Spectral induced polarization measurements for environmental purposes and predicting the hydraulic conductivity in sandy aquifers

Low-frequency field and laboratory induced polarization measurements are carried out to characterize the hydrogeological conditions at Schillerslage test site in Germany. The laboratory spectral induced polarization (SIP) data are analyzed to derive an empirical relationship for predicting the hydraulic conductivity (K) in the field scale. On the other hand, the results from SIP sounding and profiling field data indicate that the method identifies the lithological layers with sufficient resolution to achieve our objectives. Two main Quaternary groundwater aquifers separated by a till layer can be well differentiated. Furthermore, the phase images are also capable of monitoring thin peat layers within the sandy groundwater aquifer. However, the field results show limitations of decreasing resolution with depth and/or low data coverage. Similarly, the SIP laboratory results show a certain shift in SIP response due to different compaction and sorting of the samples. The overall results obtained show that the integration of field and laboratory SIP measurements is an efficient tool to avoid a hydrogeological misinterpretation. In particular, two significant but weak correlations between individual real resistivities (ρ') and relaxation times (τ), based on a Debye decomposition (DD) model, with measured K are found for the upper groundwater aquifer. While the maximum relaxation time (τmax) and logarithmically weighted average relaxation time (τlw) show a better relation with K values than the median value τ50, however, the single relationships are weak. A combined power law relation between individual ρ' and/or τ with K is developed with an expression of A · (ρ')B · (τlw)C, where A, B and C are determined using a least-squares fit between the measured and predicted K. The suggested approach with the calculated coefficients of the first aquifer is applied for the second one. The results indicate a good correlation with the measured K and prove to be superior to single phase angle models as the Börner or Slater models.