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This chapter emphasises land-based geophysical techniques to investigate the ground. There are descriptions of geophysical surveying systems, specifically developed for the marine environment to be rapid and cost-effective. Modern positioning systems, such as the Global Positioning System (GPS) and the Differential Global Positioning System (DGPS), are now in common use and accurate position-fixing of the survey vessel can be achieved.
Airborne geophysical methods are widely used in regional surveys associated with hydrocarbon and mineral exploration. They currently have little application in engineering studies because their overall cost would be prohibitive in most cases. However, in a large engineering project, such as the development of a radioactive waste repository, which involves a significant requirement for regional geological information, information from large-scale seismic reflection, gravity, magnetic, and electromagnetic surveys will be required. In this case the use of airborne methods might well be both practical and economically viable.
Many of the geophysical methods are widely used in the non-destructive testing (NDT) of civil engineering structures and materials. While not strictly geophysics, the testing employs the same physical parameters that control the effective use
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This 250-word extract was created in the absence of an abstract.
