Four‐dimensional electrical conductivity monitoring of stage‐driven river water intrusion: Accounting for water table effects using a transient mesh boundary and conditional inversion constraints

This paper describes and demonstrates two methods of providing a priori information to the surface-based time-lapse three-dimensional electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) problem for monitoring stage-driven or tide-driven surface water intrusion into aquifers. First, a mesh boundary is implemented that conforms to the known location of the water table through time, thereby enabling the inversion to place a sharp bulk conductivity contrast at that boundary without penalty. Second, a nonlinear inequality constraint is used to allow only positive or negative transient changes in EC to occur within the saturated zone, dependent on the relative contrast in fluid electrical conductivity between surface water and groundwater. A 3-D field experiment demonstrates that time-lapse imaging results using traditional smoothness constraints are unable to delineate river water intrusion. The water table and inequality constraints provide the inversion with the additional information necessary to resolve the spatial extent of river water intrusion through time.

[1]  M. Cardenas,et al.  Geoelectrical imaging of hyporheic exchange and mixing of river water and groundwater in a large regulated river. , 2011, Environmental science & technology.

[2]  K. Singha,et al.  Imaging hyporheic zone solute transport using electrical resistivity , 2009 .

[3]  Andrew J. Boulton,et al.  Hyporheic rehabilitation in rivers: restoring vertical connectivity , 2007 .

[4]  T. Günther,et al.  A filtering method to correct time-lapse 3D ERT data and improve imaging of natural aquifer dynamics , 2012 .

[5]  Frederick D. Day-Lewis,et al.  Monitoring groundwater‐surface water interaction using time‐series and time‐frequency analysis of transient three‐dimensional electrical resistivity changes , 2012 .

[6]  Mapping the threat of seawater intrusion in a regional coastal aquifer–aquitard system in the southeastern United States , 2002 .

[7]  Niklas Linde,et al.  3D crosshole ERT for aquifer characterization and monitoring of infiltrating river water , 2011 .

[8]  W. Woessner.  Stream and Fluvial Plain Ground Water Interactions: Rescaling Hydrogeologic Thought , 2000 .

[9]  A. Binley,et al.  Cross-hole electrical imaging of a controlled saline tracer injection , 2000 .

[10]  Henning Prommer,et al.  Influence of calcite on uranium(VI) reactive transport in the groundwater-river mixing zone. , 2014, Journal of contaminant hydrology.

[11]  J. Stanford,et al.  Ecology and management of the hyporheic zone: stream–groundwater interactions of running waters and their floodplains , 2010, Journal of the North American Benthological Society.

[12]  P. Lichtner,et al.  Stochastic simulation of uranium migration at the Hanford 300 Area. , 2011, Journal of contaminant hydrology.

[13]  D. Hannah,et al.  Groundwater-surface water interactions: New methods and models to improve understanding of processes and dynamics , 2010 .

[14]  M. Cardenas,et al.  Linking regional sources and pathways for submarine groundwater discharge at a reef by electrical resistivity tomography, 222Rn, and salinity measurements , 2010 .

[15]  R. Parker,et al.  Occam's inversion; a practical algorithm for generating smooth models from electromagnetic sounding data , 1987 .

[16]  A. Binley,et al.  Temporal and spatial variability of groundwater–surface water fluxes: Development and application of an analytical method using temperature time series , 2007 .

[17]  Dennis P. Lettenmaier,et al.  EFFECTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON HYDROLOGY AND WATER RESOURCES IN THE COLUMBIA RIVER BASIN 1 , 1999 .

[18]  Practical strategies for identifying groundwater discharges into sediment and surface water with fiber optic temperature measurement. , 2014, Environmental science. Processes & impacts.

[19]  D. W. Rondorf,et al.  Quantifying Flow-Dependent Changes in Subyearling Fall Chinook Salmon Rearing Habitat Using Two-Dimensional Spatially Explicit Modeling , 2002 .

[20]  A. Ward,et al.  Use of electrical imaging and distributed temperature sensing methods to characterize surface water–groundwater exchange regulating uranium transport at the Hanford 300 Area, Washington , 2010 .

[21]  Kamini Singha,et al.  Geoelectrical inference of mass transfer parameters using temporal moments , 2008 .

[22]  A. Boulton.  Stream ecology and surface-hyporheic hydrologic exchange: Implications, techniques and limitations , 1993 .

[23]  G. Backus,et al.  The Resolving Power of Gross Earth Data , 1968 .

[24]  Colin Farquharson,et al.  Constructing piecewise-constant models in multidimensional minimum-structure inversions , 2008 .

[25]  D. Geist,et al.  Effects of fluctuating river flow on groundwater/surface water mixing in the hyporheic zone of a regulated, large cobble bed river , 2006 .

[26]  E. Hoehn,et al.  Interpretation of tracer displacement during infiltration of river water to groundwater , 1987 .

[27]  André Revil,et al.  Characterization of groundwater and surface water mixing in a semiconfined karst aquifer using time‐lapse electrical resistivity tomography , 2014 .

[28]  M. Bayani Cardenas,et al.  Surface water‐groundwater interface geomorphology leads to scaling of residence times , 2008 .

[29]  Frederick D. Day-Lewis,et al.  Spatially variable stage‐driven groundwater‐surface water interaction inferred from time‐frequency analysis of distributed temperature sensing data , 2012 .

[30]  J. Stanford,et al.  The hyporheic habitat of river ecosystems , 1988, Nature.

[31]  W. Daily,et al.  The effects of noise on Occam's inversion of resistivity tomography data , 1996 .

[32]  Glenn E. Hammond,et al.  Field‐scale model for the natural attenuation of uranium at the Hanford 300 Area using high‐performance computing , 2010 .

[33]  D. Lettenmaier,et al.  Implications of 21st century climate change for the hydrology of Washington State , 2010 .

[34]  Roelof Versteeg,et al.  Improved hydrogeophysical characterization and monitoring through parallel modeling and inversion of time-domain resistivity andinduced-polarization data , 2010 .

[35]  F. Reinstorf,et al.  Measuring methods for groundwater – surface water interactions: a review , 2006 .

[36]  V. Zlotnik,et al.  Classification and delineation of groundwater–lake interactions in the Nebraska Sand Hills (USA) using electrical resistivity patterns , 2012, Hydrogeology Journal.

[37]  O. Soldal,et al.  Seawater intrusion and fresh groundwater hydraulics in fjord delta aquifers inferred from ground penetrating radar and resistivity profiles—Sunndalsøra and Esebotn, western Norway , 1994 .

[38]  G. Rau,et al.  A 1‐D analytical method for estimating surface water–groundwater interactions and effective thermal diffusivity using temperature time series , 2012 .

[39]  Observing lingering hyporheic storage using electrical resistivity: variations around stream restoration structures, Crabby Creek, PA , 2013 .

[40]  G. Massmann,et al.  Investigation of groundwater residence times during bank filtration in Berlin: a multi‐tracer approach , 2008 .

[41]  John M. Zachara,et al.  Imaging high stage river‐water intrusion into a contaminated aquifer along a major river corridor using 2‐D time‐lapse surface electrical resistivity tomography , 2013 .

[42]  P. Masqué,et al.  Delineating coastal groundwater discharge processes in a wetland area by means of electrical resistivity imaging, 224Ra and 222Rn , 2014 .

[43]  Young-Jin Park,et al.  An assessment of the tracer‐based approach to quantifying groundwater contributions to streamflow , 2006 .

[44]  John Bargar,et al.  Persistence of uranium groundwater plumes: contrasting mechanisms at two DOE sites in the groundwater-river interaction zone. , 2013, Journal of contaminant hydrology.

[45]  Niklas Linde,et al.  Estimating traveltimes and groundwater flow patterns using 3D time-lapse crosshole ERT imaging of electrical resistivity fluctuations induced by infiltrating river water , 2012 .

[46]  Kevin M. Befus,et al.  Heat transport dynamics at a sandy intertidal zone , 2013 .

[47]  J. Stanford,et al.  An Ecosystem Perspective of Alluvial Rivers: Connectivity and the Hyporheic Corridor , 1993, Journal of the North American Benthological Society.

[48]  W. Moore.  The subterranean estuary: a reaction zone of ground water and sea water , 1999 .

[49]  P. Swarzenski,et al.  Utilizing multichannel electrical resistivity methods to examine the dynamics of the fresh water–seawater interface in two Hawaiian groundwater systems , 2012 .

[50]  A. Cheng,et al.  Seawater intrusion in coastal aquifers : concepts, methods, and practices , 1999 .

[51]  Niklas Linde,et al.  Imaging and quantifying salt-tracer transport in a riparian groundwater system by means of 3D ERT monitoring , 2012 .

[52]  Lanbo Liu,et al.  Marine electrical resistivity imaging of submarine groundwater discharge: sensitivity analysis and application in Waquoit Bay, Massachusetts, USA , 2010 .

[53]  Christopher S. Lowry,et al.  Locating and quantifying spatially distributed groundwater/surface water interactions using temperature signals with paired fiber‐optic cables , 2013 .

[54]  A. Keshari,et al.  A numerical model for estimating groundwater flux from subsurface temperature profiles , 2007 .

[55]  Charles F. Harvey,et al.  Investigation of aquifer‐estuary interaction using wavelet analysis of fiber‐optic temperature data , 2009 .

[56]  D. Dudley Williams,et al.  Perspectives and predictions on the microbial ecology of the hyporheic zone , 1999 .

[57]  Martin S. Andersen,et al.  Experimental investigation of the thermal time‐series method for surface water‐groundwater interactions , 2012 .

[58]  O. Batelaan,et al.  A simple thermal mapping method for seasonal spatial patterns of groundwater–surface water interaction , 2011 .

[59]  G. Rau,et al.  Analytical methods that use natural heat as a tracer to quantify surface water–groundwater exchange, evaluated using field temperature records , 2010 .

[60]  S. Dunn,et al.  Groundwater–surface‐water interactions in a braided river: a tracer‐based assessment , 2003 .