Experimentation and indirect methods applied to investigate the contaminated areas

Abstract

This article presents definitions and geophysical methodologies based on the experimental method, as well as its characteristics, variables and potentialities, applied in the investigation of the underground contamination by several contaminants. The methodological concepts and applications on the Environmental Geophysics are approached for investigation of contaminated areas and potential sources of contamination based on the bibliography of the last 20 years, in addition to national and international norms. The importance of this article is due to the need to update technical texts, since the Manual of Contaminated Areas of CETESB, the main thematic reference, completes almost two decades of publication, being unavailable for consultations. Protocols are presented for the application of geophysical methods considering which contaminants features and limitations for each purpose. Besides that, theoretical aspects of the experimental methodology based on the different geophysical methods applied to environmental studies are presented, as well as examples that are constituted in cases where the methodology was successfully employed and contributed to the diagnosis of contamination underground and represent investigative parameters. Experimental methods applied to environmental geophysics are adequate for sustainability, because they involve innovative, non-invasive and unaltered technologies in the investigated environment, being often the only alternative of initial diagnosis in the suspected contaminated area.