LIAG
 

Fig. 1: SIP field survey in Schillerslage by using the SIP256C.

Derivation of hydraulic parameters by Spectral Induced Polarisation

Spectral Induced Polarisation (SIP) is an impedance-spectroscopic method for measuring polarity of soils and rocks. Therefore, a sinusoidal AC, in the range from mHz to kHz, is inducted to measure a phase-delayed voltage. There from, real and imaginary conductivity are calculated which allows the derivation of hydraulic parameters like porosity (Φ) and hydraulic conductivity (K).

In the LIAG we measure SIP on field (profiling and sounding) and lab scale by using the SIP Fuchs and SIP256c, both made by Radic Research. Until now, the focus of SIP measurements is on the new LIAG test site Schillerslage, where the presented results come from.

As an example, the result of the single frequency analysis of a SIP sounding (0.366Hz) is presented.  The measured apparent resistivity and phase values are inverted by using a stronger horizontal weighting and fixed layer boundaries, taken from geological information. On the basis of the resulting models (real and imaginary conductivity model) we calculated hydraulic parameters: the porosity is derived by applying a modified Archie approach (Börner et al. 1996). For calculating K we used the relation between specific inner pore surface and imaginary conductivity (Slater & Lesmes 2002), while the second approach includes in addition porosity (Börner et al. 1996).  Moreover, SIP lab results and further lab measurements to determine porosity (by bulk density) and K are included. A precise description of the presented methods and results can you find in Holland et al. (2010).

Fig. 2: Derivation of porosity (left) and K-value (right) from SIP field and lab measurements compared to conventional lab measurements like porosity by bulk density and K by grain size analysis and flow measurements.

The used approaches produce mostly good results, which agree with hydraulic properties of the material of the two middle sandy aquifers (porosity of 35 – 40%, K-values of 10*e-4 m/S). However, we still have problems with porosity calculation due to strong lateral and horizontal variations of the fluid conductivity.

References

Börner, F.D., Schopper J.R. and Weller, A. 1996: Evaluation of transport and storage properties in the soil and groundwater zone from induced polarization measurements. Geophysical Prospecting  44, 583-601.
Slater, L and Lesmes, D.P. 2002: Electrical-hydraulic relationships observed for unconsolidated sediments. Water Resources Research 38, 31-1 to 31-13.

Products & Publications

  • Das hydrogeophysikalische Testfeld Schillerslage. - DGG-Mittlg. 1/2011, 51-54;Potsdam.   
    2011, HOLLAND, R., DLUGOSCH, R., GÜNTHER, T., SASS, S., HOLZHAUER, J., SAUER, J., BINOT, F. & YARAMANCI, U.
  • Prediction of hydraulic parameters at test-site Schillerslage using SIP field and lab measurements. - Poster, DGG Meeting, 15.-18.03.2010; Bochum, Germany.   
    2010, HOLLAND, R., GÜNTHER, T., ATTWA, M., & YARAMANCI, U.
  • Prediction of hydraulic parameters at test-site Schillerslage using SIP field and lab measurements. - Poster, DGG Meeting, 15.-18.03.2010; Bochum, Germany.   
    2010, HOLLAND, R., GÜNTHER, T., ATTWA, M., & YARAMANCI, U.
  • New hydrogeophysical methods examined at the test-site Schillerslage - Derivation of hydraulic parameters in the field scale -. - Poster, European Geosciences Union General Assembly 2010, 02-07 May; Vienna, Austria.   
    2010, DLUGOSCH, R., HOLLAND, R., GÜNTHER, T., HOLZHAUER, J., YARAMANCI, U.
  • Aquifer characterization using coupled inversion of DC/IP and MRS data on a hydrogeophysical test-site. - SAGEEP 23, 39 (2010); Keystone, CO.   
    2010, GÜNTHER, T., DLUGOSCH, R., HOLLAND, R. & YARAMANCI, U.
 
 

SIP group

Raphael Holland
Mohammed Attwa
Thomas Günther
Joachim Sauer

Products & Publications

from the project

Work area

This project belongs to the topical research field groundwater systems - hydrogeophysics