Detection Hydrosphere Contamination in Hard-Rock by Using Electrical Resistivity
Tomography Technique at Hulu Langat Basin, Selangor, Malaysia
Mohammed Ismail Abu-Shariah1 and Ahmed Adam Wady1.
1
Geology Department, Faculty of Science, University of Malaya, Malaysia
[email protected]
Extended Abstract
Hydrosphere pollution is a major global issue at challenge that is affecting the Earth's
systems. Hydrosphere is a discontinuous layer of water at or near to the Earth’s surface
(Araya, 2005). More specifically, the hydrosphere includes the region that includes all the
earth’s liquid water, frozen and floating ice, water in the upper layer of soil, and the small
amounts of water vapor in the earth’s atmosphere. Beside that the term pollution is referring
to the environmental damage caused by waste that is discharged into the hydrosphere. It is
also used to refer to the occurrence of waste in the hydrosphere or to the presence of waste
itself. The hydrosphere in the study area has been contaminated due to rapid expanded of
agriculture activity, illegal landfills, and other activities. This expansion has been
accompanied by increasing pollution and anthropogenic activities.
The study area is situated in the Hulu Langat watershed and along the upper stream of the
Langat River Basin, Selangor, Malaysia (Figure 1). Hulu Langat watershed’s geographical
position in Selangor contributes to the states rapid development as an industrial hub Hydro
meteorologically. Hydrosphere can be affected by various aspects either natural or physical
changes in the area.
Study Area Figure 1: Map shows the location of the study area.
The principal objective of this paper is to determine the effect of the hydrosphere
contamination in the study area that is located in hard-rock aquifer "Granite Formation" at
Hulu Langat watershed Basin (Figure 1) by using Electrical Resistivity Tomography (ERT).
In additional, to determine the geoelectrical and hydrogeological characteristics of the
contaminated hydrosphere present in the study. Wenner-alpha array was used with electrode
spacing of 5m and the total traverse line length of 200 m. This profile is conducted in an
undeveloped area that located as shown in Figure 1. This area is considered as illegal landfills
and flood area. The survey line is carried along Jalan Datok Alias, Kampung Maleka,
Selangor as shown in Figures 1 and 2. The profile line is trend from North to South. It is
located in Granite Formation “Hard-rock aquifer”.
Figure 2: Photo and satellite image show Langat River and water contamination sources
that are located around the study area.
The ERT inverse model (Figure 2) shows the low resistivity anomaly of contaminated
hydrosphere with a resistivity value range from ≤ 2 ohm.m to ≈100 ohm.m. The 2D ERT
inverse model shows the continuation flow direction from N to S based on low resistivity
anomaly that is extended from Earth’s Surface till around 22 m at the northern part. The
contaminated water has been introduced to the hydrosphere from the illegal landfills, mining
activities and other anthropogenic activities as shown in Figure 2 that located north of the
profile survey line. Therefore, ERT Method provided a vital planning for identifying and
detecting hydrosphere contamination in the study area by proposing methods for controlling
and monitoring water index quality.
S N
Figure 2: 2D Electrical resistivity inverse model shows the low resistivity anomaly in the
right.
References:
Abu Shariah, M I and Yusoff, I., 2010, Geophysical Techniques for Hydrological
Investigations, National Geoscience Conference Jun 2010, Geological Society of Malaysia
Araya, Y. N. (2005) Hydrosphere. In: Lehr, Jay H and Keeley, Jack eds Water Encoclopedia.
USA: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Acknowledgement
The authors would like to extend their sincere appreciation to University of Malaya for giving
them an opportunity to work on this research through the High Impact Research (HIR) grants
with account no J-21004-73829. In additional, we would like to express our sincere
appreciation to Dr. Sawsan Kamel Shariah for her help.