Geotechnical and groundwater geophysics

Because of a change in emphasis from power plant siting to projects principally involving process and facility monitoring and certification of existing structures (dams, pipelines, etc.), geotechnical and groundwater geophysics is in quite a healthy state after some lean years following the demise of nuclear energy construction projects. The orders‐of‐magnitude jump in the computational capability of geophysicists working in these fields has overshadowed advances in instrumentation (e.g., digital enhancement seismographs), field methods (e.g., cross‐borehole EM), and interpretive procedures. The advent of powerful, affordable microcomputers has enabled expansion into applications demanding finer resolution and quicker turnaround of results. As a result, shallow seismic reflection, seismic and electromagnetic geotomography, and the complementary use of surface and borehole electrical resistivity and seismic data will soon be common if not dominant methods in geotechnical and groundwater investigations. Fut...