Norbert Péter Szabó Ph.D.

Associate Professor
University of Miskolc, Department of Geophysics

Engineering and Environmental

Geophysics
Lecture Notes

MS in Earth Sciences Engineering

 Selected Bibliography
• Sharma P. V., 1997. Environmental and engineering geophysics.
Cambridge University Press
• Everett M. E., 2013. Near-surface applied geophysics. Cambridge
University Press
• Kirsch R. (editor), 2009. Groundwater Geophysics - A Tool for
Hydrogeology. Springer
• Butler D. K., 2005. Near-surface geophysics. SEG
• Knödel K., Lange G., Voigt H.-J., 2007. Environmental Geology
Handbook of Field Methods and Case Studies. Springer
• Scientific journals: Near-surface geophysics, Journal of Engineering
and Geophysics etc.

Engineering and environmental geophysics Introduction

 Introduction
• Targets of engineering and environmental investigations are situated at
shallow depths
• Near-surface geophysical methods adapted from exploration geophysics
• Closely spaced grid of observation points is necessary for accurate
localization and characterization
• Various geophysical methods are combined for enhance the reliability of
interpretation
• Cost of measurement depends on selected technique, terrain conditions,
area size, number of survey stations, required accuracy, penetration of
depth, interpretation technique (relatively low-cost methods)
• Ambiguity of interpretation, drilling is often necessary to confirm the
results

Engineering and environmental geophysics Introduction

 Environmental Problems
• Location and characterization of near-surface geological structures (pore space, faults,
fissures, share zones, lithologic variation)
• Characterization of aquifers, groundwater protection from contamination, salinity of
underground water (fresh and salt water contact)
• Landfill characterization, delineation of the margins of buried waste dumps, soil
contamination, tracing seepage movement
• Exploration for new potential sites for safe disposal of nuclear and chemical waste
• Landslides and ground subsidence (e.g. hydrocarbon exploitation)
• Archeological site delineation
• Evaluation of earthquake hazards
• Mining problems and safety (detecting tectonic disturbances and fault zones, water
inrush, thickness of impervious layers)
• Environmental hygiene, radioactivity surveys for indoor radon risk and groundwater
contamination, radiation from industrial and waste dumps, delineation of radioactive
fallouts, detection of fracture zones (earthquake prediction)

Engineering and environmental geophysics Introduction

 Civil Engineering Problems
• Testing of foundations (depth and composition of bedrock, physical
properties of rocks in dams, tunnels, shafts)
• Survey of establishments and construction works (railway, highway,
subway)
• Geotechnical problems (soil properties, elastic parameters, compaction)
• Blast planning and analysis (estimation of blast loading on a specific
structure, modeling and simulation, risk zones)
• Location of water (water supply, drainage problems, foundation and
transport engineering)
• Location of older underground excavations (detection of abandoned
mine shafts, pipelines, metallic objects)

Engineering and environmental geophysics Introduction

 Geophysical Methods
• Non-invasive, non-destructive methods (ground geophysical surveys)
• On-site exploration work, in-situ measurements (geophysical sounding in
penetration holes), continuous information
• Time-lapse measurements (monitoring surveys)
• Solution of forward/inverse problem
• Geometrical parameters
Structural elements, layer-thickness, depth, dip, strike, azimuth, tectonics,
volume, structure of establishments and construction works, 1D, 2D, 3D and
mixed models and structures
• Spatial distribution of petrophysical/geophysical parameters
Mineral composition, petrophysical properties (porosity, water saturation,
hydraulic conductivity etc.), degree of cracking and weathering, water
tightness, contamination, radiological parameters

Engineering and environmental geophysics Introduction

 Environmental Applications

Sharma (1997)

Engineering and environmental geophysics Introduction

 Engineering Applications

Sharma (1997)

Engineering and environmental geophysics Introduction

Gravity Method
 Earth’s Gravitational Field
• Sources of Earth’s field
- Gravitational attraction
- Centrifugal force
- Tidal force
• Newton’s second law

F  mg
• Gravity field on the Earth’s
surface
M
M gG 2
g  -U where U  G R
R

Engineering and environmental geophysics Gravity method

 Gravimeter
•Surveying method: very sensitive spring
and mass system, weight is attached to a
beam and a spring. Gravity increases, the
weight is forced downwards, stretching the
spring, the weight forces the beam to rotate.
Adjusting the screw moves the beam back
to horizontal. Amount the beam moves is
proportional to the gravitational force
• Measurement parameter: scale reading is
proportional to gravity acceleration.
Calibration coefficient is given (mGal/scale
reading)
• Advantage of the method: small-size and
small-weight instrument, rapid
measurement, real time corrections,
integrated GPS capability, accuracy ~ 1–5
μGal
• Application: detection of cavities and
voids, geotechnical applications, density
determination, geologic exploration,
Scintrex CG-5 localization of underground karsts,
micro-gravimeter calculation of excess mass

Engineering and environmental geophysics Gravity method

 Gravity Anomaly

Hermance (2003)

Engineering and environmental geophysics Gravity method

 Gravity Survey

• Gravimeter stations are planned at the corners of a square grid

• Grid length (s) should be less than the depth (h) of the geologic feature
• Large-scale surveys: s≈1–n10 km for mapping regional geological
structures
• Small-scale surveys: s≈10–n100 m for detailing local geological
features
• Microgravity surveys: s≈15–30 m for reconnaissance site surveys
• High-resolution microgravity surveys: s≈2–10 m for investigating
shallow geological features

Engineering and environmental geophysics Gravity method

 Reduction of Microgravity Data
• Linear correction of instrumental drift
• Diurnal temporal variations (tidal correction)
• Corrections for the atmosphere (pressure, rain, snow)
• Normal correction (regional-residual field separation, removing
the regional by regression analysis)
• Elevation (free-air and Bouguer) correction
• Topographic correction (calculated in limited distance)
• Building correction (buildings and underground constructions
cause a lowering of measured gravity field, approximation of
the walls by a set of simple geometric bodies, parameters are
thickness, height and density of walls)
• Cartographic correction (for bigger areas)

Engineering and environmental geophysics Gravity method

 Gravity Response of a Void
• The longest dimension of the body is much
smaller than its depth
• For instance - void, buried object, caves
• Gravity effect of sphere with radius R

Mz
Δg z  Δg  sin   G
r2 r

where M=(4/3)R3 and r2=z2+x2

• Gravity effect in the function of horizontal
coordinate
z
Δg z  GM
x 2
 z2 
3/ 2

• Approximate depth of the body is z=0.652w

Lowrie (2007)

Engineering and environmental geophysics Gravity method

 Gravity Response of Block Model

Engineering and environmental geophysics Gravity method

 Derivatives of Gravity Field
• Allow the enhancement of the gravity
anomalies of small and shallow
geological features
• Derivatives are very sensitive to noise
due to near-surface topographic
irregularities
• Maxima of the horizontal and vertical
gradients at shallow depths occur
very nearly over the edges of the
blocks
• Gravity anomaly calculated over a
prism (top left figure), vertical gradient
of gravity field (top right figure),
maximal horizontal gradient of gravity
field (bottom left figure), maximal
vertical gradient of gravity field
(bottom right figure)
Sharma (1997)

Engineering and environmental geophysics Gravity method

 Determination of Surface Rock Density
Nettleton’s method

1 g.u. = 0.1 mGal

Seigel (1995)

Engineering and environmental geophysics Gravity method

 Workflow of Inverse Modeling

Engineering and environmental geophysics Gravity method

 Detection of Mine Shafts
Gravity anomaly map over
an abandoned mine

Result of gravity inversion

www.state.nj.us/dep/njgs/geophys/grav.htm

Engineering and environmental geophysics Gravity method

 Detection of Underground Voids
Hole in school playground

Low density ground

Chalk bedrock at 7 m depth

www.rsk.co.uk

Engineering and environmental geophysics Gravity method

 Sinkhole Detection
• Sinkholes are depression forms in the
land surface, sometimes in a short
period of time, formed by movement of
rock or sediment into caverns created
by the dissolution of water-soluble rock
• Results of inversion (below): site was
a karst plain with thin soil cover and
scrub vegetation. High-resolution micro-
gravity measurement was conducted.
After data reduction some gravity
anomalies as 10 μGals were detected.
After inversion near-surface density
distribution associated with caves and
voids was estimated (location, depth
and shapes)
Top figure: Dobecki and Upchurch (2006)
Bottom figure: Styles (2005)

Engineering and environmental geophysics Gravity method

 Tomb Detection

Hokkanen (2015)

Engineering and environmental geophysics Gravity method

 Superconducting Gravimeter
• High accuracy (absolute) measurement of
gravity field variations over long periods of time
at a fixed observation location
• Method: test sphere is levitated by a magnetic
field produced by currents in superconducting
coils. Owing to the zero resistance (no ohmic
losses), the currents in the coils are nearly
constant resulting in perfect stability.
Gravitational forces acting on the sphere are
compensated by a feedback which regulates
currents in an additional coil. These currents are
monitored continuously in time and digitalized in
a high sensitivity and temporal resolution
• Gravimeter sensing unit includes superconduct-
ing magnets, niobium sphere (2.5 cm diameter, 5
gram), circuitry for energizing the coils,
temperature control circuitry and magnetic
shielding. Liquid helium tank and refrigeration
system keeps the GSU close to 4.2 K to
maintain the superconducting currents
• Resolution of newest instruments: 0.1 nGal=10-3
http://www.gwrinstruments.com/index.html nm/s2

Engineering and environmental geophysics Gravity method

 Residual SG Gravity Field
• Observed gravity variation is affected by
instrument drift and station origin, tides,
atmospheric pressure, sea level change, ocean
currents, polar motion, rainfall, soil moisture,
groundwater movement, snow loading, tectonics,
earthquakes, mass redistribution before volcanic
eruption etc.
• Observed gravity residual (Fig. a), accumulated
precipitation per hour (Fig. b), groundwater table
level (Fig. c) at Moxa in Germany
• In a first approximation, a saturated horizontal
layer of thickness h and fractional porosity Φ
results in a gravity perturbation (Bouguer slab)
Δg  2 π G ρ Φ h  0.42 Φ (μ Gal/cm)
• Hydrology correction depends on local water
storage balance (rain and snowfall, soil moisture,
evapotranspiration, and run-off) and porosity and
permeability variations around the station
Kroner et al. (2004)
Engineering and environmental geophysics Gravity method
Magnetic Method
 Earth’s Magnetic Field
• Outer core - dynamo theory and
magneto-hydrodynamics, 95 % of
the magnetic field (theoretically
magnetic dipole at the center of
the Earth inclined 11.5° to the
axis of rotation); slow temporal
change is called secular variation
(including changes in polarity)
• Earth’s crust - magnetic field of
rocks is unvarying in time
• Cosmic radiation - interaction
with the ionosphere, diurnal effect,
magnetic storms

Engineering and environmental geophysics Magnetic method

 Residual Magnetic Field
• The Earth’s magnetic field is
considered as a homogeneous
magnetic field in local scale
• Local magnetic anomalies are
caused by subsurface bodies
having different susceptibilities
and magnetization
• Superposition of the normal and
local (anomalous) field is observed
in nT units
B  μ0 (H  J)  μ0 (1  κ)H
• Direction of anomalous magnetic
field is compared to that of the
ambient field

Engineering and environmental geophysics Magnetic method

 Inclination of Magnetic Field

Engineering and environmental geophysics Magnetic method

 Protonprecession Magnetometer
• Elements: water tank (protons), coil (induction
and measurement), lifting rod, electronics
• Operation: current supply, induced magnetic
field, angular force and protons align to the
field, current cut-off, precession motion of
protons around the Earth’s magnetic field
• Observed quantity is the precession frequency
from which the absolute value of magnetic field
is derived γ
f  B
2π
where γ=0.042576 Hz/nT is the proton’s
gyromagnetic ratio and f ~ 2 kHz
• Absolute accuracy ~ 0.1 nT
• Rapid measurement: 3 s/reading

Engineering and environmental geophysics Magnetic method

 Magnetic Data Processing

• Normal correction (or removing regional trend)

• Diurnal (daily variation) correction

• Elevation correction (negligible)

• Reduction to magnetic pole

• Analytic continuations

• Calculation of derivatives of magnetic field

Engineering and environmental geophysics Magnetic method

 Analytic Signal
• Analytic signal is calculated from the horizontal and vertical spatial derivatives of the
measured total magnetic field T(x,y)
1/2
 T 2  T 2  T 2 
A(x, y)          
 x   y   z  

• Analytic signal enhances the edges of magnetized bodies (e.g. faults, structural
contacts) relative to magnetic field T

Sharma (1997)

Engineering and environmental geophysics Magnetic method

 Magnetic Response of Blocks

Engineering and environmental geophysics Magnetic method

 Magnetic Gradiometry
• Vertical and horizontal gradients of the total
magnetic field are measured
• Enhancement of near-surface effects
• Automatic cancellation of diurnal effect
• Field strength is inversely proportional to the
cube of distance from the causative body

Engineering and environmental geophysics Magnetic method

 Magnetic Survey of Municipal Waste

Nyékládháza village (2004)

Engineering and environmental geophysics Magnetic method

 Total Magnetic Field

Nyékládháza village (2004)

Engineering and environmental geophysics Magnetic method

 Archeological Features
Smekalova et al. (2008)
Engineering and environmental geophysics
• Earthen structures = 1–20 nT
• Mud brick walls = 10–50 nT
• Fired structure = 10–1000 nT
(oven, kiln)
• Ferrous objects = 20–2000 nT
(iron-smelting slag blocks)
Magnetic method
 Ancient Mud Brick Structures

Smekalova et al. (2008)

Engineering and environmental geophysics Magnetic method
 Ditch Structures
Tara Hill (Ireland)

Engineering and environmental geophysics Magnetic method

 Detection of Pipelines

Engineering and environmental geophysics Magnetic method

 UXO Detection
• UXO (Unexploded Ordnance)-contaminated
lands should be cleared in former conflict
zones worldwide
• Total magnetic filed at a live UXO site (see
figure)
• Magnetic responses from individual ferrous-
metal targets have amplitudes of up to ±150
nT and are clearly resolved
• Measurements are made at ultra-high spatial
resolution with line spacing ~ 0.25 m and
station spacing ~ 0.1 m
• Asymmetric magnetic signatures may also be
caused by a preferred alignment of the long
axes of ellipsoidal UXO targets
• Seabed surveys can identify and locate
debris and potential UXO
Everett (2013)

Engineering and environmental geophysics Magnetic method

Direct Current Methods
 Multielectrode Data Acquisition
Dipole-dipole array
(Reference depth = R(AB/2,MN/2)/2)
A4 B4 A6 B6
A2 B3 A5 B5 A7 B7
A1 B1 B2 M2 N2 M4 N4 M6 N6

M1 N1 M3 N3 M5 N5 M7 N7

ρa(1,1) ρa(2,2) ρa(3,3) ρa(4,4) ρa(5,5) ρa(6,6) ρa(7,7)

ρa(1,2) ρa(2,3) ρa(3,4) ρa(4,5) ρa(5,6) ρa(6,7)

ρa(1,3) ρa(2,4) ρa(3,5) ρa(4,6) ρa(5,7)

ρa(1,4) ρa(2,5) ρa(3,6) ρa(4,7)

Apparent resistivity (anomaly) pseudosection

Engineering and environmental geophysics Direct current methods

 Multielectrode Survey along Riverbank

Limestone

Hejő River (Turai, 2009)

Engineering and environmental geophysics Direct current methods

 Localization of Faults

Engineering and environmental geophysics Direct current methods

 Detection of Cavities

Engineering and environmental geophysics Direct current methods

 Saltwater Intrusion into Coastal Aquifers

Engineering and environmental geophysics Direct current methods

 Aquifer Transmissivity
• Darcy’s equation describes the flow of
water through a porous formation
u K
 p
t Φμ
where K(m2) is permeability, Φ is porosity,
µ(Ns/m2) is dynamic viscosity, u(m) is the
relative displacement vector of water,
p(N/m2) is the pore pressure
• Hydraulic conductivity (k=Kρwg/µ in m/s)
quantifies the ease with which water can
move through the intergranular pore and
fracture spaces of formations
ρwg d2 Φ3
k
μ 180 1  Φ2
where d(cm) is the dominant grain diameter,
ρw(g/cm3) is the density of water, g(cm/s2) is
the normal acceleration of gravity (k is given
in units of cm/s)
• Aquifer transmissivity is T=kh in m2/d,
Everett (2013) where h is the aquifer thickness

Engineering and environmental geophysics Direct current methods

 Block Inversion of Multielectrode Data

GeoTomo Software (2010)

Engineering and environmental geophysics Direct current methods

 Series Expansion-Based Inversion
• Variations of layer boundaries and
VES stations
resistivities along the profile are described
by continuous functions
• Discretization of layer parameters is based
on series expansion (Dobróka, 1993)
Q(i)
mi (x)   B(i)
q Φq (x)
q 1

where mi denotes the i-th physical or

structural parameter, Bq is the q-th
expansion coefficient, Φq is the q-th basis
function (up to Q number of additive terms)
• Number of unknowns is
Gyulai et al. (2014) - Set of 1D local inversions = 105
- Series expansion-based 2D inversion = 9
• Highly overdetermined inverse problem is
solved for the expansion coefficients (the
basis functions are known quantities)
• Higher accuracy, reliability, resolution and
stability (no smoothness constraints)

Engineering and environmental geophysics Direct current methods

 Inversion of VES Data Sets

Gyulai et al. (2014)

Engineering and environmental geophysics Direct current methods

 Quality of Inversion Results
• Accuracy is measured by the estimation errors of model parameters
- Generalized inverse matrix (M): m  Mρa
- Model covariance matrix: cov(m)  M cov(ρa )M T

- Standard deviation: σ mi  cov mii

• Reliability is measured by the degree of correlation between the model parameters

cov(m)ij Correlation coefficient: near 1 » Ignore model

corr(m)ij 
σ mi σ m j near 0 » Accept model

• Data misfit is measured by the RMS between observed and calculated data
obs. cal.  2
1 N  ρa,k  ρa,k 
D  
N k 1  ρa,obs.
  100 (%)

k 

Engineering and environmental geophysics Direct current methods

 Quality Check of Inversion Results
1D inversion results
x (m) 0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000
ρ1 (ohmm) 51.7 (2*) 52.5 (3) 43.6 (1) 31.8 (1) 59.8 (3) 32.8 (3) 38.6 (4) 34.0 (4) 51.5 (8) 40.2 (4) 37.4 (5)
ρ2 (ohmm) 21.0 (72) 19.0 (105) 28.4 (19) 17.6 (32) 21.1 (11) 20.0 (6) 21.1 (4) 18.4 (15) 25.6 (3) 20.0 (10) 14.3 (21)
ρ3 (ohmm) 37.3 (14) 40.7 (15) 41.3 (80) 54.0 (200) 42.3 (121) 38.5 (73) 43.4 (54) 31.5 (6) 55.0 (39) 35.2 (4) 38.0 (3)
ρ4 (ohmm) 15.5 (3) 15.5 (3) 13.8 (4) 11.8 (5) 12.0 (9) 9.3 (6) 14.0 (4) 12.6 (4) 20.8 (6) 17.5 (2) 15.7 (2)
h1 (m) 5.1 (29) 4.7 (35) 8.8 (25) 8.2 (26) 5.0 (10) 3.9 (17) 2.1 (12) 2.7 (21) 1.4 (12) 2.1 (14) 1.4 (16)
h2 (m) 6.3 (170) 5.3 (193) 20.9 (193) 17.3 (127) 22.1 (105) 21.3 (66) 19.3 (39) 7.3 (46) 14.8 (29) 5.5 (31) 3.6 (35)
h3 (m) 39.4 (39) 35.7 (35) 34.0 (185) 24.0 (253) 33.7 (190) 35.1 (110) 29.1 (82) 56.8 (15) 26.0 (69) 38.5 (13) 42.1 (8)

*Estimation errors in percent are in brackets

1D local inversion and 2D series expansion-based inversion results

Inversion x (m) 0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000
D 3.0 3.5 2.1 2.5 3.2 3.4 2.9 2.9 2.4 1.8 1.8
 (mean) 72.4 85.3 106 132 106 56.2 41 21.9 33.2 14.5 18.0
1D
Correlation 0.70 0.70 0.73 0.72 0.73 0.70 0.63 0.65 0.64 0.66 0.67
Mean correlation 0.68
D 2.8 4.0 2.4 4.0 3.5 3.2 3.1 2.6 4.4 1.5 2.2
2D  (mean) 18.6 15.5 17.4 13.3 12.4 18.2 16.8 18.9 30.7 15.7 20.3
Mean correlation 0.25

Engineering and environmental geophysics Direct current methods

 Geoelectric Survey of Municipal Waste Site

Nyékládháza village (2004)

Engineering and environmental geophysics Direct current methods

 Detection of Graves

Csókás et al. (1977)

Engineering and environmental geophysics Direct current methods

 Detection of Buried Buildings
Buried forge found within the area of Sárospatak castle garden
(Hursán et al., 2006)

Resistivity map Archeological excavation

Engineering and environmental geophysics Direct current methods

 Forensic Geoelectric Survey

Pringle (2009) In red box - blood and tissue are mixed with soil water

Engineering and environmental geophysics Direct current methods

 Induced Polarization Method
• Apparent polarizability is derived
from the measurement of potential
difference
ΔVM, N (t)
ηa ( t )  100 (%)
ΔVc
• TAU-transformation (Turai, 1981)

ηa (t)   w( ) exp(t /  )dτ
0

where w() is the time-constant

spectrum estimated by approxi-
Kearey et al. (2002) mate or inversion methods

Engineering and environmental geophysics Direct current methods

 Assessment of Soil Contamination

Turai (2012)

Engineering and environmental geophysics Direct current methods

 IP Survey of Municipal Waste Site

Waste (metallic polarization)

Nyékládháza village (2004)

Engineering and environmental geophysics Direct current methods

 Detection of Metallic Contamination

Turai (2010)

Engineering and environmental geophysics Direct current methods

 IP Survey of Fuel Contamination

Everett (2013)

Engineering and environmental geophysics Direct current methods

 Detection of Pipelines

Engineering and environmental geophysics Direct current methods

Electromagnetic Methods
 FDEM Methods
• Frequency domain EM (induction) method applied in
shallow environmental investigation (0.320 kHz)
• Method: electrical currents are induced into subsurface
conductors by the transmitter loop that radiates an EM
field. As the EM energy encounters different subsurface
materials, eddy currents are induced creating
secondary EM fields. Secondary magnetic field is
recorded at the surface by a receiver loop
• Observed parameters: in-phase magnetic component
measurements generally respond to buried metallic
objects. Terrain conductivity is determined by
comparing the strength of the quadrature (900 out-of-
phase) component of the secondary field to the
strength of the primary field. Conductivity variations are
caused by changes in soil type, moisture or salinity and
the presence of nonmetallic bulk wastes
• Application: locating buried tanks and pipes, pits and
trenches containing metallic and/or nonmetallic debris,
delineating landfill boundaries, mapping conductive soil
Hermance (2003) and groundwater contamination, soil salinity in
agricultural areas, characterizing shallow subsurface
hydrogeology (locating sand and gravel deposits, fault
and fracture zones, detecting underground storage
tanks used for holding petroleum products)

Engineering and environmental geophysics Electromagnetic methods

 Locating Storage Tanks

ppT

www.geovision.com

Engineering and environmental geophysics Electromagnetic methods

 TDEM Methods
• Time domain EM method applied in shallow
environmental investigation
• Method: tool consists of two square coils, one mounted
over the other. Bottom coil acts as both a transmitter
and receiver while the top coil is a receiver only. Bottom
coil generates a pulsed primary magnetic field, which
induces eddy currents into nearby metallic objects.
When the transmitter is in its off cycle both coils
measure the decay of the eddy currents in mV. Decay
of the eddy currents is proportional to the size and
depth of the metallic target
• Observed signal: symmetrical positive anomaly is
recorded over metallic objects with the peak centered
over the object. Signal from the top coil is amplified in
such a way that both coils record effectively the same
response for a metallic object on the surface and the
top coil records a larger response for buried metallic
www.geovision.com objects. Response of near surface objects can,
therefore, be suppressed by subtracting the lower coil
response from the upper coil response
• Application: detection of ferrous and non-ferrous
metallic objects, locating drums, tanks, pipes, metallic
debris, unexploded ordnance detection (relatively
insensitive to ground structures such as fences,
buildings, and vehicles)

Engineering and environmental geophysics Electromagnetic methods

 UXO Detection

www.geovision.com

Engineering and environmental geophysics Electromagnetic methods

 Ground Penetrating Radar

• Transmitter emits high frequency (25 MHz−2.6

GHz) EM pulses into the ground, we record the
amplitude and travel time of the energy reflected
back to the surface
• Method responds to variation in dielectric
properties and apparent resistivity of the ground
• Dielectric constant is directly proportional to
attenuation and travel time of EM waves
(velocity of EM waves in freshwater is 0.034
m/ns)
• Relative dielectric permittivity of freshwater is
80, that of dry sand is 3, that of saturated sand
is 20−30, that of clays is 5−40 (shales 5−15)

Engineering and environmental geophysics Electromagnetic methods

 Sinkhole Detection
• Cavities created in carbonates millions of
years ago may be plugged today with
younger deposits. Because of frequent
fluctuation of the water table the younger
sediments may be drained downward
causing a sink to develop and migrate
toward the surface
• Figure shows a GPR profile (80 MHz)
over a potential sinkhole location. Paleo-
surface shows the limestone bedrock with
sand and clay plugging the cavity in the
limestone. Cavity in the rock is stable, but
alteration of the hydrological regime might
induce collapse in the future
• Propagation velocity in unsaturated
materials above the water table is about
0.07 m/ns and below this interface the
velocity drops to about 0.05 m/ns
(reflector at about 16 m depth is a multiple
of the water table)
Sharma (1997)

Engineering and environmental geophysics Electromagnetic methods

 Carborne GPR Survey

Road structure survey: GPR and GPS systems are mounted on the car. www.malags.com
Several layers in the asphalt is seen in the radargram. Uppermost layer is 2 to
5 cm thick. In the mid part the asphalt is approximately 42 cm. Below this the
reinforcement layer is identified

Engineering and environmental geophysics Electromagnetic methods

 Forensic GPR Survey

Ruffell et al. (2014)

Engineering and environmental geophysics Electromagnetic methods

 Paleontologic Investigation

Tinelli et al.(2012)

Engineering and environmental geophysics Electromagnetic methods

 Surface Nuclear Magnetic Resonance
• Method: strong permanent magnet generates a steady magnetic field,
which aligns the spins of protons, radio-frequency coil tips the proton
spins into a plane perpendicular to the steady field, after the current of
transmitter loop is switched off the proton spins precess at Larmor
frequency (2.2 kHz) around the original field, because heterogeneities
the net magnetization signal (M) decays exponentially with T2 relaxation
time (fast decay: clay bound water, ice; slow decay: free water)
• Parameters derived: pulse moment (q=I∙t in As) is proportional to depth
of penetration, initial amplitude of measured signal (V in nV) is
proportional to water content, time constant of amplitude decay (T2 in
ms) is proportional to pore size, permeability
• By the inversion of signal V the subsurface water content distribution to
depth of 150 m can be determined

Hertrich (2008) Müller-Petke et al. (2011)

Engineering and environmental geophysics Electromagnetic methods

 Water Content of Aquifers
Bound water (not detected)

Free water (lake)

Low porosity lake sediment

(hard sandstone)

Inversion of sNMR data

Müller-Petke et al. (2011)

Engineering and environmental geophysics Electromagnetic methods

Borehole Logging Methods
 Hydrogeophysical Logging
Well Log Application
Spontaneous potential Lithology, depth of porous/permeable rocks, effective layer thickness,
shale volume, resistivity of formation water
Natural gamma-ray intensity Determination of lithology, depth of porous/permeable rocks, effective
layer thickness, shale volume, classification of clay minerals (spectral
gamma-ray measurement)
Gamma-gamma intensity Porosity, depth of contact of aquifers and associated rocks, bulk
density of rocks
Neutron-porosity Total porosity
Resistivity Lithology, grain-size variation (qualitative), depth of porous/permeable
rocks, effective layer thickness, water/air saturation, hydraulic
conductivity, water entrance in well (time-lapse measurement),
chemical character of formation water
Temperature Fluid inflow and outflow, abnormal radioactivity, oxidation regions
Acoustic (image) Fracture detection, estimation of porosity (secondary porosity)
Flowmeter Flow velocity, water yield, well diagnostics
Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Free-water porosity, iirreducible water saturation, pore-size distribution,
hydraulic conductivity

Engineering and environmental geophysics Borehole logging methods

 Petrophysical Model
Petrophysical parameters Φ(Sw+Sa)
Effective porosity (Φ) Φ+Vsh+Vma=1
Water saturation (Sw)
Gas (usually air) saturation (Sa)
Shale volume (Vsh)
Matrix volume (Vma)
Derived quantities (e.g. hydraulic conductivity K)
Well-logging data

Natural gamma-ray intensity (GR, K, U, TH)

Spontaneous potential (SP)
Bulk density (ρb)
Neutron-porosity (ΦN)
Acoustic transit-time (Δt) Vsh=Vcl+Vsi Vma=ΣVma,i+Vcem
Electric resistivity (Rx0, Rt)
Special measurements (e.g. ΔtS, ΔtSt, PE, T2)

Engineering and environmental geophysics Borehole logging methods

 Borehole Surroundings
• Archie’s resistivity formation factor (R0 is resistivity of
fully saturated aquifer, a is tortuosity factor, m is
cementation exponent)
 R0 
 R , virgin zone  a
 w 
F  m
 x0 , flushed zone  Φ
R
 R mf 

• Resistivity growth factor in gas-bearing formation

Rt
I
R0
• Water saturation from Archie’s formula (n is saturation
exponent)
1 R R a R
Sw  n  n 0  n F w  n m w
I Rt Rt Φ Rt
a R mf
Sx0  n
Φm R x0,gas
• Movable gas saturation
a  R w R mf 

Sgas,m  Sx0  Sw  n m 
n

n
Φ  Rt R x0,gas 

Engineering and environmental geophysics Borehole logging methods

 Probe Response Functions
• Natural gamma-ray intensity (GR): GR  GR sd 
1
VshGR shρsh  VsdGR sdρsd 
ρb

• Spontaneous potential (SP): SP  SPsh Vsh  C  lg

R mf
1  Vsh 
Rw

• Bulk density (ρb): ρb  Φρmf  Vshρsh  Vsdρsd

• Neutron-neutron intensity (NN): NN  ΦNNf  Vsh NNsh  Vsd NNsd

2
 Vsh10.5 Vsh  Φ m/2 
• Electric resistivity (Rs and Rd): R s    
1/2 
 R 1/2
sh aR mf  
2
 Vsh10.5 Vsh  Φ m/ 2 
R d    
1/ 2 
 R sh
1/ 2
aR w  
• Material balance equation: Φ  Vsh  Vsd  1

Engineering and environmental geophysics Borehole logging methods

 Groundwater Well Logging

Water

Air

Swelling

Cavern

Hursán (1991)

Engineering and environmental geophysics Borehole logging methods

 Csókás Method
• Relation between the dominant grain diameter
(Dh) and Hazen’s effective grain size (D10) for not
so badly sorted sands (F is Archie’s resistivity
formation factor)
Dh  C1D10  C2lgF
• Permeability from Kozeny equation (SV is specific
surface, a is tortuosity factor)
2
1 Φ3  1  1 Φ3  D h 
2

K 
2 
   
5 1  Φ  aSV  5 1  Φ2  10 
• Csókás formula is used to estimate permeability
(or hydraulic conductivity) solely from well logs
2
 R0 
 lg 
Φ 3
 Rw 
K(m 2 )  C3
1  Φ 4  R 0 1.2
 Φ 
Alger (1971)  R w 

Engineering and environmental geophysics Borehole logging methods

 Factor Analysis
Well log Well log Well log
…
(1) (2) (N)

Factor analysis A priori

information

Factor Factor Factor

… Inversion with less
number of unknowns
(1) (2) (a<N)

Regression
Regression analysis relationships,
study of correlation

Petrophysical
parameter
Petrophysical
parameter
… Petrophysical
parameter
(1) (2) (M)

Engineering and environmental geophysics Borehole logging methods

 Petrophysical Properties vs. Factors

Engineering and environmental geophysics Borehole logging methods

 Thermal-Water Prospecting
Well logs
Natural gamma-ray (GR)
Specific surface (S)
First and second factor (F1, F2)
Shale volume (VSH)
Hydraulic conductivity (K)
Critical velocity (VC)
Effective porosity (POR)
Sand volume (VSD)
Applied methods
Larionov method (LAR)
Factor analysis (FA)
Core measurement (MAG)
Csókás method (CS)
Lithology
< 250 m Pleistocene gravel sand
> 250 m Miocene shales

Engineering and environmental geophysics Borehole logging methods

 Hydraulic Conductivity Estimation

Engineering and environmental geophysics Borehole logging methods

 Fractured Aquifers

Dunning and
Yeskis (2007)

Engineering and environmental geophysics Borehole logging methods

 Fractured Aquifers

Engineering and environmental geophysics Borehole logging methods

 Small-Diameter Borehole NMR
Level of water table Silty unsaturated zone

Silt

Walsh et al. (2013)

Engineering and environmental geophysics Borehole logging methods
 Borehole GPR Measurement

©MALÅ Observed in Otaniemi, Finland (2002)

Engineering and environmental geophysics Borehole logging methods

 Borehole GPR Tomography

dl
t

v

©MALÅ

Measurement configuration Velocity (or absorption) tomography

Engineering and environmental geophysics Borehole logging methods

 Borehole Televiewer

Engineering and environmental geophysics Borehole logging methods

 Direct-Push Method

Engineering Geophysical Sounding

1 – Vehicle
2 – Semitrailer
3 – Hydraulic machinery
4 – Pressure piston
5 – Measuring tube
6 – Measuring head
7 – Anchor

Fejes and Jósa (1990)

Engineering and environmental geophysics Borehole logging methods

 Direct-Push Method
• Cone penetration test (CPT): cone-shaped tip is
pushed into the ground while mechanical
parameters such as cone tip stress and sleeve
friction are measured to evaluate geotechnical
properties of soils such as soil type and density,
stress conditions, and shear strength
• Engineering geophysical sounding (EGS): special
type of CPT tool contains such geophysical sensors
attached to the penetration tube, which can measure
nuclear and electric parameters as open-hole
logging instruments. Besides the different depths of
investigation and measuring environments, a further
difference between the two configurations is that
probes applied in a borehole are separated from the
rock environment by drilling mud, but in the case of
penetration soundings, it is a steel tube that isolates
the soil and the probe. In case of EGS, data are
transferred through the rods pushed into the ground
• Method is limited to loose sediments to maximum
depth of 20−30 m
• Data processing techniques: deterministic and
inversion methods adapted from well logging (new
statistical approaches)

Engineering and environmental geophysics Borehole logging methods

 Typical EGS Logs

Stickel (2014)

Engineering and environmental geophysics Borehole logging methods

 Inversion of EGS Logs
EGS logs:
Natural gamma-ray intensity (GR)
Gamma-gamma density (DEN)
Neutron porosity (NPHI)
Resistivity (RES)
Data prediction error (RINC)
Volume of sand (VSI)
Volume of clay (VCL)
Effective porosity (FI)
Volume of water (VWA)

Drahos (2005)

Engineering and environmental geophysics Borehole logging methods

 Statistical Factors vs. Petrophysical Parameters

R is Pearson’s correlation coefficient

Engineering and environmental geophysics Borehole logging methods

 Factor Analysis vs. Inverse Modeling
Well logs
Natural gamma-ray (GR)
Density (DEN)
Neutron porosity (S)
Resistivity (RES)
First factor (FACTOR1)
Second factor (FACTOR2)
Water saturation (SW)
Water volume (VW)
Sand volume (VS)
Clay volume (VCL)
Gas (air) volume (VG)
Theoretical log (TH)
Applied methods
Inverse modeling (INV)
Factor analysis (FA)

Engineering and environmental geophysics Borehole logging methods

 Multi-Borehole Application

Engineering and environmental geophysics Borehole logging methods

 Replacement of Neutron Log
Well logs
Natural gamma-ray (GR)
Cone resistivity (RCPT)
Density (DEN)
Resistivity (RES)
First factor (Factor1)
Second factor (Factor2)
Neutron-porosity (NPHI)
Water saturation (SW)
Simulated neutron-
porosity (NPHITH)
Applied methods
Inverse modeling (INV)
Factor analysis (FA)

Engineering and environmental geophysics Borehole logging methods

Thank You for Your Attention.