Assessment of the distortions caused by a pipe and an excavation in the electric and electromagnetic responses of a hydrocarbon-contaminated soil

Here, we present the results of a geophysical survey performed to characterize a hydrocarbon contamination plume, arising from a puncture in a master crude oil pipe in Argentina. This pipe was buried in an inhabited suburban yard with flat topography. At the moment of the event a stretch of the duct was uncovered and the leaked oil flooded the terrain up to several meters around the puncture. The contamination was produced by infiltration from the surface and also by flowing through the inner layers. The first steps in the treatment of the spill were to pump the oil, excavate the sector nearby the puncture and repair the pipe. Around one year later, we preformed the geophysical prospecting, which goal was to determine the extent of the contaminant plume, required for selecting adequate remediation strategies. We combined dual-coil, frequency domain electromagnetic induction surveys and 2D dipole–dipole geoelectrical profiling. Besides, we performed Wenner soundings at several positions on the walls of the excavation, where contaminated and clean sediments were exposed. From the 1D inversion of the electromagnetic data, 2D inversion of the dipole–dipole data, and Wenner data, we found that, in general, the contamination decreased the resistivity of the affected subsoil volumes. However, three of the geoelectrical profiles exhibited localized, very resistive anomalies, which origin was not clear. They did not seem to be associated to the presence of high concentrations of poorly or non-degraded hydrocarbon, since two of these profiles crossed the more contaminated area, but the other was located quite further away. As an attempt to identify the cause of these anomalies, we carried out a 3D numerical simulation of the effects of the pipe and the excavation on the 2D dipole–dipole images. From this study, we could effectively determine that they were mainly distortions generated by those structures. This allowed for providing a proper interpretation of the images of the three profiles, consistent with the other results. Thus, we could finally delimit the impacted zone and ascertain the main features of the contaminant plume.

► We studied a spill due to a puncture of an oil pipe with Geoelectric and EM surveys.
► The presence of the buried pipe and an excavation distorted the subsoil images.
► By 3D numerical simulations, we identified the spurious anomalies due to distortions.
► This was crucial for achieving an adequate characterization of the contaminant plume.