Development of a proof-of-concept geoelectric monitoring system for advancing research and education in hydrogeophysics at Boise State University

Groundwater is a valuable resource for our society and the ecosystem. It is critical to understand how climate change and human activities affect the storage, age, quality, and the flow route of groundwater. Geoelectrical methods, which use either natural electric current or active electric sources, are important geophysical tools for studying these hydrological problems.

It enables an effective determination of the water distribution and their movement in the subsurface with minimal disturbances to the field condition. This award will support scientific infrastructure by developing the next-generation geoelectrical instrumentation for groundwater-related studies and education. This award will also help broaden the participation of undergraduate students in hydrological and geophysical research at Boise State University.

This proof of concept project will develop a new hydrogeophysical instrument by integrating traditional hydrological measurement into geoelectrical field tests. Newly designed hydrogeophysical probes will be fabricated in the laboratory by integrating Ag-AgCl electrodes into traditional tensiometers. These developed probes can simultaneously measure the soil tension (matric suction) and electrical properties (resistivity, induced polarization, and electrokinetic potential) when they are integrated into a traditional geoelectrical acquisition instrument.

In this project, laboratory experiments are planned to measure the main characteristics of the probes such as drifting and temperature coefficient, and a field test is planned to monitor the snowmelt infiltration process in a soil pit. The field monitoring will be conducted at a mountain ridge in a small catchment of the Dry Creek Experimental Watershed near Boise, Idaho.

The monitored hydraulic and geoelectrical data will be jointly analyzed to evaluate the performance of the integrated hydrogeophysical instrument at field conditions. This award received co-funding from the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) office.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.