geophysical characterizations of glacial aquifers and earth-fill dams
Abstract
Geophysical investigations of groundwater aquifers and earth-fill dams have gained vast attention during the past few decades. Exploring new groundwater aquifers is always essential to meet the growing need for water resources by the growing population. Investigating dam safety is also crucial as dams store water in lakes and reservoirs and contribute directly to the water supply and flood control. Despite the recent advances in geophysical investigations, delineating complex aquifers and efficient inspection of earth-fill-dams is still challenging. In this study, I conducted and evaluated different geophysical surveys for delineating groundwater aquifers and investigating earth-fill dams. The land streamer shear (S)-wave reflection method was tested in this study as an alternative to traditional geophysical methods for delineating thin and shallow sand and gravel aquifers in northern Illinois. With the aid of available water wells alongside the seismic profiles, the S-wave surveys have successfully resolved multiple sand and gravel aquifers in the surveyed area. The study tested various geophysical methods to investigate the integrity of two earth-fill dams and their underlying rock foundation in central Oklahoma. Tested geophysical methods included seismic P-wave reflection, S-wave reflection, multi-channel analysis of surface wave (MASW), P-wave refraction, and electric resistivity tomography (ERT). The geophysical surveys characterized the different materials and conditions of the two dams and the underlying rock foundations and highlighted the advantages and limitations of the applied geophysical methods. This study introduced the S-wave reflection method as a reliable tool to delineate relatively thin glacial aquifers and evaluated the efficacy of various geophysical methods for investigating earth-fill dams.
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- OSU Dissertations [11222]