Case Studies Of 2D Resistivity Surveying For Soils, Waste Management, Geotechnical, And Groundwater Contaminant Investigations

The direct-current (DC) resistivity method has seen wide use in mining, groundwater, contaminant, and<br>geotechnical applications since its first use in the early 1920’s. More recently, however, fixed frequency and<br>transient electromagnetic (EM) methods have supplanted many applications traditionally addressed by resistivity<br>techniques. In particular, the application of resistivity profiling and sounding has suffered from the time intensive<br>nature of these surveys as compared to using EM equipment.<br>The advent of the automation of 2D resistivity surveys (Dahlin. 1993) and the ability to quickly invert relatively<br>large 2D data sets (Loke and Barker, 1996) promises to re-introduce the DC resistivity method into a wide variety<br>of applications in the geosciences. This paper presents four case studies where 2D resistivity surveying was<br>applied. The technique was used in various geological terrains, extremes of weather, studies requiring varying<br>depths of investigation, and with varying degrees of cultural interference. The accuracy of the method is evaluated.