Time lapse 3D geoelectric measurements for monitoring of in-situ remediation

In the last decade, different kinds of in-situ methods have been increasingly used for hydrocarbon contamination remediation due to their effectiveness. One of these techniques operates by injection of chemical oxidant solution to remove (degrade) the subsurface contaminants. Our aim was to develop a surface (non-destructive) measurement strategy to monitor oxidative in-situ remediation processes. The difficulties of the presented study originate from the small volume of conductive solution that can be used due to environmental considerations, the effect of conductive groundwater and the high clay content of the targeted layer. Therefore a site specific synthetic modelling was necessary for measurement design involving the results of preliminary 2D ERT measurements, electrical conductivity measurements of different active agents and expected resistivity changes calculated by soil resistivity modelling. The results of soil resistivity modelling have suggested that the reagent have complex effects on contaminated soils because of chemical biodegradation. As a result the plume of resistivity changes caused by the injected agent was determined showing strong fracturing effect because of the high pressure of injection. Based on the sophisticated tests and synthetic modelling 3D time-lapse geo-electric measurements were proven to provide a usable monitoring tool for in-situ remediation to help in-field design of such techniques.