The application of ground penetrating radar to detection of shallow faults and caves

Ground penetrating radar (GPR) is the electromagnetic equivalent of the reflection seismic technique for high-resolution shallow geological mapping (Davis and Annan,1989). The records obtained from GPR reflection method are similar to those obtained from single-trace reflection seismic one in appearence. So, some seismic interpretation concepts may be used in the interpretation of GPR data. As a means of engineering geophysical exploration, GPR technique has its unique virtues: it has good performance on less suffering from the enviroment influence in measurements; it has higher resolution than other geophysical technique when penetration is available; and it is a nondestructive detection method with fullautomatization, portability and efficiency. In this paper, the application of GPR to detecting shallow faults and caves were introduced with three case histories, which showed the feasibility of GPR for detailed prospecting of the shallow geological problems and inspection of quality of old engineering structures.