Estimation of unsaturated hydraulic parameters in sandstone using electrical resistivity tomography under a water injection test

• Artificial water injection test was carried out to conduct unsaturated zone study.
• The evolution of injected water was monitored using time-lapse ERT survey.
• The influence of temperature was removed from the time-lapse ERT models.
• Moment analysis of ERT models was evaluated to estimate hydraulic conductivity.
• Synthetic test was performed to identify errors associated with the ERT method.

Hydraulic conductivity is an important soil property when determining the potential for water movement in topsoil and in spite of its importance; soil hydraulic conductivity remains one of the most difficult of soil properties to assess. Laboratory methods have limitations due to the size of the samples and taking undisturbed soil samples is usually difficult in sandy soil and in-situ methods are required to estimate hydraulic conductivity.This study was conducted to estimate saturated hydraulic conductivity in unsaturated sandstone using the ground surface electrical resistivity tomography (ERT). The site is characterized by a deep Arenosol soil with high permeability and a low water retention capacity located at the Semora-Correia, the east of Lisbon. Eight ERT snapshots were collected during a water injection test to produce a sequence of 2D resistivity images. Time-lapse ERT data were inverted using independent data inversion, the difference inversion and simultaneous space–time inversion methods. Afterward, using an in-situ approach resistivity variation models were converted to water content images. By comparing first and second spatial moments of water movement images inferred from the ERT method with unsaturated flow simulation predicted from a numerical solution of Richards' equation, the range of saturated hydraulic conductivity is estimated to be in 0.5–0.7 (cm/min).The evaluation of ERT approach was made using a synthetic test. The results of synthetic test showed that the estimated parameters were significantly influenced by the ERT inversion method and an overprediction of spatial moments and consequently saturated hydraulic conductivity was observed in all inversion methods; however the resistivity models obtained by simultaneous space–time inversion method was more successful in water movement monitoring.