Abstract
Abstract. High local groundwater flow into rock tunnels may lead to a potential hazard and is an important factor influencing construction time and costs. Geological features such as fault zones and open fractures can be the source of very high local groundwater inflows. Having a reliable estimation of location groundwater inflows is essential before excavation of tunnels. To reduce the costs and time of field works, remote sensing investigations can be a good solution. The main aim of the present study is to propose a methodology for detecting the geomorphic markers of cuesta in the high local groundwater inflow to Nosoud tunnel using the satellite imagery data. For this purpose, a reflectance image from the ASTER satellite sensor was used. Our Experiments show that cuesta springs, caused by hydraulic fracturing, can be detected using the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) map, computed on the ASTER image, and analyzing the topographic and morphometric features of the area. Moreover, observations in tunnel excavation stage showed that crossing through open fractures in hard and thick layers is the major cause of water inflow into the tunnel, which corresponds to the surface hydrogeological evidences obtained from the ASTER image.
Highlights
Water leakage into tunnels and rock caverns is a major technical problem in underground constructions
Several disastrous events in tunneling are associated with large volumes of local groundwater inflow through geological features such as fault zones and open fractures
Some of these geological features and its related disasters have been frequently reported from several tunnels on Iran, such as Long Zagros tunnel and Alborz tunnel and others countries [1]
Summary
Water leakage into tunnels and rock caverns is a major technical problem in underground constructions. An attempt has been made to propose a methodology for detecting the geomorphic markers of cuesta in the reliable estimation of location high local groundwater inflow into Nosoud tunnel using the satellite imagery data. For this purpose, a reflectance image of the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) sensor was used. The Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER), which are aboard the Earth Observing System (EOS) TERRA platform, records solar radiation in 14 spectral bands It measures reflected radiation in three bands in VNIR and in six bands in SWIR, with 15- and 30-m resolution, respectively [6]. The swath width is 60 km, but ASTER’s pointing capability extends the total cross-track viewing capability to 232 km which can be used for generating digital-elevation models (DEM) [6]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
