loading page

Geophysical imaging of the deep critical zone architecture reveals the complex interplay between hydrological and weathering processes in a volcanic tropical catchment
  • +3
  • Sylvain Pasquet,
  • Jean Marçais,
  • Jorden L Hayes,
  • Peter Sak,
  • Lin Ma,
  • Jerome Gaillardet
Sylvain Pasquet
Institut de physique du globe de Paris

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

Author Profile
Jean Marçais
INRAE
Author Profile
Jorden L Hayes
Dickinson College
Author Profile
Peter Sak
Dickinson College
Author Profile
Lin Ma
University of Texas at El Paso
Author Profile
Jerome Gaillardet
Institut de Physique du Globe Paris (IPGP), France
Author Profile

Abstract

The Critical Zone (CZ) evolves through weathering and erosion processes that shape landscapes and control the availability and quality of natural resources. Although many of these processes take place in the deep CZ ($\sim$10-100 m), direct information about its architecture remain scarce. Near-surface geophysics offer cost-effective and minimally-intrusive alternatives to drilling that can provide information about the physical properties of the CZ. We propose a novel workflow combining geophysics, petrophysics and geostatistics to characterize the architecture of the CZ (i.e., weathering front and water table depths) at the catchment scale, on the volcanic tropical island of Basse-Terre (Guadeloupe, France). Our results highlight two spatial organizations patterns for the weathering front and the water table, one along the stream and one transverse to it. This illustrates the robustness and strong potential of the proposed workflow to study hydrological and weathering processes in the CZ.