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Ground-water exploration using the resistivity method on the Hawaiian Islands of Oahu and Hawaii

January 1, 1968

Thirty-six resistivity soundings were made on the islands of Oahu and Hawaii to determine the applicability of galvanic resistivity methods for locating fresh-water aquifers in the State of Hawaii. Soundings were made on the northwestern part of the island of Oahu near the town of Waialua and on the island of Hawaii on the "saddle" area near Pohekuloa and the Humuula sheep station. On Oahu, the geoelectrical study indicates that correlation among four stratigraphic units underlain by a vesicular basalt basement is possible. The electrical soundings indicate that it is feasible to determine the approximate depth to the fresh-saline water interface within the basalt. Two Schlumberger soundings with electrode spacings, AB/2, reaching 6,000 feel give sounding curves of the maximum and minimum type whose terminal branches indicate that the true resistivity of basalts saturated with sea water, in the survey area on Oahu, is about 30-40 ohm-m. On the island of Hawaii, an exploratory well drilled in basalt to a depth of 1,001 feet proved to be dry. In the area of this well, two deep soundings were made using the Schlumberger and the equatorial arrays. Although additional soundings at various orientations and larger spacings are needed, there appears to be a conductive layer below 1,600 feet which may represent basalt saturated with fresh water.

Publication Year 1968
Title Ground-water exploration using the resistivity method on the Hawaiian Islands of Oahu and Hawaii
DOI 10.3133/ofr68341
Authors Adel A. R. Zohdy, Dallas B. Jackson
Publication Type Report
Publication Subtype USGS Numbered Series
Series Title Open-File Report
Series Number 68-341
Index ID ofr68341
Record Source USGS Publications Warehouse