Abstract
Western Turkey is one of the most spectacular regions of widespread, active continental extension in the world. The most prominent structures of this region are E–W trending Gediz and Büyük Menderes Grabens. Geothermal activity around city of Manisa in Gediz Graben has been investigated by many researchers and many geothermal boreholes were drilled in order to produce electricity. In the middle of May 2012, a geothermal blowout occurred 150 m away from the deep drilling (depth 1,100 m), in Alkan village of Alaşehir resort in city of Manisa. After that, four big blowouts took place at the same area and thermal water had been diverted to Alkan stream for almost 4 months. The boron (B) and Fe levels of thermal water are 87 and 11.2 ppm where the background B and Fe values of topsoil vary between 0.2–1.5 ppm and 3.08–5.63 ppm, respectively. The objective of this study was to utilize joint magnetic susceptibility and VLF-R investigations to determine possibly contaminated area with B, related to high Fe level on the topsoil and thermal water in the subterranean layers. It is observed that magnetic susceptibility values vary between 500 and 790 cgs (×10−6) in the vicinity of blowouts and 150–340 cgs (×10−6) at a distance of 50 m around, where the background average value is 20 cgs (×10−6), by using the data collected at 346 stations. Besides, the VLF-R studies were carried out along 18 profiles at three different frequencies. Laterally constrained two-layer inversion was applied to each station; in addition to the inversion of all profiles for each frequency, all lines were stacked, 2-D resistivity maps were obtained, and the contaminated area was determined approximately as 35,000 m2. The results show not only satisfactory agreement between magnetic susceptibility and VLF-R data, but also provide fast and valued interpretation of geochemical and geophysical properties of the geothermal contaminated area.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Alloway BJ (1990) Heavy metals in soils. Blackie and Son Ltd., Glassgow, p 339
Aydin A, Ferre EC, Aslan Z (2007) The magnetic susceptibility of granitic rocks as a proxy for geochemical composition: Example from the Saruhan granitoids, NE Turkey. Tectonophysics 441:85–95
Başokur AT, İlkışık OM, Tokgöz T, Kaya C, Ulugergerli EU, Gürer A, Duvarcı E, Çınar A, Konak N, Bayrak M, Pekşen E, Karlık G (1996) The investigation of the crustal structure of Aegean region by the magnetotelluric method. In: National Marine Geology and Geophysics Program, pp 820–825
Bayrak M, İlkışık OM, Kaya C, Başokur AT (2000) Magnetotelluric data in western Turkey dimensionality analysis using Mohr circles. J Geophys Res 105(B10):23391
Beamish D (1994) Two dimensional, regularized inversion of VLF data. J Appl Geophys 32:357–374
Beamish D (1998) Three-dimensional modelling of VLF data. J Appl Geophys 39:63–76
Beamish D (2000) Quantitative 2D VLF data interpretation. J Appl Geophys 45:33–47
Bella F, Biagi PF, Caputo M, Cozzi E, Della ME, Ermini A, Plastino W, Sgrigna V (1998) Field strength variations of LF radio waves prior to earthquakes in central Italy. Phys Earth Planet Inter 105:279–286
Benson AK, Payne KL, Stubben MA (1997) Mapping groundwater contamination using the resistivity and VLF geophysical methods-A case study. Geophysics 62:80–86
Bijaksana S, Huliselan EK (2010) Magnetic properties of heavy metal content of sanitary leachate sludge in two landfill sites near Bandung, Indonesia. Environm Earth Sci 60(2):409–419
Bityukova L, Scholger R, Birke M (1999) Magnetic susceptibility as indicator of environmental pollution of soils in Tallinn. Phys Chem Earth 24(9):829–835
Bosch FP, Müller I (2005) Improved karst exploration by VLF-EM-gradient survey: comparison with other geophysical methods. Near Surf Geophys 5:299–310
Bruschlinsky NN, Danilov AV, Muminov KM, Israilov D, Stetsuk V, Usmanov MK (1997) Magnetometric method of investigating fire sites. Fire Technol 33(3):195–213
Cagniard L (1953) Basic theory of the magnetotelluric method of geophysical prospecting. Geophysics 18:605–635
Chaparro MAE, Sinito AM, Ramasamy V, Marinelli C, Chaparro MAE, Mullainathan S, Murugesan S (2008) Magnetic measurements and pollutants of sediments from Cauvery and Palaru River, India. Environ Geol 56:425–437
Constable SC, Parker RL, Constable CG (1987) Occam’s inversion: a practical algorithm for generating smooth models from electromagnetic sounding data. Geophysics 52:289–300
Crossley DJ (1981) The theory of EM surface wave impedance measurements. Geol Surv Can 81(15):1–17
Dearing J (1999) Environmental magnetic susceptibility using the Bartington MS2 system. Bartington Instruments Limited, Oxford
deGroot-Hedlin C, Constable S (1990) Occam’s inversion to generate smooth, two dimensional models from magnetotelluric data. Geophysics 55:1613–1624
Dill AC, Turberg P, Müller I, Parriaux A (2009) The combined use of radio-frequency electromagnetics and radiomagnetotellurics methods in non-ideal field conditions for delineating hydrogeological boundaries and for environmental problems. Environ Geol 56:1071–1091
Drahor MG (2006) Integrated geophysical studies in the upper part of Sardis archaeological site, Turkey. J Appl Geophys 59:205–223
Drahor MG, Kaya MA, Bayrak M, İlkışık OM, Öztan A (1999) Electromagnetic-VLF results from Acemhöyük. J Eng Sci 1(2):5–17
El-Hasan T (2008) The detection of roadside pollution of rapidly growing city in arid region using the magnetic proxies. Environ Geol 54:23–29
El-Hasan T, Lataifeh M (2013) Field and dual magnetic susceptibility proxies for heavy metal pollution assessment in the urban soil of Al-Karak city, South Jordan. Environ Earth Sci 69(7):2299–2310
Elmacı OL, Delibacak S, Secer M, Bodur A (2002) Fertility status, trace elements and heavy metal pollution of agricultural land irrigated from the Gediz river. Int J Water 2(2/3):184–195
Gautam P, Blaha U, Appel E, Neupane G (2004) Environmental magnetic approach towards the quantification of pollution in Kathmandu urban area, Nepal. Phys Chem Earth 29:973–984
Gautam P, Blaha U, Appel E (2005) Magnetic susceptibility of dust-loaded leaves as a proxy of traffic-related heavy metal pollution in Kathmandu city, Nepal. Atmos Environ 39:2201–2211
Goldman M, Neubauer FM (1994) Groundwater exploration using integrated geophysical techniques. Surv Geophys 15:331–361
Guerin R, Benderitter Y (1995) Shallow karst exploration using MT-VLF and DC resistivity methods. Geophys Prospect 43:635–653
Guerin R, Tabbagh A, Andrieux P (1994) Field and/or resistivity mapping in MT-VLF and implications for data processing. Geophysics 59:1695–1712
Gürer A, Pinçe A, Gürer ÖF, İlkışık OM (2002) Resistivity distribution in the Gediz Graben and its implications for crustal structure. Turk J Earth Sci 11:15–25
Hanesch M, Scholger R (2002) Mapping of heavy metal loadings in soils by means of magnetic susceptibility measurements. Environ Geol 42:857–870
Hayakawa M, Molchanov OA (2000) Effect of earthquakes on lower ionosphere as found by subionospheric VLF propagation. Adv Space Res 26:1273–1276
Henry B, Jordanova D, Jordanova N, Souque C, Robion P (2003) Anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility of heated rocks. Tectonophysics 366:241–258
Hoffmann V, Knab M, Appel E (1999) Magnetic susceptibility mapping of roadside pollution. J Geochem Explor 66:313–326
Hohmann GW, Raiche AP (1988) Inversion of controlled-source electromagnetic data. In: Nabighian MN (ed) Electromagnetic methods in applied geophysics, vol 1. SEG, pp 469–503
Jeng Y, Lin MJ, Chen CS (2004) A very low frequency-electromagnetic study of the geo-environmental hazardous areas in Taiwan. Environ Geol 46:784–795
Jordan EC, Balmain KG (2001) Electromagnetic waves and radiating systems. Prentice Hall of India, New Delhi
Jupp DLB, Vozoff K (1975) Stable iterative methods fort he inversion of geophysical data. Geophys J R Astron Soc 42:957–976
Kaikkonen P (1979) Numerical VLF modeling. Geophys Prospect 27:815–834
Kaikkonen P (1980a) Interpretation nomograms for VLF measurements. Acta Univ Oul A 92. Phys 17:48
Kaikkonen P (1980b) Numerical VLF, VLF-R and AMT profiles over some complicated models. Acta Univ Oul A 91 Phys 16:34
Kaikkonen P, Sharma SP (1998) 2-D nonlinear joint inversion of VLF and VLF-R data using simulated annealing. J Appl Geophys 39:155–176
Karlık G, Kaya MA (2000) Investigation of groundwater contamination using electric and electromagnetic methods at a solid waste disposal site—a case study from Isparta, West-Turkey. Environ Geol 40:725–731
Kluciarova D, Marton P, Pichler V, Marton E, Tunyi I (2008) Pollution detection by magnetic susceptibility measurements aided by the steamflow effect. Water Air Soil Pollut 189:213–223
Kosaka K (2000) Evaluating landslide deposits along the Tsurukawa fault zone, Japan, using magnetic susceptibility. Bull Eng Geol Environ 58:179–182
Kunetz G (1972) Processing and interpretation of magnetotelluric soundings. Geophyscis 37:1005–1021
Li XP, Ling FN (2012) Geostatistical analysis and fractionation of heavy metals in urban soil from industrial district in Weinan, NW China. Environ Earth Sci 67(7):2129–2140
Maher BA (1986) Characterisation of soils by mineral magnetic measurements. Phys Earth Planet Inter 42:76–92
Marquardt DW (1963) An algorithm for least-squares estimation of non-linear parameters. J Soc Ind Appl Math 11:431–441
Mcneill JD, Labson VF (1991) Geological mapping using VLF radio fields. In: Nabighian MN (ed) Electromagnetic methods in applied geophysics, vol 2. SEG, pp 521–640
Molchanov OA, Hayakawa M, Oudoh T, Kawai E (1998) Precursory effects in the subionospheric VLF signals for the Kobe earthquake. Phys Earth Planet Inter 105:239–248
MTA (1964) Geological map of Turkey, Scale 1:500000. Izmir sheet. Institute of Mineral Research and Exploration Publications, Ankara
Mullins CE (1977) Magnetic susceptibility of the soil and its significance in soil science: a review. J Soil Sci 28:223–246
Nagao T, Enomoto Y, Fujinawa Y, Hata M, Hayakawa M, Huang Q, Izutsu J, Kushida Y, Maeda K, Oike K, Uycda S, Yoshino T (2002) Electromagnetic anomalies associated with 1995 Kobe earthquake. J Geodyn 33:401–411
Nishitani T (2000) Investigation of underground resistivity structures using the VLF-MT method. Archaeol Prospect 7:231–240
Olsson O (1978) Scattering of electromagnetic waves by a perfectly conducting half-plane below a stratified overburden. Radio Sci 13:391–397
Olsson O (1983) Computation of VLF response over half-plane and wedge models. Geophys Prospect 31:171–191
Orellana E (1974) Prospeccion geoelectrica: por campos variables. Paraninfo, Madrid
Palacky GJ, Ritsema IL, De Jong SJ (1981) Electromagnetic prospecting for groundwater in Precambrian terrains in the Republic of Upper Volta. Geophys Prospect 29:932–955
Pirttijarvi M (2003) Numerical modelling and inversion of geophysical electromagnetic measurements using a thin plate model. PhD Thesis, University of Oulu Department of Geosciences Division of Geophysics
Pirttijarvi M (2006) 2Layinv-Laterally constrained two-layer inversion of VLF-R measurements. User’s guide University of Oulu, Division of Geophysics
Pirttijarvi M, Verma SK, Hjelt SE (1998) Inversion of transient electromagnetic profile data using conductive finite plate model. J Appl Geophys 38:181–194
Reynolds JM (2011) An introduction to applied and environmental geophysics. Wiley and Sons, London
Rodger CJ, Wait RW, Dowden RL, Thomson NR (1998) Radiating conducting columns inside the earth-ionosphere waveguide: application to red sprites. J Atmos Solar Terr Phys 60:1193–1204
Sasaki Y (1989) Two dimensional joint inversion of magnetotelluric and dipole–dipole resistivity data. Geophysics 54:254–262
Saydam AS (1981) Very low-frequency electromagnetic interpretation using tilt angle and ellipticity measurements. Geophysics 46:1594–1605
Sinha AK (1990) Interpretation of ground VLF-EM data in terms of inclined sheet-like conductor models. Pure Appl Geophys 132:733–756
Smith DS, Ward SH (1974) On the computation of polarization ellipse parameters. Geophysics 39:867–869
Tanikawa W, Mishima T, Hirono T, Soh W, Song SR (2008) High magnetic susceptibility produced by thermal decomposition of core samples from the Chelungpu fault in Taiwan. Earth Planeta Sci Lett 272:372–381
Tarcan G, Gemici Ü, Aksoy N (2005) Hydrogeological and geochemical assessments of the Gediz Graben geothermal areas, western Anatolia, Turkey. Environ Geol 47:523–534
Tezkan B (1999) A review of environmental applications of quasi-stationary electromagnetic techniques. Surv Geophys 20:279–308
Thomson R, Bloemendal J, Dearing J, Oldfield F, Rummery J, Stober J, Turner G (1980) Environmental applications of magnetic measurements. Science 4430(207):481–486
Timur E (2003) Application of VLF method at archaeological sites. MSc Thesis, Dokuz Eylul University, The Graduate School of Natural and Applied Sciences, İzmir
Timur E (2009) Joint inversion of magnetic and electromagnetic data. PhD Thesis, Dokuz Eylul University, The Graduate School of Natural and Applied Sciences, İzmir
Timur E (2012) VLF-R studies in the Agora of Magnesia archaeological site, Aydin, Turkey. J Geophys Eng 9:697–710
Tite M, Linington R (1975) Effect on climate on the magnetic susceptibility of soils. Nature 256:565–566
Uchida T (1993) Smooth 2-D inversion for magnetotelluric data based on statistical criterion ABIC. J Geomagn Geoelectr 45:841–858
Vozoff K (1971) The effect of overburden on vertical component anomalies in AFMAG and VLF exploration. Geophysics 36:53–57
Wait JR (1962) Theory of magnetotelluric fields. J Res Natl Bur Stand Sect D Radio Sci 66:509–541
Wright JL (1988) VLF ınterpretation manual. Geonics Ltd, Ontario, Canada
Wu TN, Lu GY (2012) Climatic sub-cycles recorded by the fourth paleosol layer at Luochuan on the Loess Plateau. Environ Earth Sci 66(5):1329–1335
Xu Y, Yue LP, Li JX, Sun L, Sun B, Zhang JY, Ma J, Wang JQ (2012) Red clay deposits on the Chinese Plateau during 11.0–2.6 Ma and its implications for long-term evolution of East Asian monsoon. Environ Earth Sci 66(7):2021–2030
Yağmur B, Aydın S, Çoban H (2013) The physical and chemical characteristics of vineyard soils and its heavy metal content in semi-arid environments. Afr J Agric Res 8(38):4819–4826
Yang T, Liu QS, Zeng QL, Chan LS (2012) Relationship between magnetic properties and heavy metals of urban soils with different soil types and environment settings: implications for magnetic mapping. Environ Earth Sci 66(2):409–420
Yazman KM (2013) Personal communication. Türkerler Geothermal Energy Company, Ankara
Yılmazer S, Pasvanoğlu S, Vural S (2010) The relation of geothermal resources with young tectonics in the Gediz Graben (West Anatolia, Turkey) and their hydrochemical analyses. Proc World Geotherm Congr, Bali
Zawadzki J, Fabijanczyk P, Magiera T, Strzyszcz Z (2010) Study of litter influence on magnetic susceptibility measurements of urban forest topsoils using the MS2D sensor. Environ Earth Sci 61(2):223–230
Zhdanov MS, Fang S (1996) 3-D quasi linear electromagnetic inversion. Radio Sci 31:741–753
Acknowledgments
I am grateful to Prof. Dr. Coşkun Sarı, Prof. Dr. Gregory N. Tsokas and the anonymous reviewers for their ideas and support. Many thanks to our departments’ hardworking students for their enormous effort during the VLF-R survey at Alaşehir. Also I would like to thank Scientific Research Foundation of Dokuz Eylül University, Turkey (DEUBAP-2009.KB.FEN.030) for supporting the magnetic susceptibility equipment.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Timur, E. Magnetic susceptibility and VLF-R investigations for determining geothermal blowout contaminated area: a case study from Alaşehir (Manisa/Turkey). Environ Earth Sci 72, 2497–2510 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-014-3158-0
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-014-3158-0