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Geophysical response of filled sinkholes, soil pipes and associated bedrock fractures in thinly mantled karst, east-central Illinois

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Environmental Geology

Abstract

Karst aquifers are often protected by a thin mantle of unconsolidated sediment. Soil pipes and sinkholes may breach this natural protective barrier and open pathways for contaminants to quickly reach bedrock aquifers. Geophysical surveys offer a quick and noninvasive way to identify these features; such surveys may also be sequenced to reveal increasing detail in critical areas. At a study site in east-central Illinois, electromagnetic (EM) surveys mapped high conductivity anomalies over filled sinkholes and soil pipes that penetrated the unconsolidated cover. Two-dimensional inverted resistivity sections, made over these anomalies, depict filled sinkholes and soil pipes as conductive zones above deeply weathered bedrock fractures. Borings verified the geophysical models and suggest high conductivities associated with the filled sinkholes are the result of enhanced moisture near active soil pipes. EM surveys also identified conductive zones in the overburden above a probable bedrock fracture linking sinkhole areas 0.5 km apart. Resistivity and EM methods, used in a phased and sequential manner, thus proved useful in mapping filled sinkholes and in delineating the vertical and lateral connections between soil pipes and hydraulically active bedrock fractures.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the Bourbonnais Township Park District, the Northern Illinois University Graduate School and the Department of Geology and Environmental Geosciences for funding this project. James Cooper of Argonne National Laboratory, Chris Augustine, Liang Chen and Rebecca Vershaw of Northern Illinois University provided valuable assistance in collection of field data for this project. Mike Konen of the NIU Geography Department provided valuable assistance in the analysis of soil samples. We would also like to thank an anonymous reviewer for suggestions that greatly improved this manuscript.

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  1. Department of Geology and Environmental Geosciences, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL , 60115, USA

    Shawkat Ahmed & Philip J. Carpenter

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  1. Shawkat Ahmed
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  2. Philip J. Carpenter
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Correspondence to Philip J. Carpenter.

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Ahmed, S., Carpenter, P.J. Geophysical response of filled sinkholes, soil pipes and associated bedrock fractures in thinly mantled karst, east-central Illinois. Env Geol 44, 705–716 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00254-003-0812-3

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