Abstract
Groundwater yields in the Kenya Rift are highly unsustainable owing to geological variability. In this study, field hydraulic characterization was performed by using geo-electric approaches. The relations between electrical–hydraulic (eh) conductivities were modeled hypothetically and calibrated empirically. Correlations were based on the stochastic models and field-scale hydraulic parameters were contingent on pore-level parameters. By considering variation in pore-size distributions over eh conduction interval, the relations were scaled-up for use at aquifer-level. Material-level electrical conductivities were determined by using Vertical Electrical Survey and hydraulic conductivities by analyzing aquifer tests of eight boreholes in the Olbanita aquifer located in Kenya rift. VES datasets were inverted by using the computer code IP2Win. The main result is that InT = 0.537(1nFa) + 3.695, the positive gradient indicating eh conduction through pore-surface networks and a proxy of weathered and clayey materials. An inverse (1/F-K) correlation is observed. Hydraulic parameters determined using such approaches may possibly contribute significantly towards sustainable yield management and planning of groundwater resources.
Highlights
IntroductionThe frameworks of modern day characterization approaches are probabilistic and notoriously unreliable in application owing to inherent heterogeneity in fractured aquifers, scaling and uncertainty associated with their hydraulic parameter values; the cost dimensions of their hydraulic data requirements are not commensurate
Material-level electrical conductivities were determined by using Vertical Electrical Survey and hydraulic conductivities by analyzing aquifer tests of eight boreholes in the Olbanita aquifer located in Kenya rift
The frameworks of modern day characterization approaches are probabilistic and notoriously unreliable in application owing to inherent heterogeneity in fractured aquifers, scaling and uncertainty associated with their hydraulic parameter values; the cost dimensions of their hydraulic data requirements are not commensurate
Summary
The frameworks of modern day characterization approaches are probabilistic and notoriously unreliable in application owing to inherent heterogeneity in fractured aquifers, scaling and uncertainty associated with their hydraulic parameter values; the cost dimensions of their hydraulic data requirements are not commensurate. Theories such as fractal transport are founded on knowledge of the probabilistic properties of the flow media [1] and [2]. It was observed that the multi-fractionality exhibited, was conditioned by other factors, scale-diversity in material-level heterogeneity, whose descriptions require robust and systematic quantification of multi-fractal behavior of the hydraulic conductivity, K field. Despite the inroads made by various techniques, the convolution of poorly resolved computations of the parameter K persists
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