Geophysical applications to detect sinkholes and ground subsidence

Dobecki, Thomas L.; Upchurch, Sam B.

doi:10.1190/1.2184102

Cited by 95 publications

(39 citation statements)

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“…Of course, an air-filled void would generate a high-resistivity anomaly, but this would not constitute a sinkhole, strictly speaking. ERT sections acquired in a karst area outside an urbanized environment should clearly display the types of anomalies routinely encountered in sinkholes (Dobecki and Upchurch, 2006;Schwartz and Schreiber, 2009). …”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sinkhole evolution in the Apulian Karst of Southern Italy: a case study, with some considerations on Sinkhole Hazards

Festa¹,

Fiore²,

Parise³

et al. 2012

JCKS

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Sinkholes are the main karst landforms characterizing the Salento Peninsula, which is the southernmost part of the Apulia region of southern Italy. They occur both as evolving recent phenomena and old or relict features testifying to ancient phases of karst processes acting in the area. Most of the sinkholes were formed by karst processes that may be reactivated, a risk to the anthropogenic structures nearby. To highlight such a subtle hazard, an area located a few kilometers from Lecce, the main town in Salento, was the subject of geological, morphological, and geophysical investigations. Historical analysis of multi-year aerial photographs, in particular, allowed identification of several phases in the recent evolution of a particular sinkhole, and demonstrated the need to carefully evaluate the likely evolution of similar features in Salento.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sinkhole evolution in the Apulian Karst of Southern Italy: a case study, with some considerations on Sinkhole Hazards

Festa¹,

Fiore²,

Parise³

et al. 2012

JCKS

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“…Several other studies regarding sinkhole distribution have shown the clustering of sinkholes along fault lineaments (Delle Rose and Parise, 2002;Abelson et al, 2003;Doctor et al, 2008;Del Prete et al, 2010) and the decreasing number of sinkhole occurrences with increasing distance from the fault (Hyland et al, 2006;Billi et al, 2007). A lineament of sinkholes can also be used to find hidden faults (Closson and Abou Karaki, 2009).…”

Section: Releasing Bendmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…30 m below surface due to a relatively poor resolution, but for instance shear waves (S wave) are able to image the near-surface in high resolution (Dobecki and Upchurch, 2006;Krawczyk et al, 2012;Polom et al, 2016b;Wadas et al, 2016). Interpretation of near-surface faults and structures from the surface down to ca.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Structural analysis of S-wave seismics around an urban sinkhole: evidence of enhanced dissolution in a strike-slip fault zone

Wadas¹,

Tanner²,

Polom³

et al. 2017

Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci.

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Abstract. In November 2010, a large sinkhole opened up in the urban area of Schmalkalden, Germany. To determine the key factors which benefited the development of this collapse structure and therefore the dissolution, we carried out several shear-wave reflection-seismic profiles around the sinkhole. In the seismic sections we see evidence of the Mesozoic tectonic movement in the form of a NW-SE striking, dextral strike-slip fault, known as the Heßleser Fault, which faulted and fractured the subsurface below the town. The strike-slip faulting created a zone of small blocks ( <100 m in size), around which steep-dipping normal faults, reverse faults and a dense fracture network serve as fluid pathways for the artesian-confined groundwater. The faults also acted as barriers for horizontal groundwater flow perpendicular to the fault planes. Instead groundwater flows along the faults which serve as conduits and forms cavities in the Permian deposits below ca. 60 m depth. Mass movements and the resulting cavities lead to the formation of sinkholes and dissolutioninduced depressions. Since the processes are still ongoing, the occurrence of a new sinkhole cannot be ruled out. This case study demonstrates how S-wave seismics can characterize a sinkhole and, together with geological information, can be used to study the processes that result in sinkhole formation, such as a near-surface fault zone located in soluble rocks. The more complex the fault geometry and interaction between faults, the more prone an area is to sinkhole occurrence.

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“…P-wave seismic refraction has been used to detect the subsurface velocity structure, as the inversion of surface waves has been used to calculate shear-wave velocities. In seismic refraction strong lateral variations of the velocities and zones with decreased seismic velocities are shown to be associated with salt dissolution (e.g., Karaman and Karadayilar, 2004;Dobecki and Upchurch, 2006). With a resolution of 15 to 20 % of the investigated depth (Briaud, 2013), this technique has a lower resolution with respect to the shear-wave reflection method.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

High-resolution shear-wave seismic reflection as a tool to image near-surface subrosion structures – a case study in Bad Frankenhausen, Germany

2016

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Abstract. Subrosion is the subsurface leaching of soluble rocks that results in the formation of depression and collapse structures. This global phenomenon is a geohazard in urban areas. To study near-surface subrosion structures, four shear-wave seismic reflection profiles, with a total length of ca. 332 m, were carried out around the famous leaning church tower of Bad Frankenhausen in northern Thuringia, Germany, which shows an inclination of 4.93 • from the vertical. Most of the geological underground of Thuringia is characterized by soluble Permian deposits, and the Kyffhäuser Southern Margin Fault is assumed to be a main pathway for water to leach the evaporite. The seismic profiles were acquired with the horizontal micro-vibrator ELVIS, developed at Leibniz Institute for Applied Geophysics (LIAG), and a 72 m long landstreamer equipped with 72 horizontal geophones. The high-resolution seismic sections show subrosion-induced structures to a depth of ca. 100 m and reveal five features associated with the leaching of Permian deposits: (1) lateral and vertical varying reflection patterns caused by strongly heterogeneous strata, (2) discontinuous reflectors, small offsets, and faults, which show the underground is heavily fractured, (3) formation of depression structures in the near-surface, (4) diffractions in the unmigrated seismic sections that indicate increased scattering of the seismic waves, and (5) varying seismic velocities and low-velocity zones that are presumably caused by fractures and upward-migrating cavities. A previously undiscovered southward-dipping listric normal fault was also found, to the north of the church. It probably serves as a pathway for water to leach the Permian formations below the church and causes the tilting of the church tower. This case study shows the potential of horizontal shear-wave seismic reflection to image near-surface subrosion structures in an urban environment with a horizontal resolution of less than 1 m in the uppermost 10-15 m.

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Geophysical applications to detect sinkholes and ground subsidence

Cited by 95 publications

References 0 publications

Sinkhole evolution in the Apulian Karst of Southern Italy: a case study, with some considerations on Sinkhole Hazards

Sinkhole evolution in the Apulian Karst of Southern Italy: a case study, with some considerations on Sinkhole Hazards

Structural analysis of S-wave seismics around an urban sinkhole: evidence of enhanced dissolution in a strike-slip fault zone

High-resolution shear-wave seismic reflection as a tool to image near-surface subrosion structures – a case study in Bad Frankenhausen, Germany

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