oa Application of complex resistivity tomography to field data from a kerosene-contaminated site

Recently several investigations on samples in the laboratory have proved the influence of hydrocarbon (HC) contamination on the complex electrical resistivity of soils and rocks (Olhoeft, 1992; Bömer et al., 1993; Vanhala, 1997). Beside the magnitude of resistivity additional information about the contaminant is obtained from the phase angle which may be measured by the frequency domain induced polarization method. However, for environmental HC pollution problems the importance of the complex resistivity method depends on its practical value for the detection, delineation and monitoring of subsurface contamination under field conditions. Here, an application of complex resistivity tomography to field data, collected on a kerosene-contaminated former military jet fuel depot, is presented.