Geoelectric investigation to delineate groundwater potential and recharge zones in Suki river basin, north Maharashtra

Abstract

Suki river basin of Raver sub-division is located towards the northeastern part of Jalgaon district in Maharashtra State. The existing land use pattern of the region clearly shows that more than 60% of the area is utilized for agricultural sector. Groundwater is the major source of irrigation and domestic purposes. To assess the overall water resources development of Raver area for better environment in future, investigation was carried out with the help of geophysical indicators. Vertical electrical sounding studies were conducted at 17 stations in the study area using Wenner configuration. The study was aimed at characterizing the aquifer in the area as well as assessing its potential risk to contaminant seepage in terms of protective capacity of the overburden rock materials using Dar-Zarrouk (D-Z) parameters, viz., the transverse resistance (T), longitudinal conductance (S), transverse resistivity (ρt) and longitudinal resistivity (ρl). These were computed to generate the resistivity regime of freshwater-bearing formations and its movement. The central-western part of the study area reflects very good to good protective capacity rating as can be seen from the high longitudinal conductance values. The low value of the protective capacity in the eastern part is making the aquifer system in the area highly vulnerable to surface contamination. This indicates that the ground water quality may have been deteriorated in the area and borehole water samples should be randomly sampled for contaminant loads based on this analysis.