Integrated geophysical methods for enhanced site characterization

为了管理地下水资源和修复受污染的场地，我们需要确定地质材料的分布以及土壤和地下水的化学成分。然而，许多自然和受污染地点的地下非常多变，而且因为它在表面以下，所以很难确定其特征。钻孔历来是水文地质场地描述的主要工具。然而，钻孔数据位于有限数量的地下剖面，钻探是侵入性的，因此必须在受污染的地点小心进行。采样的稀疏性可能导致对地下的模糊或不正确的理解。另一方面，地球物理数据可以提供相对便宜的数据，对地下更连续的区域进行采样。通常，地球物理数据可以与地质构造、水质和地下水流量相关联。因此，地球物理数据有可能提供空间密集的信息，可用于显著提高我们对地下的了解。事实上，如果没有空间密集的信息，几何复杂的场地就不能得到适当的描述，地球物理数据可以增加信息，从而实现可靠的解释，而仅凭钻孔数据是不可能的。这项研究的目的是开发实用的方法，使用多种地球物理方法来提高我们表征地下表面的能力。特别是，我们正在努力采用研究文献中提出的新的、先进的方法，使它们在现实世界的咨询环境中有效。

In order to manage groundwater resources and to remediate contaminated sites we need to characterize the distribution of geologic materials and the chemistry of soil and groundwater. However, the subsurface at many natural and contaminated sites is quite variable, and, because it is below the surface, quite difficult to characterize. Drilling boreholes has historically been the main tool for hydrogeologic site characterization. However, borehole data is located at a limited number of subsurface profiles and drilling is intrusive so it must be done with care at contaminated sites. The sparseness of the sampling can lead to an ambiguous or incorrect understanding of the subsurface. On the other hand, geophysical data can provide relatively inexpensive data that samples a much more continuous region of the subsurface. Often, geophysical data can be correlated to geologic formations, water quality and groundwater flow. Consequently, geophysical data has the potential to provide spatially dense information that can be used to dramatically improve our understanding of the subsurface. Indeed, geometrically complex sites cannot be properly characterized without spatially dense information and geophysical data can add information that allows reliable interpretations that are impossible with borehole data alone. The objective of this study is to develop practical methods for using multiple geophysical methods to improve our ability to characterize the subsurface. In particular, we are trying to take new, advanced methods that have been proposed in the research literature and make them effective for the real world consulting environment.