Vertical electrical sounding for characterizing subsurface tectonic features and their impacts on groundwater occurrences: a case study of basaltic Jbab uplifting in southern Syria

Abstract

Eighteen vertical electrical soundings (VES) were carried out by applying the Schlumberger configuration to characterize the main subsurface tectonic features and determine their impacts on groundwater occurrences of the uplifted Jbab area in Southern Syria. Different interpretative approaches were used to interpret these VES distributed on one longitudinal profile (LP) and four transverse profiles TP1, TP2, TP3, and TP4. The originality of this work is the conjoint use of Pichgin and Habibullaev technique, the fractal concentration-number (C–N) modeling technique, and the 1D inversion technique as an integrated interpretative approach (IIA) in subsurface basalt characterization. This IIA proves its efficacy while interpreting the VES data, in delineating the main subsurface geology and the tectonic conditions and their influences on the groundwater distributions in a basaltic Jbab environment. Several optimum VES points are accordingly proposed and arranged according to their importance for drilling wells for groundwater extraction. The integrated developed geoelectrical technology described in this paper is recommended to be applied for characterizing similar basaltic areas worldwide.