Marine Circular Electric Dipole (MCED): A new innovative electromagnetic technique for the exploration of submarine groundwater resources

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Recent marine electromagnetic measurements yielded the delineation of a 30 km long and at least 3 km wide fresh groundwater body within the deep-seated sub-seafloor aquifer offshore the southern coastal plain of Israel. The results allowed an estimation of unexploited fresh groundwater. However, due to the low resolution of the applied geophysical methods, the results turned out insufficient in order to fully understand the hydrogeological configuration and mechanism controlling the occurrence of this discovery. Especially the lateral geometry of the freshwater body, important for the hydrogeological modeling, could not be resolved. Without such an understanding, a rational management of this unexploited groundwater reservoir is impossible.The proposed project aims at answering the hydrogeological boundary conditions of the fresh groundwater body by implementing for the first time worldwide a high-resolution electromagnetic method based on the application of a Circular Electric Dipole (CED) in the marine environment regarding groundwater studies. In addition to the development of the transmitter antenna, the development of an interpretation scheme (e.g. 1D inversion and 2D/3D forward modeling) for this novel electromagnetic technique will be the main focus of the project. Based on the results of the geophysical study, a management scheme for future usage of this groundwater resource can be developed.The research will result in an increased potential of fresh groundwater resources in Israel and in the development of a new high-resolution marine electromagnetic technology, which can be applied worldwide not only for submarine groundwater but also for hydrocarbon and gas-hydrate exploration. Theoretical model studies with synthetic data have shown that the MCED technique has a better lateral resolution of the resistive groundwater layer compared to the conventional marine Long Offset Electromagnetic (LOTEM) technique using the inline/broadside configuration