Infiltration Assessments on Top of Yungang Grottoes by Time-Lapse Electrical Resistivity Tomography

Abstract

Water plays a vital role in the weathering process of grottoes. Precipitation is a main water source in the grotto hosting mountain rock. In this study, time-lapse electrical resistivity tomography was adopted to track the movement of infiltrated water in a profile in the Yungang Grottoes. Our one-year monitoring data indicated a good resistivity response to rainfall in the shallow unconsolidated soil layers. There were only resistivity decreases in the near surface 5 m across the whole monitoring profile, and resistivity values quickly returned to a neutral state after the rain stopped. Based on the analysis of a typical rainfall event during the rainy season, we found that the infiltrated water cannot continuously move downwards to recharge local groundwater. It moves horizontally to a nearby gully due to the existence of a hydraulic conductive fine sand layer and low permeable mudstone and sandstone base rocks. An artificial infiltration experiment was carried out to further verify the fate of infiltrated water. Based on mass balance analysis, with 10 m3 of infiltrated water, it only saturated dry soil in the top 1.36 m soil layer on average and this was roughly consistent with our field borehole wetting front verifications at 1.2 and 1.3 m. There were limited horizontal expansions from the infiltrated water. Therefore, based on our monitoring data and analysis, infiltrated water was not the main source of the water involved in the weathering process of the Yungang Grottoes.