Improving Groundwater Flow Model Conceptualisation and Calibration with ERT and Self-potential Methods

Abstract

The self-potential (SP) method relies on passive measurements of the ambient electrical potential at the ground surface or in boreholes. When the electrokinetic effect is the dominant contribution, the resulting signal is called the streaming potential and contains information about groundwater fluxes that can be useful for calibration of groundwater flow models. The streaming potential forward equation was implemented in the HydroGeoSphere model, which simulates 3D groundwater flow and solute transport in porous media, including fractured geological formations. HydroGeoSphere is able to calculate the streaming potential given a distribution of Darcy velocity and electrical resistivity. Since groundwater flow modelling relies on a conceptual model, prior information on the distribution of the geological units and hydraulic conductivity at the site is mandatory. However, this information is often scarce or missing. In this work, we use the electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) and the SP methods as an additional source of information for building the groundwater flow model. ERT is used to identify the location of fractured zones in a fractured and karstified calcareous aquifer of South Belgium. The SP signal is used with PEST in order to calibrate the groundwater flow model and better constrain the hydraulic conductivity of the fractured zones.