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In hydrogeological research, the systematic and periodic measurement of the piezometric level is fundamental to assess aquifer storage, identify recharge and discharge areas, define flow directions and to infer the balance between inputs and withdrawals. Furthermore, knowledge of this variable and its fluctuations is essential for the efficient management and protection of groundwater resources. In this work, a novel methodology is proposed for the remote acquisition of piezometric information from traditional large-diameter wells, using drone-borne LiDAR observations. The workflow developed consists of different stages, from flight planning and parameter setting, to point cloud generation, data processing and validation and its statistical treatment to extract piezometric information. This methodology has been applied in a small coastal aquifer with numerous wells that have served as monitoring points. The UAV-LiDAR has enabled the straightforward obtention of measurements of the piezometric level with very high vertical accuracies (RMSE of 5 cm) with minimum and maximum residuals of -8.7 and 7.9 cm respectively. Likewise, the method has shown vertical accuracies 3 times better than those inferred from the official DTM of best resolution available in Spain, which is usually used in hydrogeological works. Since the technique provides absolute values of the piezometric level, it eliminates the need for laborious levelling work prior to hydrogeological campaigns. This method has proved to be an effective alternative/complementary technique to traditional measurements of the piezometric level, allowing to monitor extensive or inaccessible areas over short periods of time and to potentially reduce gaps in hydrogeological databases., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Abstract: Preconsolidation stress (σ′p) is the maximum effective stress that a soil has suffered throughout its life. From a geotechnical point of view, preconsolidation stress has a great importance because it separates elastic and reversible deformations from inelastic and only partially irreversible deformations and marks the starting point of high compressibility. This study calculates the preconsolidation stress for 139 undisturbed soil samples from the Vega Baja and Media of the Segura river (SE Spain), using the uniaxial consolidation test and applying the method proposed by Casagrande while using a novel analytical procedure proposed by Gregory et al. [Gregory, A.S., Whalley, W.R., Watts, C.W., Bird, N.R.A., Hallet, P.D., Whitmore, A.P., 2006. Calculation of the compression index and precompression stress from soil compression test data. Soil and Till. Res., 89, 45–57] to avoid subjective interpretations of maximum curvature point. The results show overconsolidation ratio (OCR — the ratio of preconsolidation stress to current natural overburden stress) values for the 10–15 m depth of soil varying from 2 to 14 and maximum preconsolidation stresses above 800 kPa. The main causes of calculated preconsolidation identified are desiccation due to seasonal drying and wetting cycles that have induced additional stresses always lower than 42 kPa for the more superficial samples. Water level decline due to the reduction of recharge suffered by the aquifer system during periods of drought and the uncontrolled withdrawal of water is considered to be the second cause of anomalous OCR values. This second cause induces low stresses to the more superficial layers (lower than 41 kPa) that can reach values higher than 150 kPa for the deeper layers for known water level decreases. In consequence, the soils of the Vega Baja and Media of the Segura river are highly overconsolidated for the first 5 m, decreasing gradually with depth to 10–15 m deep. For samples located deeper than 15 m the soils seem to be underconsolidated, probably due to the existence of confined aquifers that cause deviations from a hydrostatic and linear pore pressure model. This fact has a huge practical significance which implies that deformations affecting superficial layers are lower than those expected for deeper layers for the same load. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Differential SAR Interferometry (DInSAR) is a remote sensing technique with the well-proven ability to monitor ground deformations. In this work we have applied an advanced DInSAR technique – the Coherent Pixels Technique (CPT) – , to study subsidence phenomena due to the excessive pumping of groundwater in the Vega Media of the Segura River (SE Spain) from 1993 to the present. The settlement map retrieved with DInSAR shows settlement of up to 8 cm at some points of the study area and has been compared with other data provided by ground instruments to analyse the relationship with ground deformation. A correlation has been observed between these measurements and the observations from on-site testing of piezometric groundwater fluctuations and borehole extensometric settlement. However, the distribution of damaged buildings, well points and basements does not show a clear relationship with measured subsidence values because the occurrence of damage also depends on the structural state of the buildings and the characteristics of their foundations. In addition, the distribution of pumping wells is not indicative of the distribution of the volume of water withdrawal which is the real conditioning factor of piezometric level changes. It can be concluded that the results obtained provide very useful spatial and temporal data about this phenomenon in an urban area at a low cost. The data can be used for forecasting purposes and helps to define zones with future ground settlement problems if the same conditions are repeated. This technique has also allowed the monitoring of ground subsidence in the Vega Media of Segura River for a period (1993–1995) where no instrument information was available. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]