Juan Gisbert

Automated monitoring of coastal aquifers with electrical resistivity tomography

An Automated time-Lapse Electrical Resistivity Tomography (ALERT) system has been developed for the long-term monitoring of coastal aquifers. This ALERT system has been permanently installed in the River Andarax, Almeria, Spain to monitor and manage the impact of climatic change and land-use practice on the underlying Quaternary aquifer. An electrode array, nearly 1.6 km long, has been buried below the normally dry riverbed with electrode take-outs at regular intervals of 10 m. The maximum depth of investigation is about 160 m below ground level. An unmanned, permanent control station, in a secure location, allows the aquifer to be interrogated remotely from the BGS office in the UK. Volumetric geoelectric images of the subsurface can be obtained ‘on demand’ or at regular intervals; thereby eliminating the need for expensive repeat surveys. The entire process from data capture to image on the office PC is fully automated and seamless. The ALERT technology can provide early warning of potential threats to vulnerable water systems such as over-exploitation, rising sea levels, anthropogenic pollutants and seawater intrusion. The electrical images obtained (in space and time) are interpreted in terms of the hydrogeologic features including the seawater-freshwater interface. The timely detection and imaging of groundwater changes can help to regulate pumping and irrigation schemes.

Characterization of seawater intrusion using 2D electrical imaging

We have investigated the potential of 2D electrical imaging for the characterization of seawater intrusion using field data from a site in Almeria, SE Spain. Numerical simulations have been run for several scenarios, with a hydrogeological model reflecting the local site conditions. The simulations showed that only the lower salt concentrations of the seawater-freshwater transition zone could be recovered, due to the loss of resolution with depth. We quantified this capability in terms of the cumulative sensitivity associated with the measurement setup and showed that the mismatch between the targeted and imaged parameter values occurs from a certain sensitivity threshold. Similarly, heterogeneity may only be determined accurately if located in an adequately sensitive area. At the field site, we identified seawater intrusion at the scale of a few kilometres down to a hundred metres. Borehole logs show a remarkable correlation with the image obtained from surface data but indicate that the electrically derived mass fraction of pure seawater could not be recovered due to the discrepancy between the in-situ and laboratory-derived petrophysical relationships. Surface-to-hole inversion results suggest that the laterally varying resolution pattern associated with such a setup dominates the image characteristics compared to the laterally more homogeneous resolution pattern of surface only inversion results and hence, surface-to-hole images are not easily interpretable in terms of larger-scale features. Our results indicate that electrical imaging can be used to constrain seawater intrusion models if image appraisal tools are appropriately used to quantify the spatial variation of sensitivity and resolution. The most crucial limitation is probably the apparent non-stationarity of the petrophysical relationship during the imaging process.

Environmental control for determining human impact and permanent visitor capacity in a potential show cave before tourist use

Cave temperature monitoring was carried out in the Cueva del Agua de Iznalloz, Granada, Spain, a cave that has great tourist potential and which has been maintained under natural conditions for over 30 years. The cave temperature under natural conditions was used to identify possible anthropogenic influences, in order to distinguish these from the variations directly related to natural changes. In particular, the relative influence of external weather conditions, thermal modification caused by visitors and the subsequent thermal recovery of the cave were identified. In addition, controlled experiments investigated the effect of two large-scale visits (980 and 2088 visitors day -1 ) to the cave interior, before any tourist activities in the cave were undertaken. Correlation and spectral analyses of time series were used to determine the thermal behaviour of the cave over time. The effect of both mass visits on the air temperature in the interior of the cave was very rapid (2.5 min). The maximum perturbation of air temperature within the cave during the two experiments was after 30 and 70 min. The memory effect for temperature whilst the cave was open to the public was estimated to be 5-6 h, whilst the response to external meteorological changes exceeded one week. A permanent visitor capacity of 53 people ensures that the natural cave temperature can be regained within 4-5 h. The cave can only support small groups of visitors, not the massive visits characteristic of show caves.

Conditioning factors in flooding of karstic poljes—the case of the Zafarraya polje (South Spain)

Abstract The Zafarraya polje undergoes periodical flooding, of which the last episode (1996–1997) was analysed in detail on this paper. On the basis of the retention curves of the two lakes that formed in the northwestern and southwestern sectors, we calculated the total infiltration capacity of the polje to have a maximum value of 3–3.5 m3/s and so we infer that when the flow of the Arroyo de la Madre exceeds this figure, there will be a risk of flooding in the polje. We also propose a model for the 1996 flood that can be extended to other similar occurrences in this and other poljes where we can establish the role played by groundwater and surface water during this flood. In response to the heavy precipitation, the flow of the Arroyo de la Madre rose abruptly, exceeding the infiltration capacity of the main swallow holes on the polje, causing first the northern lake and then the southern lake to form with only surface water supply. The water table of the karst aquifer rose sharply, reaching a situation of equilibrium between the level in the lakes and the water table in this sector of the karst aquifer that prevented infiltration through the swallow holes. In the case of the southern lake, there were even cases of swallow holes that began to operate as estavelles. During this phase of maximum flooding, one single lake was present, which was divided into two once more when the water table of the karst aquifer in the polje sector began to fall and surface supply also began to decrease.

Geometry and dynamics of the freshwater-seawater interface in a coastal aquifer in southeastern Spain

Abstract The contact between freshwater and seawater in coastal aquifers is studied using a relatively simple model for homogeneous aquifers. However, for real aquifers it is not so simple. The desalination plant built to supply water to the city of Almería is situated over the aquifer in the southern part of the River Andarax Delta. Its design capacity is 1100 L s−1, and it is supplied from boreholes pumping water from beneath the freshwater—seawater contact in this aquifer. Well logs kept over a period of two years have allowed us to accurately define the interface geometry of the freshwater—seawater contact. Lithological data collected from 31 boreholes have also indicated the existence of strata with low hydraulic conductivity, within others of high conductivity. During a simultaneous pumping test of six wells with 690 L s−1 total discharge, electrical conductivity measurements showed the influx of seawater 6–10 m below sea level and a drawdown of the interface in the piezometers closest to the pumping wells.