This paper conceptualizes and evaluates the groundwater resource in a coastal urban area hydrologically influenced by peri-urban irrigation agriculture. Adra town in southern Spain was the case study chosen to evaluate the groundwater resource contributed from the northern steep urban sector (NSUS) to the southern flat urban sector (SFUS), which belongs to the Adra River Delta Groundwater Body (ARDGB). The methodology included (1) geological and hydrogeological data compilation; (2) thirteen Multichannel Analysis of Surface Waves (MASW), and eight Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) profiles to define shallow geological structures and some hydrogeological features; (3) hydrogeological surveys for aquifer hydraulic definition; (4) conceptualization of the hydrogeological functioning; and (5) the NSUS groundwater resource evaluation. All findings were integrated to prepare a 1:5000 scale hydrogeological map and cross-sections. Ten hydrogeological formations were defined, four of them (Paleozoic weathered bedrock, Pleistocene littoral facies, Holocene colluvial, and anthropogenic filling) in the NSUS contributing to the SFUS. The NSUS groundwater discharge and recharge are, respectively, around 0.28 Mm³ year⁻¹ and 0.31 Mm³ year⁻¹, and the actual groundwater storage is around 0.47 Mm³. The groundwater renewability is high enough to guarantee a durable small exploitation for specific current and future urban water uses which can alleviate the pressure on the ARDGB.

This paper integrates multichannel analysis of surface waves (MASW) and time-lapse electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) to define aquifer geometry and identify transient groundwater features of the Cascalheira Stream Basin Holocene alluvial aquifer (aquifer H), which contributes to the Santo André Lagoon, part of a coastal groundwater-dependent ecosystem (GDE), located in southwest Portugal. MASW measures shear-wave velocity (VS), allowing one to obtain steady geological models of the subsurface, and ERT measures subsurface electrical resistivity (ER), being subjected to ambient changes. MASW enables disambiguation of geological structures in low ER environments, such as coastal areas. This research covered one natural year and involved one MASW campaign, four ERT campaigns, and additional geological field surveys and groundwater monitoring to assist interpretation of results. In the area, the conjugate NW–SE and NE–SW strike-slip fault systems determine compartmentalization of geological structures and subsequent accommodation space for Holocene sedimentation. MASW and ERT surveys show how the NW–SE system deepens these structures toward the coast, whereas the NE–SW system generates small horsts and grabens, being one of these occupied by aquifer H. From upstream to downstream, aquifer H thickness and width increase from 10 m to 12 m and from 140 m to 240 m, respectively. Performance of VS and ER models was satisfactory, with a normalized error of the VR and ER models in the 0.01–0.09 range, meaning that a quantitative quota of uncertainty can be segregated from the overall uncertainty of groundwater models without substantially affecting its simulations accuracy. This methodology seeks to improve the design of shallow groundwater research in GDE preservation policies.

The topographic slope method is an innovative, fast and very low-cost technique for estimating the average S-wave velocity in the upper 30 m (V_s30) based on the relationship between this quantity and the slope of the ground, obtained using a Digital Elevation Model (DEM). The method is based on the good linear correlations log(V_s30)–log(slope) found experimentally, which, ideally, should be determined for each region. If measured V_s30 data are not available to carry out this fitting for the study area, correlations from other areas could be used, although the reliability of the estimated V_s30 results would be lower. In this article, V_s30 observations are made for the city of Almeria, using Spatial Autocorrelation Surveys (SPAC) and Multichannel Analysis of Surface Waves (MASW), obtaining two types of fitting: (a) linear relationship log(V_s30)–log(slope); and (b) considering additional dependence on geological units. The reliability, evaluated by Multiple R-Squared (MRS), varies between 79.2% in the first case and 87.0% in the second, lowering the mean absolute values of the residuals at the observation points in the first case from 40.0 m/s to 29.0 m/s. Using a more generic correlation obtained for other areas of the world, the mean absolute residuals increase to 74.7 m/s.