NEAR-SURFACE GEOPHYSICS FOR GEOHAZARD AND BEDROCK DETECTION IN PERMAFROST ENVIRONMENTS (RiS-ID 11564)

The project will address two major challenges in Arctic geotechnics/geoscience: (1) determining the soil-cover thickness in permafrost areas with sedimentary bedrock, and (2) identifying overpressure brine pockets within saline permafrost soils. Both issues are relevant in Svalbard where the foundations for buildings and infrastructure in all settlements are in saline permafrost soils and/or overlying sedimentary bedrock. The project will use Electrical Resistivity Tomography (ERT), a near-surface geophysical method that uses direct current to measure the earth's resistivity. Chargeability, inferred from Induced polarization (IP) measurements, will also be obtained and used to infer the depth to bedrock.