Brief communication: The role of geophysical imaging in local landslide early warning systems

We summarise the contribution of geophysical imaging to local landslide early warning systems (LoLEWS), highlighting how the design and monitoring components of LoLEWS benefit from the enhanced spatial and temporal resolutions of time-lapse geophysical imaging. In addition, we discuss how with appropriate laboratory-based petrophysical transforms, geophysical data can be crucial for future slope failure forecasting and modelling, linking other methods of remote sensing and intrusive monitoring across different scales. We conclude that in light of ever-increasing spatiotemporal resolutions of data acquisition, geophysical monitoring should be a more widely considered technology in the toolbox of methods available to stakeholders operating LoLEWS.

High-resolution geophysical imaging of reptile burrows (San Salvador rock iguana, The Bahamas): implications for ichnology and conservation ecology

Neoichnological research of terrestrial tracemakers in coastal settings provides important palaeoenvironmental information about their context within the subaerial facies. Here we present the first geophysical dataset of reptile burrows in a carbonate substrate and use it to help visualize parts of the burrows of the Bahamian (San Salvador) rock iguana (Cyclura rileyi). High-resolution 800 MHz ground-penetrating radar (GPR) images within an enclosure on San Salvador Island were employed to discriminate between the electromagnetic signal response from subsurface anomalies related to air-dominated voids or live animals within burrows. The dielectric contrast between the carbonate substrate and open burrows was sufficient to identify the majority of 15-20-cm-wide subsurface extensions of the inclined tunnels in the upper 30-40 cm. Whereas limestone clasts induced some interference, it is possible to differentiate their high-amplitude diffractions from those produced by the iguana burrows. Our research indicates that GPR imaging is a viable, rapid, non-invasive method of visualizing animal burrows, with implications to neoichnology, paleoichnology, and conservation ecology of semi-fossorial species. Furthermore, the critically endangered status of Bahamian land iguanas, as well as ongoing threats from natural and introduced pressures, highlights the need for research into their ichnological record.

Electrical Imaging of a Shallow Free-Phase Stray Gas Plume from an Abandoned Exploration Well

Geophysical imaging of free-phase gas (FPG) within aquifers is an emerging method for understanding the mechanisms controlling stray gas migration from oil and gas wells. Crystal Geyser is an unsealed and partially cased well that transports stray CO2 gas to the shallow subsurface. Accumulations of subsurface CO2 FPG near Crystal Geyser have been inferred, but the actual location and dimensions remained unclear. Here, the subsurface FPG distribution surrounding Crystal Geyser was characterized by interpreting 2D electrical resistivity images with previous drilling records and field mapping. An approximately 70-metre-wide FPG plume was located laterally between Crystal Geyser’s conduit and the Little Grand Wash Fault. The FPG plume spanned the vertical extent of approximately 20 to 55 metres below the ground surface, located within the Slick Rock Member sandstone with the relatively low permeability Earthy Member silty sandstone acting as a caprock. The FPG plume was identified from an anomalously high resistivity zone within the Slick Rock Member that was not caused by lateral lithofacies changes or fault displacement. The conceptual FPG migration pathways beneath Crystal Geyser are presented, based on the interpreted FPG distribution from the electrical resistivity images combined with previous site characterization and the principles of buoyant FPG migration. FPG accumulates within the Slick Rock Member by buoyant up-dip migration beneath siltstone capillary barriers of the Earthy Member. FPG leaks to the ground surface within high permeability preferential pathways along the Little Grand Wash Fault and the conduit of Crystal Geyser.

Imaging Indigenous Sacred Sites: A Tale of Clay, Silt, and Sand

When studying indigenous sites, especially sacred sites such as burials, the needs and wishes of the indigenous people are paramount; the site integrity must be respected and the site must be left intact and undisturbed. Non-invasive, non-destructive geophysical imaging is well suited to such investigations, but suspicion within indigenous communities because of past transgressions are a barrier to widespread use; scepticism is not uncommon, but we always managed to convince the sceptics. We present an overview of results from 10 Maori (indigenous peoples of New Zealand) sites in the South Island of New Zealand: 1 historic burial site, 6 modern burial sites that also had historical use, 1 historic battle site, 1 prehistoric site that may have been a burial site, and 1 prehistoric site used for food storage that was tapu (sacred). Our approach was to let them ask us to delineate areas of importance, e.g., old burial sites. There are, naturally, processes and protocols, cultural and technical, that we followed. The sites comprised a range of lithologies and soil types: 1 site where clay soil overlay limestone; 5 sites where loess (airborne silt) overlay basalt; 1 set of inland silty soil sites; 1 site on peat soils overlying sandy gravels; and 2 sites in coastal sands. The geophysical responses of the sites cluster into three groups: Horizontal loop electromagnetics (HLEM) and magnetic field methods worked well for the clay soil site, and once the effects of the conductive clay response were removed by filtering, ground penetrating radar (GPR) worked well. HLEM and magnetic results were good to equivocal on the silty and peaty sites, whereas GPR excelled at delineating anomalous features, particularly burials, which yielded clear characteristic diffraction responses. Finally, results for coastal sand sites were disappointing. Such sites appear to be too dynamic to yield useful results.

An overview of multimethod imaging approaches in environmental geophysics

Quantitative characterization of subsurface properties is critical for many environmental applications and serves as the basis to simulate and better understand dynamic subsurface processes. Geophysical imaging methods allow to image subsurface property distributions and monitor their spatio-temporal changes in a minimally invasive manner. While it is widely agreed upon that models integrating multiple independent data sources are more reliable, the number of approaches to do so is increasing rapidly and often overwhelming for researchers and, particularly, novices to the field.With this work, we aim to contribute to the development multimethod imaging through (1) an overview of, and didactic introduction to, existing inversion approaches for the integration of multiple geophysical data sets with other measurement types (e.g., hydrological observations), petrophysical models, and process simulations, (2) a state-of-the-art review on the use and potentials of these approaches in various environmental applications, and (3) a discussion on new frontiers and remaining challenges in the field.We hope that this chapter provides an entry point to recent developments in multimethod geophysical imaging, clarifies similarities, differences, and development potentials of existing approaches, and ultimately helps practitioners to choose the optimum one to integrate their data sets.

Brief communication: The role of geophysical imaging in local landslide early warning systems

We summarise the contribution of geophysical imaging to local landslide early warning systems (LoLEWS), highlighting how LoLEWS design and monitoring components benefit from the enhanced spatial and temporal resolutions of time-lapse geophysical imaging. In addition, we discuss how with appropriate laboratory-based petrophysical transforms, these geophysical data can be crucial for future slope failure forecasting and modelling, linking other methods of remote sensing and intrusive monitoring across different scales. We conclude that in light of ever increasing spatiotemporal resolutions of data acquisition, geophysical monitoring should be a more widely considered technology in the toolbox of methods available to stakeholders operating LoLEWS.