Ground Penetrating Radar BT - Environmental Geology: Handbook of Field Methods and Case Studies

Abstract

Ground penetrating radar2 (GPR) is an electromagnetic pulse reflection method based on physical principles similar to those of reflection seismics. It is a geophysical technique for shallow investigations with high resolution which has undergone a rapid development during the last two decades (cf. e.g. GPR Conference Proceedings 1994 to 2006). There are several synonyms and acronyms for this method like EMR (electromagnetic reflection), SIR (subsurface interface radar), georadar, subsurface penetrating radar and soil radar. GPR has been used since the 1960s with the term radio echo sounding (RES) for ice thickness measurements on polar ice sheets. The method was first applied by Stern (1929), 1930 in Austria to estimate the thickness of a glacier. GPR has been increasingly accepted for geological, engineering, environmental, and archaeological investigations since the 1980s.