Seismic reflection investigations of sinkholes beneath Interstate Highway 70 in Kansas

Abstract

Seismic reflection studies were performed across actively developing sinkholes located astride Interstate Highway 70 in Russell County, Kansas. Results indicate that high‐resolution seismic reflection surveys are useful in the subsurface investigation of some sinkholes. In particular, we were able to delineate the subsurface vertical and horizontal extent of the sinkholes because of the excellent acoustical marker‐bed characteristics of the Stone Corral anhydrite. The seismic reflection evidence presented here, combined with borehole information from 1967, suggest that the Stone Corral anhydrite has been down‐dropped within one of the sinkholes as much as 30 m in 13 years. The seismic reflection method is potentially useful in engineering studies of other sinkholes and karst features. The seismic data presented here were obtained in the presence of relatively heavy highway traffic (i.e., up to a few dozen vehicles per minute) using the MiniSOSIE recording technique.

A multidisciplinary approach in sinkhole analysis: The Quinis village case study (NE-Italy)

“…Reflection and refraction seismic methods are widely applied to reach depths of several hundred meters or greater (Steeples et al, 1986;Grandjean and Leparoux, 2004;Krawczyk et al, 2011).…”

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

“…Analogue and digital mechanical modeling of the development and the propagation of collapse sinkholes is also a valuable tool (Abdulla and Goodings, 1996;Tharp, 1999;Augarde et al, 2003). Seismic (Steeples et al, 1986;Bolger et al, 1995;Shtivelman et al, 2002;Krawczyk et al, 2012) and groundpenetrating radar (GPR) (Kaspar and Pecen, 1975;Ulriksen, 1982;Forkmann, 1997;Batayneh et al, 2002) can deliver an image of the underground and provide physical attributes. Most of the previous case studies were carried out in rural areas, since geophysical methods based on electric and electromagnetic principles, in particular, are often affected by strong electromagnetic noise and the presence of ferrous materials in urban areas (Bosch and Müller, 2001).…”

Seismic reflection characteristics of naturally-induced subsidence affecting transportation

“…1). Sinkholes have been definitely correlated to failed containment of disposal wells injecting oil field brine wastewater using stem pressure tests and/or seismic reflection investigations at a variety of sites throughout Central Kansas (Miller et al, 1997;Knapp et al, 1989;Steeples et al, 1986). Sinkholes that have been formed by natural dissolution and subsidence processes are most commonly documented at the depositional edges on the west and north and erosional boundary on the east of the Hutchinson Salt Merriam and Mann, 1957;Frye, 1950;Frye and Schoff, 1942).…”