Plume and lithologic profiling with surface resistivity and seismic tomography

Abstract

Improved surface-based geophysical technologies that are commercially available provide a new level of detail that can be used to guide ground water remediation. Surface-based multielectrode resistivity methods and tomographic seismic refraction techniques were used to image to a depth of approximately 30 m below the surface at the Natural and Accelerated Bioremediation Research Field Research Center. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) established the research center on the DOE Oak Ridge Reservation in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, to conduct in situ field-scale studies on bioremediation of metals and radionuclides. Bioremediation studies are being conducted on the saprolite, shale bedrock, and ground water at the site that have been contaminated with nitrate, uranium, technetium, tetrachloroethylene, and other contaminants (U.S. DOE 1997). Geophysical methods were effective in imaging the high-ionic strength plume and in defining the transition zone between saprolite and bedrock zones that appears to have a significant influence on contaminant transport. The geophysical data were used to help select the location and depth of investigation for field research plots. Drilling, borehole geophysics, and ground water sampling were used to verify the surface geophysical studies.