Groundwater investigation of the artesian wells on the palaeochannels in parts of the Great Rann of Kachchh, Gujarat, India, using remote sensing and geophysical techniques

Bhadra, B. K.; Gor, Naresh; Jain, Ashish K.; Meena, Hansraj; Srinivasa Rao, S.

Groundwater investigation of the artesian wells on the palaeochannels in parts of the Great Rann of Kachchh, Gujarat, India, using remote sensing and geophysical techniques | Étude hydrogéologique des puits artésiens implantés au niveau de paléochenaux dans certaines parties du Grand Rann de Kachchh, Gujarat, Inde, à l’aide de techniques de télédétection et de géophysique Investigación de las aguas subterráneas en los pozos artesianos de los paleocanales en zonas del Great Rann of Kachchh, Gujarat, India, mediante técnicas de teledetección y geofísicas 使用遥感和地球物理技术对印度古吉拉特邦部分卡奇大沼泽古河道自流井开展地下水调查 Investigação da água subterrânea de poços artesianos nos paleocanais em partes do Grande Rann de Kachchh, Gujarat, Índia, usando sensoriamento remoto e técnicas geofísicas

2021

Bhadra, B. K. | Gor, Naresh | Jain, Ashish K. | Meena, Hansraj | Srinivasa Rao, S.

The Great Rann of Kachchh (GRK) in Gujarat, India, is the largest salt desert in the world, which is usually filled with seawater ingression during high tide from the Arabian Sea. As a result, the soil gets saturated with saline water that has percolated down for several meters. Groundwater exploration in Rann area is a challenging task due to the prevailing hostile environment. For this purpose, multisensor satellite data have been used to delineate the palaeochannels in search of an alternate source of drinking water. In GRK, palaeochannels represent the zone of elevated fluvial sediments with respect to the surroundings. Evolutionary history of the palaeochannels indicates upliftment of GRK area during Allah Bund faulting. For assessing the groundwater potential of the palaeochannels, high-resolution electrical resistivity tomography (HERT) surveys have been carried out with the pole-dipole method. Electrical resistivity tomograms along 710 m traverses to a depth of 250 m in Dharmsala and Gainda area show higher-resistivity zones (medium to coarse sand with brackish water) below a thick low-resistivity layer (clay with saline water). A few exploratory drillings in the area confirm the existence of the palaeochannels, which act as a confined aquifer below 100 m depth. The artesian condition of the two drilled wells at Gainda and Khardoi along the northern boundary of GRK may be attributed to hydraulic gradient along the confined layers from the Tharparkar region in Pakistan. Thus, HERT is found to be a faster and more cost-effective geophysical survey technique for study of the deep aquifer.

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