Integrated geophysical technique for groundwater salinity delineation, an approach to agriculture sustainability for Nankana Sahib Area, Pakistan

Owing to the climatic dryness and shortage of surface water, Pakistani farmers have been forced to rely on groundwater resources to meet the irrigation demand for crops. Pumping an excessive amount of water from the aquifers is turning it brackish. Our study aims to select a suitable depth of freshwater for installing tube wells in a study area, Tehsil Nankana Sahib. Sixteen vertical electrical soundings (VES) were arrayed in this study area, and water samples were also collected to record their electrical conductivity. The interpolation maps for different parameters were generated by using the inverse distance weighted interpolation method. The obtained results depict that the central and southeastern region has good groundwater at depths from 60 to 90 m, the northeastern region has marginally fit water, while the northwestern region is marked as having an unfit groundwater zone. This research article is not only a case study but also can be used for other areas of Punjab, Pakistan, facing similar groundwater problems. However, the comparison of VES results with borehole data is critical to achieve better accuracy. An extensive exploratory borehole study of the area is recommended to further characterize the subsurface lithology.

Automated summary

Due to climatic dryness and shortage of surface water, Pakistani farmers have to rely on groundwater for irrigation. This study used vertical electrical soundings and water sample collection to determine suitable freshwater depths for installing tube wells. The results showed that the central and southeastern regions have good groundwater, while the northwestern region has unfit groundwater.