The application of radiation logs to groundwater hydrology

The drilling of exploratory holes to determine the availability of groundwater and to plan the most economical methods of water development is expensive. The only technique available at present for obtaining geological and hydrological information through the casing of pre-existing water wells and other boreholes is by radiation logging. Up to now these logging techniques have been little used in groundwater hydrology. This report describes inexpensive portable radiation logging equipment that is available or has been developed for groundwater studies in connection with a general research project on the application of borehole geophysics in groundwater hydrology. It is possible to obtain data on the following: the source, velocity, and chemical quality of groundwater; the location, extent, geometry, bulk density, porosity, permeability, and specific yield of aquifers and associated strata; and the position of casings, casing collars, leaks, perforations, and cement. The radiation logs employed include natural gamma, gamma-gamma, neutron-gamma. neutron epithermal-neutron. and radioactive tracer. The following radioisotopes are utilized: cobalt-60, plutonium-239, americium-241, and iodine-131. Typical radiation logs obtained by the various techniques are described and examples are given of practical applications of radiation logging to groundwater investigations. The applications cited are studies of perched water in basaltic rocks and associated sedimentary strata; the porosity, moisture content, and position of zones into which water was injected in volcanic tuff; the position of the interface between brine and fresh water in fine-grained carbonate rocks and associated fine clastic rocks; the interpretation of porosity from a neutron log; and the location by means of a radioactive tracer of the more permeable fracture zones in a well penetrating crystalline rock. (author)