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Mapping of soils for engineering and planning purposes, application of simple seismic, resistivity and boring techniques. Preliminary results

Cartographie des sols pour besoins de la construction et de la planification; applications de techniques simples: Sismique, résistivité, sondage, résultats préliminaires

  • IAEG Symposium “Engineering Geological Mapping for Planning, Disign and Construction in Civil Engineering”, Newcastle Upon Tyne, 3–6 September 1979
  • THEME 4b Land and Sea-floor Geophysical Mapping for Engineering Structures Contributions
  • Published:
Bulletin of the International Association of Engineering Geology - Bulletin de l'Association Internationale de Géologie de l'Ingénieur Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Summary

Hammer seismics and electrical resistivity soundings have been used in engineering geological field research work to study the application of simple geophysical methods in soil mapping for land-use planning.

The hammer-seismograph employed, with decimal time display, is on the average effective to depths of 25 metres, but this type of instrument has considerable disadvantages compared to hammer-seismographs with other recording systems.

Electrical resistivity soundings with small, a.c. equipment (“Earth Testers”) are reliable and interpretable to depths varying from approximately 30 metres in conductive soils to about 100 metres in resistant ground. We have found that semi-empirical interpretation methods have the necessary accuracy for regional mapping purposes.

A combination of the two geophysical methods and simple mechanical soundings provides necessary basic information in regional engineering geological soil mapping, and the outlined method leads to considerable reductions in field costs.

Résumé

La sismique au marteau et les sondages de résistivité électrique ont été utilisés au cours d'un travail de recherche géotechnique sur le terrain, pour étudier l'application de méthodes géophysiques simples à la cartographie des sols en vue de la planification de l'utilisation des terres.

Le séismographe à marteau utilisé affiche les résultats sur une échelle décimale; il est efficace jusqu'aux profondeurs de 25 m en moyenne, mais ce type d'instrument présente maints inconvénients par rapport aux séismographes à marteau pourvus d'autres systemes de lecture.

Les sondages de résistivité électrique effectués avec un équipement „a.c.” de petit format „Earth Testers” fournissent des informations exactes et interprétables jusqu' à des profondeurs comprises entre 30 m (dans les sols conducteurs) et 100 m (dans les sols résistants). Nous avons trouvé que les méthodes d'interprétation semi-empiriques sont suffisamment exactes pour les besoins de la cartographie régionale.

L'association des deux méthodes géophysiques et de simples sondages mécaniques fournit l'information de base nécessaire à la cartographie géotechnique régionale des sols, et la méthode esquissée permet d'importantes réductions des frais de terrain.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geology, University of Trondheim, Norwegian Institute of Technology, Trondheim, Norway

    Hugdahl H. & Dahl R.

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  1. Hugdahl H.
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  2. Dahl R.
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Hugdahl, H., Dahl, R. Mapping of soils for engineering and planning purposes, application of simple seismic, resistivity and boring techniques. Preliminary results. Bulletin of the International Association of Engineering Geology 19, 275–279 (1979). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02600488

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02600488

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