Hydrogeological systems and hydrological processes are quite complex. In hydrogeological systems, as in any complex system, there is a great demand to improve investigative technologies. The motivation for such new technologies is mainly the need for improved assessment (i.e., understanding, access, and description) of properties controlling hydrogeological structure and dynamics. A better understanding of such properties will also improve exploration by enabling the complementary and joint use of hydrogeological methods. Very often, advancements in hydrogeological technologies take the form of improvements in measurement and processing of currently used methods. These improvements include collection of more data in more accurate, faster, and cheaper ways, as well as faster processing. These kinds of improvements result from the continuous evolution of hardware and software technology. Besides these technical improvements, however, there is a need for better understanding of hydrogeological system properties. Only very rarely in geophysics does a new technology or approach emerge that is completely different from those previously in existence. This chapter presents two such technologies, which have just passed the experimental stage to become promising and valuable tools for investigating hydrogeological structures and properties. The first technology, surface nuclear magnetic resonance (SNMR), enables, for the first time, the direct detection of water exclusively from surface measurements, with additional information about mobile water content and the pore-structure parameters controlling hydraulic conductivities. The second technology, the magneto-electrical resistivity imaging technique (MERIT)-based on a well-known electrical methodology but with new sensors and measurement parameters-enables better assessment of the subsurface resistivity structure than previously possible, and therefore a better assessment of hydrogeological characteristics. In this chapter, we review in detail SNMR and MERIT technologies and briefly discuss a few additional emerging methods that have great potential to improve hydrogeological investigations. 16.1 Surface Nuclear Magnetic Resonance The SNMR method is a fairly new geophysical technique for directly investigating the existence, volume, and mobility of groundwater by surface geophysical measurements. The basic concept of SNMR is that hydrogen protons of water in the subsurface are
CITATION STYLE
Yaramanci, U., Kemna, A., & Vereecken, H. (2005). Emerging Technologies in Hydrogeophysics. In Hydrogeophysics (pp. 467–486). Springer Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-3102-5_16
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