Movement of Water Flux through Unsaturated Zones:A Transient Impact on in situ Potential Field

Attempts were made to understand moisture movement in soil and unsaturated zones under a transient saturation phase created through an infiltration test using conventional self-potential (SP) survey and supportive studies of resistivity profiling and tracer, over a granite terrain having coarse sandy soil cover. The SP behaviour at various time intervals of infiltration stages qualitatively indicated a preferential soil moisture movement after an initial vertical downward movement at deeper depths. As inferred from the SP survey, tracer and conventional resistivity profiling studies substantiate the flow direction by means of highest concentration of tritium content in deep soil cores and significant reduction in apparent resistivity along the direction. The results demonstrate that the SP method could be a useful tool to understand the rainfall recharge process and in surface-induced contamination studies.