Evaluation of lithostratigraphic units and groundwater potential using the resolution capacities of two different electrical tomographic electrodes at dual-spacing

Abstract

The selection of a choice electrode is pertinent to attenuating noise and improving geophysical tomographic inversion results. Besides, the detailed understanding of the geodynamic condition of subsurface formation is crucial to sustainable potable groundwater abstraction. Hence, the subsurface lithostratigraphic units and groundwater potential of two sites (i.e., Site 1 and Site 2) within the Universiti Sains Malaysia were evaluated using borehole-constrained electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) and induced polarisation (IP) tomography. Both methods employed the resolution capacities of stainless-steel and copper electrodes at dual-spacing. The ERT and IP field data and inversion results for copper electrodes were generally robust due to the generated higher positive data points and lower RMS errors, percentage relative differences, and mean absolute percentage errors (MAPE) than the stainless-steel electrodes, especially at Site 1 with a profile length of 200 m and an electrode spacing of 5 m. However, both electrodes tend to produce inversion models with almost the same parameters at Site 2, using half the profile length and electrode spacing of Site 1, i.e., 100 m and 2.5 m, respectively. Thus, the sensitivities and resolution capacities of the tomographic electrodes are heavily influenced by electrode spacing, profile length, amount of injected current, and depth of investigation. The borehole lithostratigraphic units, typically sandy silt, sand, and silty sand, have good correlations with the ERT and IP inversion results. The variability in observed resistivity and chargeability values were due to heterogeneous weathered materials and saturating water fills within the fractured and deeply-weathered granitic bedrock, with <200 Ωm and a chargeability of >1.8 msec. The models’ median depth of >40 m mapped for the weathered and/or fractured sections was suggestive of high groundwater-yielding capacity in boreholes to sustain a part of the university community. However, intended boreholes in the study area must be designed to prevent silt precipitation, which is considered a potential threat to potable groundwater and transmissivity since some sections are characterised by silt with little or no sand.