Application of the DC resistivity method in urban geological problems of karstic areas

Abstract

ABSTRACTTerminating industrial activities may have harmful side effects on the infrastructure of a civil society. One effective method of solving environmental and geotechnical problems in urban areas is a direct‐current resistivity survey. In karstic areas, large‐scale geological structures directly affect the near‐surface, small‐scale events. Reliable data on the geological background of harmful events are acquired through suitable combinations of large‐scale and of small‐scale high‐resolution surveys. In this study, the geological background of three urban subsurface‐related problems was investigated in a karstic area: collapse of a sinkhole, suffusion of a basement area, and contamination of an urban creek. In each case, the scientific work aimed at setting up of a suitable model that describes the harmful event and its geological background. For this purpose, a combination of large‐scale and high‐resolution resistivity data was acquired and augmented by borehole information and laboratory analyses. The error analyses of the resulting models suggest that the methodology of dual‐scale geoelectric investigation of urban hazards in karstic areas can provide applicable models for mitigation measures.