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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Oxford, Mississippi » National Sedimentation Laboratory » Watershed Physical Processes Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #403089
Research Project: Acoustic and Geophysical Methods for Multi-Scale Measurements of Soil and Water Resources

Location: Watershed Physical Processes Research

Title: Application of electrical resistivity tomography for aquifer characterization at Shellmound, Mississippi

Author
item MAMUD, LAL - University Of Mississippi
item HICKEY, CRAIG - University Of Mississippi
item HOLT, ROBERT - University Of Mississippi
item O'Reilly, Andrew - Andy
item WODAJO, LETI - University Of Mississippi
item PARSA BAKHTIARA, RAD - University Of Mississippi
item MD ABDUS, SAMAD - University Of Mississippi

Submitted to: American Geophysical Union Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 10/4/2022
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: Abstract only.

Technical Abstract: Groundwater flow induced by pumping from an aquifer near a river generates streaming potential signals that can be recorded at the ground surface around a pumping well. The streaming potential signal produced by pumping near a river is influenced by groundwater flow within an aquifer, water flow from the river into the aquifer, and mixing of waters with different chemical compositions and temperatures. Streaming potential measurements can be used to identify and quantify characteristic time scales associated with these processes. Streaming potential measurements were conducted around a groundwater extraction well drilled for an Aquifer Storage Recovery pilot project located about 40 meters away from the Tallahatchie River in Shellmound, Mississippi. Streaming potential data were recorded at 5 minute intervals using 80 non-polarizing copper sulfate electrodes in a radial pattern centering on the extraction well. Pumping rates varied from ~300 to ~1500 gallons per minute over a ~4 hour period. Time series and spatial distribution of streaming potential data shows that the river might have interacted with groundwater after 1 hour of pumping at an extraction rate of ~1500 gallons per minutes. This preliminary study suggest that measured SP data can be used to identify surface-groundwater interaction. Furthermore, hydraulic conductivity of aquifer, aquitard and riverbed; specific storage; and hydraulic head could be estimated from inversion of streaming potential data.