Geophysical Assessment of Seawater Intrusion into Coastal Aquifers of Bela Plain, Pakistan

Abstract

Seawater intrusion is a major challenge in many coastal areas all around the world, mainly caused by over-exploitation of freshwater resources, climate change, and sea-level rise. Consequently, seawater intrusion reaches several kilometers inland, thus making the freshwater resources polluted and unsuitable for human use. Conventionally, the fresh-saline water interface is delineated by the number of laboratory tests obtained from boreholes. However, such tests suffer from efficiency in terms of data coverage, time, and cost. Hence, this work introduces Dar-Zarrouk (D-Z) parameters, namely transverse resistance (Tr), longitudinal conductance (Sc), and longitudinal resistivity (ρL) computed from non-invasive vertical electrical sounding (VES). Two-dimensional (2D) imaging of D-Z parameters provides a clear distinction of fresh-saline aquifers. Such techniques remove ambiguities in the resistivity interpretation caused by overlapping of fresh and saline aquifers during the process of suppression and equivalence. This study was carried out by 45 VES along five profiles in the coastal area of Bela Plain, Pakistan. D-Z parameters delineate fresh, brackish, and saline aquifers with a wide range of values such as freshwater with Tr > 2000 Ωm2, Sc < 3 mho, and ρL > 20 Ωm; saline water with Tr < 1000 Ωm2, Sc > 25 mho, and ρL < 5 Ωm; and brackish water with Tr between 1000–2000 Ωm2, Sc from 3 to 25 mho, and ρL between 5–20 Ωm. The D-Z results were validated by the physicochemical analysis using 13 water samples and local hydrogeological setting. The obtained results propose that D-Z parameters can be used as a powerful tool to demarcate the fresh-saline aquifer interface with more confidence than other traditional techniques. This geophysical approach can reduce the expensive number of borehole tests, and hence contributes to the future planning and development of freshwater resources in the coastal areas.