Enhanced groundwater vulnerability assessment in geological homogeneous areas: a case study from the Argentine Pampas

Massone, Héctor; Quiroz Londoño, Mauricio; Martínez, Daniel

Enhanced groundwater vulnerability assessment in geological homogeneous areas: a case study from the Argentine Pampas | Détermination améliorée de la vulnérabilité de l’eau souterraine dans des domaines géologiques homogènes: une étude de cas des Pampas d’Argentine Evaluación optimizada de la vulnerabilidad de aguas subterráneas en área geológicas homogénes: un caso de estudio de las Pampas de Argentina 均质地区增强型地下水脆弱性评价: 以阿根廷Pampas地区为例 Melhoria da avaliação da vulnerabilidade da água subterrânea em áreas geológicas homogéneas: um estudo de caso nas Pampas Argentinas

2010

Massone, Héctor | Quiroz Londoño, Mauricio | Martínez, Daniel

The southeast area of the Argentine Pampas is characterized by the presence of an unconfined aquifer in a wide plain. A methodology is proposed that deals with the aquifer vulnerability where the homogeneity of the hydrogeological variables used by traditional methods (in this case, DRASTIC-P) causes vulnerability maps to show more than 80% of the territory under the same class. This absence of discrimination renders vulnerability maps of little use to decision-makers. In addition, the proposed methodology avoids the traditional vague classification (high, low, and moderate vulnerability) which is highly dependent on subjectivity in its association of each class with hydrogeological considerations. That traditional vulnerability assessment methodology was adapted using a geographic information system to reclassify classes, based on the Natural Breaks (Jenks) method. The pixel-to-pixel comparison between the result obtained by the DRASTIC-P and the reclassified classes generates the so-called operational vulnerability index (OVI), which shows four classes, associating each with different hydrogeological requirements to make decisions.

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