preferential flowpaths

A fault system may form preferential flow paths for groundwater along fault planes. In an industrial and mining environment, such geological structures pose a geohydrological challenge when delineating and managing groundwater pollution. A geophysical investigation, employing electric resistivity tomography (ERT) and electromagnetics (EM), was conducted along a section of a graben system to improve the geological understanding, define groundwater flow paths and pollution distribution in a mining and industrial setting.

The aim of the following study was to characterise the soils of Sutherland, located in the Northern Cape of South Africa. This was completed in order to shed light on possible pathways for infiltration and understand the ultimate impact on groundwater resources. Therefore, the relationship between the soil characteristics and infiltration was explored. To achieve this, field work was conducted whereby soil profiles were exposed in order to examine the subsurface characteristics of the soil and map the soil types.