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Assessment of underground karst caves using geophysical tests: A case study for lajamgir dam site, iran

Jafarzadeh, F ; Sharif University of Technology | 2016

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  1. Type of Document: Article
  2. Publisher: Australian Geomechanics Society , 2016
  3. Abstract:
  4. Karst features have caused serious problems in many engineering projects because of their permeability and high leakage potential; a clear example is Lar Dam, 84 km northeast of Tehran in which normal water level has never been reached since the filling of its reservoir in 1980. Sometimes conventional methods of studying karst features (e.g., borings and sampling) fail to precisely reveal their underground structure and this may result in inaccurate design, extensive leakage and creation of sinkholes. In the present paper, an under-study dam site in Lajamgir, Zanjan province, northern Iran is investigated. Ground observations indicated the possibility of presence of Karst caves while borings showed no such feature. Detailed studies by means of geoelectrical (Electrical Resistivity Tomography, ERT) and geo-radar (Ground Penetrating Radar, GPR) tests demonstrated what was claimed by site observations and proved that a simple group of geophysical tests can effectively help reveal the general condition of underground karst caves which can be followed by a set of dense borings to assess the details
  5. Keywords:
  6. Boring ; Caves ; Geological surveys ; Geophysics ; Ground penetrating radar systems ; Landforms ; Petroleum reservoir engineering ; Radar ; Underground structures ; Water levels ; Conventional methods ; Electrical resistivity tomography ; Engineering project ; Ground observations ; Ground penetrating radar ; Karst features ; Simple groups ; Site observation ; Reservoirs (water)
  7. Source: Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Geotechnical and Geophysical Site Characterisation, ISC 2016, 5 September 2016 through 9 September 2016 ; Volume 2 , 2016 , Pages 879-882 ; 9780994626127 (ISBN)