Special Issue "Groundwater Exploration and Hydrogeophysical Research"

A special issue of Water (ISSN 2073-4441). This special issue belongs to the section "Hydrogeology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 25 October 2023 | Viewed by 6926

Special Issue Editor

Boone Pickens School of Geology, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK, USA
Interests: groundwater exploration; hydrogeophysics; geophysical surveys; aquifer characterization

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Over 30 percent of the freshwater on Earth is found in the ground-forming groundwater aquifers. Finding groundwater aquifers was and will continue to be essential to life on Earth, especially for areas with no access to surface freshwater resources. However, finding groundwater has mainly relied on drilling water wells, which is always costly and provides limited information about the aquifers. With the emergence of geophysical applications for groundwater exploration, finding groundwater resources and evaluating groundwater aquifers has become possible and cost-effective. A new field of geophysical research with the name hydrogeophysics has evolved over the past few decades, demonstrating advances in geophysical methods, survey designs, and data analysis for groundwater exploration and aquifer characterizations. Despite the significant development in hydrogeophysics, there are still challenges in selecting the appropriate geophysical methods for locating groundwater and understanding specific complex aquifers such as hard rock and basement aquifers. This Special Issue encourages the submission of articles that demonstrate advances in the geophysical surveys used for groundwater-related research, including but not limited to groundwater exploration, aquifer characterization, groundwater flow, contamination, groundwater–surface water exchange, seawater intrusion, and tracking of groundwater levels.

Dr. Ahmed Ismail
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

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Keywords

  • groundwater
  • hydrogeophysics
  • geophysical surveys
  • geophysical data acquisition
  • geophysical data analysis
  • data integration
  • aquifer characterization
  • electrical methods
  • seismic methods
  • satellite imagery

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

Article
Shape Factor for Analysis of a Slug Test
Water 2023, 15(14), 2551; https://doi.org/10.3390/w15142551 - 12 Jul 2023
Viewed by 531
Abstract
Hydraulic conductivity is an essential parameter for groundwater investigation and management. A simple technique for determining the hydraulic conductivity of aquifers is the slug test, which consists of measuring the water level in a well after the sudden removal or injection of a [...] Read more.
Hydraulic conductivity is an essential parameter for groundwater investigation and management. A simple technique for determining the hydraulic conductivity of aquifers is the slug test, which consists of measuring the water level in a well after the sudden removal or injection of a small amount of water. The interpretation of a slug test is based on a geometry-dependent shape factor, for which various empirical relationships and approximate solutions have been proposed in the literature. In this study, shape factors are derived numerically for slug tests performed in monitoring wells with screens unaffected by aquifer boundaries. Also presented is a new approximate analytical solution for predicting shape factors for well screens with a large aspect ratio. A comparison with earlier methods reported in the literature shows that our results match or exceed them in terms of accuracy. The approximate analytical solution is promising because it is accurate and very easy to apply in practice. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Groundwater Exploration and Hydrogeophysical Research)
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Article
Delineation of Groundwater Potential Area using an AHP, Remote Sensing, and GIS Techniques in the Ifni Basin, Western Anti-Atlas, Morocco
Water 2023, 15(7), 1436; https://doi.org/10.3390/w15071436 - 06 Apr 2023
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2003
Abstract
An assessment of potential groundwater areas in the Ifni basin, located in the western Anti-Atlas range of Morocco, was conducted based on a multicriteria analytical approach that integrated a set of geomorphological and hydroclimatic factors influencing the availability of this resource. This approach [...] Read more.
An assessment of potential groundwater areas in the Ifni basin, located in the western Anti-Atlas range of Morocco, was conducted based on a multicriteria analytical approach that integrated a set of geomorphological and hydroclimatic factors influencing the availability of this resource. This approach involved the use of geographic information systems (GIS) and hierarchical analytical process (AHP) models. Different factors were classified and weighted according to their contribution to and impact on groundwater reserves. Their normalized weights were evaluated using a pairwise comparison matrix. Four classes of potentiality emerged: very high, high, moderate, and low, occupying 15.22%, 20.17%, 30.96%, and 33.65%, respectively, of the basin’s area. A groundwater potential map (GWPA) was validated by comparison with data from 134 existing water points using a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. The AUC was calculated at 80%, indicating the good predictive accuracy of the AHP method. These results will enable water operators to select favorable sites with a high groundwater potential. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Groundwater Exploration and Hydrogeophysical Research)
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Article
Combined Application of Hydrogeological and Geoelectrical Study in Groundwater Exploration in Karst-Granite Areas, Jiangxi Province
Water 2023, 15(5), 865; https://doi.org/10.3390/w15050865 - 23 Feb 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1409
Abstract
Drinking water shortage is a major concern in villages across southern Jiangxi, and this has impacted economic and social development. In order to address this challenge, groundwater prospecting was carried out in the villages under the support of Drinking Water Safety Project of [...] Read more.
Drinking water shortage is a major concern in villages across southern Jiangxi, and this has impacted economic and social development. In order to address this challenge, groundwater prospecting was carried out in the villages under the support of Drinking Water Safety Project of China Geological Survey. In this study, we present two example sites in Ningdu County selected to demonstrate the combined hydrogeological survey, and the direct current electrical resistivity method was utilized for the present study for groundwater exploration in karst-granite distribution areas. First, a hydrogeological study was effectively used to delineate shallow severely weathered structural fissures as prospective target water-bearing beds. Then, a direct current electrical resistivity survey was used to confirm the distribution, thickness scale, and water-bearing features. The structural fractured zone whose distribution and trend were first established through hydrogeological surveys and whose development characteristics and water-richness were investigated by the direct current electrical resistivity method is the target layer for water exploration in the karst-granite rock areas. The water-bearing fracture zone shows a groove or strip-shape low resistivity anomaly and can be identified in its aquifer position according to its IP half decay time (Th), apparent polarizability (ηs), and apparent resistivity (ρs). The findings demonstrate that the above methods were successful in locating water potential areas, providing information for comparison and accurate borehole positioning. The results of the subsequent drilling and pumping tests supported the interpretation of the geophysical exploration data, and the water output from both boreholes met the objectives of this study. This groundwater search might serve as a guide for future exploration projects in similar areas. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Groundwater Exploration and Hydrogeophysical Research)
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Article
The Ibadan Hydrogeophysics Research Site (IHRS)—An Observatory for Studying Hydrological Heterogeneities in A Crystalline Basement Aquifer in Southwestern Nigeria
Water 2023, 15(3), 433; https://doi.org/10.3390/w15030433 - 20 Jan 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2294
Abstract
Crystalline basement aquifers are important drinking water sources in Nigeria and several sub-Saharan African countries. However, an understanding of their local flow and transport processes and pathways is missing due to limited research. The implication has been their suboptimal management, with frequently reported [...] Read more.
Crystalline basement aquifers are important drinking water sources in Nigeria and several sub-Saharan African countries. However, an understanding of their local flow and transport processes and pathways is missing due to limited research. The implication has been their suboptimal management, with frequently reported dry wells and groundwater contaminations. To address this challenge, the Ibadan Hydrogeophysics Research Site was established in 2019 as the first field-scale hydrogeological research laboratory in Nigeria to advance understanding of the geologic, hydraulic, and hydrogeochemical variabilities within crystalline basement aquifers. The over 22,500 m2 research site with a 50 m × 50 m area used for active hydraulic testing is located within the University of Ibadan campus and is instrumented with four initial test wells extending through the weathered and fractured zones to a depth of 30 m each. Preliminary hydrogeological and geophysical studies focused on obtaining a conceptual model and knowledge of hydraulic heterogeneities to aid in detailed experimental and numerical studies. A combination of lithological logs and electrical resistivity revealed areas with subvertical fractures as low-resistivity zones (<200 Ωm), and a pumping test revealed a hydraulic conductivity range of 1.9 × 10−10 to 7.2 × 10−6 m/s. The drawdown–time curve shows flow from single-plane vertical fractures. The results of this study will serve as a basis for further targeted field and numerical studies for the investigation of variability in groundwater flow in complex crystalline basement aquifers. The presented field site is posed to support the adaptation and development of field methods for studying local heterogeneities within these aquifers in Nigeria. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Groundwater Exploration and Hydrogeophysical Research)
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