Correlating Electrical and Hydraulic Conductivity of a General Aquifer Model: Concept and Application

There are physical similarities between hydraulic conductivity and electrical conductivity in a porous and permeable medium. In this study mathematical equations are developed to estimate hydraulic aquifer property from surface electrical measurements. A general three-layer aquifer model is proposed to show that on macro scale of the third (basement) layer is highly resistive in comparison to second (aquifer)a yer there would be direct relationship between hydraulic and electrical conductance whereas in case of relatively conducting third layer there would exist a direct relation between hydraulic conductance and electrical resistance. A method is suggested to reliably estimate the electrical conductance or electrical resistance,a s the case may be of the aquifer layer directly from VES data. Two numerical examples are also included. It is shown with field examples that In case of conducting substratum the hydraulic conductance can be approximated with electrical resistance However, if hydraulic conductivity is known at few points, this estimation may be improved considerably. An example of this type is included to prove our point.