ABSTRACT
The complexity of using geophysical and remote sensing methods for hazardous waste containment transcends the already challenging problems associated with mineral exploration and groundwater and petroleum exploration and production. Hydrologists and petroleum reservoir engineers have studied the flow of water, oil, and gas in porous permeable rocks and unconsolidated sediments for many years. The oil industry has developed first-order methods of analysis that are remarkably successful in assessing the potential of an aquifer or reservoir to supply a given fluid or gas for some period of time. However, these analyses seem almost trivial compared to the task of finding, monitoring, and removing subsurface contaminants. In terms of monitoring barriers the task may or may not be as challenging as finding and characterizing subsurface contaminants. This is due to several different issues specific to barriers. If one is trying to see a change in the properties of a barrier it is not as challenging as seeing absolute changes. If one is trying to characterize or find a leak in the barrier this may be just as difficult as finding a contaminant. The issue is particularly challenging because of the following:
In traditional oil and gas subsurface applications, a 50% recovery rate is considered a great success. The great majority of geophysical and remote sensing methods were developed with this level of sensitivity. In remediation applications, this recovery rate is usually not sufficient.
