Home Institution: Marine Geology Seafloor Surveying Msida
Host Institution: The MarCoast Ecosystems Integration Lab, at the Technion — Israel Institute of Technology
Duration of stay(days): 15
Objectives: The primary goal of this STSM is to collect and prepare data that will be utilized to assess the Offshore Freshened Groundwater (OFG) potential on the Israeli continental shelf. The expected technical outputs include a data repository including seismic and other geophysical data, geological cross-sections, borehole and water quality data, a summary of the depositional environment of the Israeli continental shelf and its implications for the potential reservoir distribution, and a definition of model domain for subsequent 3D numerical shelf modelling of groundwater salinity distribution on the continental shelf.
Summary of the work:
The main objective of this visit was to identify and search local data sources/repositories and collect relevant data for investigation of OFG potential on the Israeli continental shelf. This was done by consulting various researchers at the host institute to identify data sources. A key resource was the Petroleum Repository of the Israeli Ministry of Energy, which hosts data and information on E&P activity for oil and gas onshore and offshore Israel. The STSM also included a site visit to the Geological Survey of Israel in Jerusalem, facilitated by Dr. Yael Sagy.
Finally, a seminar talk was presented at the Grand Water Institute titled, “Offshore Freshened Groundwater: An unconventional water resource in coastal regions?” The seminar series of the Grand Water Institute was attended by approx. 30 engineers and researchers from the Technion. The talk highlighted the state of the art of OFG research and presented a number of case studies.
As technical outputs of this STSM, there will be:
- A data repository including seismic and other geophysical data, geological cross-sections, borehole and water quality data. It includes digital elevation, bathymetry and surface data, borehole data and other GIS data (polygons) describing the project area.
- A literature review of past geological studies and coastal groundwater studies as well as a summary of the depositional environment of the Israeli continental shelf and its implications for the potential reservoir distribution.
- Definition of the model domain for subsequent 3D numerical shelf modelling of groundwater salinity distribution on the continental shelf was well defined.
As follow-up of my mission, I plan to digitise the legacy borehole data and run a geostatical modelling exercise of the coast aquifer properties; gather shallow borehole data from groundwater wells to help constrain onshore properties of the shallow sediments; reconstruct the paleo-hydrological sealevel history on the coastal aquifer model and investigate OFG potential (Work planned in the scope of follow-up STSM by Daniel Zamrsky); and present the study results at Sea Water Intrusion Meeting in En Gedi, Israel in January 2024.
