Monitoring of groundwater redistribution in a karst aquifer using a superconducting gravimeter

¹ Department of Space, Earth and Environment, Chalmers University of Technology, Onsala Space Observatory, Onsala, Sweden
² Univ Rennes, CNRS, Géosciences Rennes, UMR 6118, 35000 Rennes, France
³ Avignon Université, UMR 1114 EMMAH (AU/INRA), Avignon, France
⁴ Institut de Physique du Globe de Strasbourg, UMR 7516, Université de Strasbourg/EOST, CNRS, 5 rue Descartes, 67084 Strasbourg, France
⁵ Université Montpellier 2 CC 60, UMR 5243 (CNRS/UM2) Géosciences Montpellier, Montpellier, France

Abstract

Geodetic tools monitor the earth’s deformation and gravity field. They are presently sensitive enough to record subtle changes triggered by hydrological processes, thus providing complementary data to standard hydrological measurements. Among these tools, superconducting gravimeter (SG) have proven useful to unravel groundwater redistribution, which significantly alter the gravity field. In the frame of the EquipEx MIGA (Matter wave-laser based Interferometer Gravitation Antenna) project, one SG (iOSG-24) was set up in July 2015 in the Low-noise Underground Laboratory (LSBB) at Rustrel, France, in a gallery located 500 m beneath the surface. In this work, we analyse the underground iOSG-24 gravity time series together with hydro-meteorological data and basic gravity modelling. We find that the gravimeter recorded the redistribution of water in the ground and that most of this redistribution occurs in the unsaturated zone located above the gravimeter. Nevertheless, residuals between our model and the gravity data suggest the occurrence of large lateral fluxes and rapid runoff not considered in our model. We discuss how the setting of a second SG, planned in July 2018, at the surface of the LSBB could help unravelling such hydrological processes.