Application of a two-dimensional electrical tomography technique for investigating landslides along the Amman-Dead Sea highway, Jordan

Abstract

Electrical tomography geophysical surveys were conducted with the SYSCAL-R2 resistivity instrument at the location of instantaneous rock failure of a few 1,000s m3 along the Amman–Dead Sea highway, Jordan, providing a ground image for investigating landslide sites which caused material damage and closed the road. This slide occurred along two major fault planes after heavy rainfall in a rock consisting of a succession of shale, marl and marly limestone layers which were folded, tilted and fractured. Three electrical tomography profiles were performed along the axis of the slope to assess the landslide risk in such potential unstable areas. The results obtained, based on two-dimensional inversion of field data, have allowed mapping of the shale zones at depths which are characterized by a lower resistivity value, and have demonstrated that the rupture was initiated at the contact between the shale mass (black colored) and the massive limestone (white, yellowish-brown colored).