Site-Specific Aquifer Characterization and Identification of Potential Groundwater Areas in Pakistan

Detailed knowledge about site-specific aquifer characteristics, subsurface lithology, and groundwater potential can help to determine the depth and location of fresh groundwater quality. The present research study was carried out by conducting 80 vertical electrical sounding surveys (VESs) in Rahim Yar Khan District (RYK), Punjab, Pakistan to distinguish the fresh groundwater aquifer from saline groundwater and to evaluate the aquifer protective capacity (APC) of overburden. 1XID software (Interpex, USA) was used to accomplish the interpretation of VES data. The VES interpreted data was used to prepare spatial distribution maps of aquifer apparent resistivity (AR), layer thickness, longitudinal conductance (LC), and transverse resistance (TR) for the second, third, and fourth subsurface layers using ArcGIS 10.1. The results showed that the greater part of the study area (65%) had four subsurface geo-electric layers. The spatial distribution maps for AR showed that the fresh groundwater quality was present on the northwestern and northeastern sides of the study area for all the layers. The results also indicated that the APC of overburden increased with the increase of depth from the ground surface. Layer 4 with thickness of 57.09 m showed good APC in the northern and central parts with LC values of >0.7 mhos. Similarly, the higher values of TR showed higher yield potential in the north-eastern part as compared to the southern part. Overall analysis indicated that the spatial distribution maps of AR, layer thickness, LC, and TR should be helpful for future groundwater development in terms of quality and quantity.