Abstract:

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) has emerged as a new geophysical technique allowing direct, noninvasive groundwater investigations from the surface. Comparing to the traditional geophysical methods, the current state-of-the-art NMR method is higher resolution, more efficiency, more information and unique interpretation for hydrogeological investigations. In the last two decades, MRS has been widely used, not only in groundwater exploration, but also in water-disaster forewarning, including dam leakage, tunnel gushing, waterimpacted landslide, and seawater intrusion. The purpose of this paper is to give an overview of various aspects of MRS for groundwater exploration in complex geophysical settings. We report the recent researches, includes adaptive signal processing for mitigating electromagnetic noise, 2D/3D MRS methods for low-volume detection, forward modeling and field-data inversion under complex conditions, as well as joint uses of MRS and TEM methods in karst aquifers. By introducing several case studies, we prospect the developing trends of MRS for groundwater assessment.

Key words: groundwater, magnetic resonance sounding (MRS), complicated geophysical condition, water-disaster investigation, situation, progress