Water is arguably the most important resource our earth holds, but leveraging groundwater effectively is a challenge for even the most seasoned hydrogeologist. In fractured karst or sand aquifers, water yields can vary wildly — leaving communities stuck with expensive dry holes or low-flow wells that don’t meet demand. By integrating regional geology information, deploying our high-resolution electrical scans, and providing targeted locations for test wells, Aestus has helped several communities pinpoint the right location — the first time.
Check out these two case studies that demonstrate the power of “scan first, know where to drill.”
In Oklahoma’s Arbuckle formation, where untargeted wells often yield just 5–10 gallons per minute, a rural water district near the City of Tishomingo used GeoTrax to scan first and drill smart. The result? A high-yield well in a targeted fracture zone that produced ~700 GPM — 70 times the output of nearby wells. Note how the GeoTrax Survey™ image in the first graphic accurately identified a fracture zone, seen as the electrically conductive (blue-colored) vertical anomaly at roughly 420 meters laterally along the image.
The same story repeated in a sand aquifer in Marshall County, Oklahoma. There, typical yields ranged from just 8–35 GPM when drilled at random. With GeoTrax, the team drilled once and hit a ~110 GPM well — nearly 3 times higher than untargeted averages. In this case, the more electrically resistive target (brown colors roughly 1150 feet laterally along the image) was the ideal drilling location as it indicated a coarser-grained, higher-permeability interval.
The difference in these electrical targets (i.e., one being electrically resistive and the other electrically conductive) highlight the important work done by our team of skilled electrical hydrogeologists, a few of whom are pictured in the below image. It takes robust data integration and years of training to accurately interpret these electrical data sets to help our clients with their subsurface questions. But, as you can see on Kyle Spears’ face, it’s something that we love to do!
