Identification and mapping of submarine groundwater discharges from the karstic aquifer of El Maestrazgo (Castellón) by means of airbone thermal infrared images
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21701/bolgeomin.118.especial.007Keywords:
karstic aquifers, Maestrazgo aquifer, submarine groundwater discharge, thermal infrared imagesAbstract
This study describes the results achieved by the use of thermal infrared (IRT) images acquired by a hyperspectral scanner system (AHS) along the Peñiscola and Benicassin localities (Castellón) in the Mediterranean coast of Spain to map fresh water discharges from the Jurassic Maestrazgo aquifer. The study has been carried out in the framework of a multidisciplinary project HIPROMA (Investigación sobre el Comportamiento Hidrogeológico de Formaciones Acuíferas Profundas. Aplicación a la Unidad Hidrogeológica 08.07 El Maestrazgo), which the Instituto Geológico y Minero de España (IGME) is conducting to improve the insight of the Maestrazgo aquifer hydrogeological behavior. The Maestrazgo aquifer (Castellón, Spain) is a karstic coastal system which extents 2.400 km2. Low hydraulic gradient (0,1-0,2%) and rapid increase of topography towards inland condition the location of the saturated zone at a considerable depth. Groundwater discharge is scarce inland and in the coastal area is mainly restricted to coastal springs. The location and mapping of coastal springs as well as the discharge volume will help to more precisely evaluate the hydric balance. The applied methodology is based on the registration of high-radiometric resolution TIR images to map sea surface temperature (SST) to identify the thermal expression of groundwater plumes. The aerial survey was conducted using the Instituto Nacional de Tecnica Aeroespacial (INTA) AHS system, which registers 750 pixel-wide swath images throughout the visible up to long-wave infrared spectrum. Day and night data collection was performed in the summer season to take into account the warmest and the coolest time of the solar radiation cycle. Three 40 km long passes were acquired: two overlapping passes at low altitude with 3.5 m spatial resolution and one high altitude pass with 7 m resolution. Temperature measurements at ground sites and sea surface were taken with a Thermacam infrared camera in order to validate the AHS data. Calibrated images have allowed mapping several fresh water plumes.
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