliable and cheapest method for surveying large areas (Serres,1969;Buggand Lloyd, 1976;Oteri et al, 1983;Elwaheidi et al,1992;Acworth, 2001;Kouzana et al, 2009;Woobaidullah and Zohir Uddin, 2011;Gautam et al, 2014;Rahman and Bhattacharya, 2014;Woobaidullah et al, 2014Woobaidullah et al, , 2019. Mirsharai economic zone of Chittagong District, a coastal and tidal floodplain area, contains shallow aquifers contaminated with saline water.…”

Evaluation of groundwater potential and saline water intrusion using secondary geophysical parameters: A case study from western Maharashtra, India

“…The most widely used geophysical method to assign, particularly in salinity mapping, is geo-electrical method (Loke, 2000). Various researchers around the world have applied geo-electrical method in demarcating coastal-area hydrogeology condition (Maiti et al, 2013;Gupta et al, 2014).…”

Geoelectric investigation to delineate groundwater potential and recharge zones in Suki river basin, north Maharashtra

“…The vertical electrical sounding (VES) technique has been effectively used by many researchers in diverse fields of application including groundwater investigations (Devi et al 2001;Lenkey et al 2005;Hamzah et al 2007;Gupta et al 2012), groundwater contamination studies (Karlik and Kaya 2013), saltwater intrusion problems (Edet and Okereke 2001;Hodlur et al 2006;Song et al 2007;Adeoti et al 2010;Hermans et al 2012;Maiti et al 2013b;Gupta et al 2014), and geothermal explorations (El-Qady et al 2000;Majumdar et al 2000;Kumar et al 2011).…”