Detection of permeability in irrigation dams with the electrical resistivity methods

Abstract

It was aimed to identify the permeability of the dam area by collecting the information of 15 boreholes with 450 m depth in totally previously made along the dam axis line and the electric resistivity measurements along four lines vertical to the same axis line. Kirklartepe Dam, planned to be an irrigation dam for agricultural purposes, in the Central district of Bayburt province located in the northeastern region of Turkey was selected as the study area and it was tried to identify the permeability of the units forming the dam area. 2D and 3D underground views of the measurement lines were determined by implementing the inversion process to the electric resistivity measurements. While examining these sections, it was interpreted that anomaly areas with low resistivity values categorize an alluvial cone with permeable slope wash character, while anomaly fields with high resistivity categorize an impermeable metamorphic unit. Moreover, it was tried to reveal the permeability of the dam area by associating with the information of the present boreholes in the study area and creating section maps of 3D views obtained for each 10 m. Thus, it was observed that current boring information and electric resistivity measurement results supported one another.