Investigation of groundwater pollution at a landfill site using high-density electric resistivity tomography

The geophysical techniques are frequently utilized to characterize contaminated sites because they have lower cost and higher precision than surface geological survey. The method of 2D high-density Electric Resistivity Tomography (ERT) was carried out to detect the groundwater contamination extents, the depth and diffusible tendency in a landfill site in the study. Based on the analysis of electrical resistivity of two survey lines, geophysical anomaly zones related with the contaminated groundwater are delineated. It is inferred that the higher apparent conductivity is produced by groundwater pollution, and the contaminated areas and extends are different in the east and west parts in the landfill site. The result shows that the groundwater pollution are spreading and diffusing. The survey result shows that ERT method can detect the physical property changes involving groundwater, and it can be used to delineate the behaviour of groundwater contamination; thus it is beneficial to help waste management processes and to determine possible locations of monitoring wells in the survey area in the future.