Sinkhole risk assessment by ERT: The case study of Sirino Lake (Basilicata, Italy)

Assessing subsoil void hazards along a road system using H/V measurements, ERTs and IPTs to support local decision makers

“…Moreover, in the early ’90s, these techniques started to employ tomographic arrays and are currently the key techniques for detecting near‐surface anomalies from both geological and human origins (Smith ; Loke and Barker ; Zhou et al ; Giampaolo et al ; Pazzi et al ). The spatial distribution of the subsoil ER and charge‐ability can provide useful information for characterizing the heterogeneities of sediments as well as for reconstructing aquifers or aquiclude geometries (Giampaolo et al and references therein). Nevertheless, electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) often fails in urban and industrialised areas where strong electromagnetic noise or ferroconcrete constructions interfere (Krawczyk et al and references therein).…”

“…Since the 1970s, ER and induced polarisation (IP) methods have also been used (Smith and Randazzo 1975;Sogage, Vichabian and Dale Morgan 1999;Milsom and Eriksen 2011). Moreover, in the early '90s, these techniques started to employ tomographic arrays and are currently the key techniques for detecting near-surface anomalies from both geological and human origins (Smith 1986;Loke and Barker 1996;Zhou et al 2002;Giampaolo et al 2016;Pazzi et al 2016c). The spatial distribution of the subsoil ER and chargeability can provide useful information for characterizing the heterogeneities of sediments as well as for reconstructing aquifers or aquiclude geometries (Giampaolo et al 2016 and references therein).…”

Origin and evolution of Sariñena Lake (central Ebro Basin): A piping-based model

“…ERI has been demonstrated to be particularly effective for detecting piping structures developed in landslide deposits (Giampaolo et al, 2016), pseudokarstic features in loess deposits (Zeng et al, 2016), anthropogenic cavities (Martínez-Pagán, et al, 2013), and piping voids affecting earth dams (Loperte et al, 2016). The Laguneta profile was 80 m long with an inter-electrode spacing of 1-2 m (1 m for the inner electrodes and 2 m for the outer ones) to gain resolution.…”

Definition of sinkhole triggers and susceptibility based on hydrogeomorphological analyses

“…Non-invasive high-resolution geophysical methods are commonly accepted as the best approach to identify and map local subsurface heterogeneities such as sinkholes (Butler 1984;Piro et al 2001;Ezersky 2008;Cardarelli et al 2014;Giampaolo et al 2016). Natural cavities, in fact, may be filled with water, air or collapsed/unconsolidated material and therefore provide distinct geophysical contrasts.…”

“…To characterize the study area and delineate the Il Piano sinkhole-prone area, the following activities were performed ( Fig. 10): (a) a microgravity survey with 964 measurements to detect subsuperficial caves (Butler 1984;Bishop et al 1997;Argentieri et al 2015;Di Nezza et al 2015) in primarily the inhabited areas and the ground along the two main roadways; (b) 8 2D electrical tomographies (2D-ERT) and 13 3D-ERT to characterize the heterogeneity of the sediments and to derive the geometry of the aquifers and/or aquicludes (Giampaolo et al 2016;Pazzi et al 2016); and (c) 120 single-station seismic noise measurements (H/V technique) to gain insight into the thickness of the alluvial sediment cover (Lane et al 2008;Lotti et al 2015;Del Soldato et al 2016;Pazzi et al 2017b). The geophysical measurements were calibrated with respect to the subsoil data obtained from the borehole logs collected along the SP26 road after the 2013 sinkhole.…”