Characterization of alluvium soil using geophysical and sounding methods

ABSTRACT

The alluvial deposits are highly heterogeneous and thus special techniques for investigating the subsurface have been required to obtain high quality data. The objective of this study is to apply two geophysical methods to alluvial deposits: a seismic survey method and the electrical resistivity method. The one-dimensional sounding method known as the standard penetration test is also applied to investigate subsurface properties and to compare these results with those measured by the geophysical methods. In seismic survey method, the seismic impulse source system shotgun is used to strongly propagate the elastic wave through the soil. The nonpolarizable electrode is selected to obtain the most reliable result by reducing the contact resistance. The application test is performed at Nakdong River in the southern part of Korean Peninsula where the area consists of alluvial deposits. The four profiles are selected for conducting the geophysical methods and the ranges of profiles are 115 ∼ 205 m with interval distance of 5 m. The six one-dimensional soundings are performed in the intersection of geophysical profiles. Even though the measured results based on the geophysical method and one-dimensional sounding show slight difference, every result is applied to estimate subsurface characterization as the complementary data.

KEYWORDS:

• Alluvium
• electrical resistivity method
• field test
• in situ test
• seismic survey