Soil temperature profiles for locating wells in the semi-arid region - technical viability, procedures and equipment

SOIL TEMPERATURE PROFILES FOR LOCATING WELLS IN THE SEMI-ARID REGION - TECHNICAL VIABILITY, PROCEDURES AND EQUIPMENT

JOSÉ G. A. DEMETRIO

Departamento de Engenharia de Minas, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco/Laboratório de Hidrogeologia, UFPE, Recife, PE

Presented by ALCIDES N. SIAL

The ever-growing water demands in the Brazilian semi-arid region leads to a greater interest in its crystalline rocks as a source for groundwater. Two drawbacks are, nevertheless, known which reduce the ability of these rocks as groundwater reservoir, namely, low yields and high salt contents. With regard to the later ones, the installations of reverse osmosis desalting units are proving to be economically feasible, thus, contributing to minimize the quality problem. The minimization of the problem of low yields, on the other hand, requires an amount of field research work aiming to the detection and mapping of favorable fractured zones. Several methods may be utilized, be it geophysical approaches or not, for accomplishing this task, none of them being able to tell the presence of water in the fractured zone. A research work on shallow soil temperature, by means of horizontal profiles, was conceived and started aiming not only to the mapping of fractured zones but also to the possibility of a qualitative evaluation of the fractured reservoir. The temperature probes, the measuring equipment and the field procedures were developed up to the present stage of the research. Preliminary field essays were conducted which point to the feasibility of the approach and encourage the pursuit of the research. — ( May 18, 2001 )

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Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  05 Oct 2001
• Date of issue
  Sept 2001