WP6 – Subsurface exploration

Evaluation and localization of an artificial drainage network by 3D time-lapse electrical resistivity tomography

Papers - Publications scientifiques

In France, 10 % of total arable land is equipped with subsurface drainage systems, to control winter and spring waterlogging due to a temporary perched water table. Most of these systems were installed in the 1980s and have aged since then and may now need maintenance. Sometimes, the location of the systems is known, but the standard situation in France […]

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Small-Scale Seismic Monitoring of Varying Water Levels in Granular Media

Papers - Publications scientifiques

Physical properties of soils in the vadose zone, and especially their water content, are characterized by strong spatial and temporal variations mostly driven by weather and anthropogenic activities. To understand this variability and help water resource management, seismic methods have been recently suggested as a complement to electrical and electromagnetic techniques. The simultaneous in situ estimation of pressure (P) and […]

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2D characterization of near-surface VP/VS: surface-wave dispersion inversion versus refraction tomography

Papers - Publications scientifiques

The joint study of pressure (P-) and shear (S-) wave velocities (VP and VS), as well as their ratio (VP/VS), has been used for many years at large scales but remains marginal in near-surface applications. For these applications, VP and VS are generally retrieved with seismic refraction tomography combining P and SH (shear-horizontal) waves, thus requiring two separate acquisitions. Surface-wave […]

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Integrated Workflow for Surface-wave Dispersion Inversion and Profiling

Papers - Publications scientifiques

While surface-wave prospecting methods are classically applied for the one-dimensional (1D) estimation of shear (S-) wave velocities (Vs), two-dimensional (2D) profiling still requires implementing specific processing and inversion tools that are not yet widely available in the community. We present here a free and open-source tool performing surface-wave inversion and profiling (SWIP) in order to retrieve 2D lateral variations of […]

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2D characterization of near-surface VP/VS: surface-wave dispersion inversion versus refraction tomography

Papers - Publications scientifiques

The joint study of pressure (P-) and shear (S-) wave velocities (VP and VS), as well as their ratio (VP/VS), has been used for many years at large scales but remains marginal in near-surface applications. For these applications, VP and VS are generally retrieved with seismic refraction tomography combining P and SH (shear-horizontal) waves, thus requiring two separate acquisitions. Surface-wave […]

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Inversion of generalized relaxation time distributions with optimized damping parameter

Papers - Publications scientifiques

Retrieving the Relaxation Time Distribution (RDT), the Grains Size Distribution (GSD) or the Pore Size Distribution (PSD) from low-frequency impedance spectra is a major goal in geophysics. The “Generalized RTD” generalizes parametric models like Cole–Cole and many others, but remains tricky to invert since this inverse problem is ill-posed. We propose to use generalized relaxation basis function (for instance by […]

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Detecting different water table levels in a shallow aquifer with combined P-, surface and SH-wave surveys: Insights from VP/VS or Poisson’s ratios

Papers - Publications scientifiques

When applied to hydrogeology, seismicmethods are generally confined to the characterisation of aquifer geometry. The joint study of pressure- (P) and shear- (S) wave velocities (VP and VS) can provide supplementary information and improve the understanding of aquifer systems. This approach is proposed here with the estimation of VP/VS ratios in a stratified aquifer system characterised by tabular layers, well-delineated […]

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Contribution of Magnetic Resonance Soundings for characterizing water storage in the unsaturated zone of karst aquifers

Papers - Publications scientifiques

Understanding the role of the unsaturated zone in aquifer recharge and contaminant attenuation processes is a major challenge for the protection and management of karstic water resources. We present the potential of the MRS (Magnetic Resonance Soundings) geophysical method for characterizing the vadose zone of karst aquifers composed of epikarst and infiltration layers. To investigate the hydraulic functioning of the Durzon karst system located […]

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Interpretation of magnetic resonance measurements in the varying earth’s magnetic field

Papers - Publications scientifiques

At the scale of a magnetic resonance sounding (MRS) field setup, the earth’s magnetic field in the subsurface may vary laterally with depth and over time. These variations can be caused by different natural factors and generally cannot be compensated for by accurate tuning of the measuring device. The varying geomagnetic field (GMF) causes non resonance conditions of excitation that affect the amplitude and phase of […]

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Hydrogeophysical characterization of transport processes in fractured rock by combining push-pull and single-hole ground penetrating radar experiments

Papers - Publications scientifiques

The in situ characterization of transport processes in fractured media is particularly challenging due to the considerable spatial uncertainty on tracer pathways and dominant controlling processes, such as dispersion, channeling, trapping, matrix diffusion, ambient and density driven flows. We attempted to reduce this uncertainty by coupling push-pull tracer experiments with single-hole ground penetrating radar (GPR) time-lapse imaging. The experiments involved different injection fractures, chaser […]

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