Levee composition mapping using electrical resistivity

The Great Miami River System in southwestern Ohio has one of the oldest flood control systems in the country. In an attempt to gauge the effectiveness of the levee system during flood times, electrical resistivity has recently been used to map the internal structure of the levee to delineate sand and gravel pockets, which may be prone to wash outs during a major flood. To do this, 2D continuous resistivity profiles were collected at two levee sites in the greater Dayton area. Sand and gravel lenses tend to appear as high resistivity anomalies within the levee structure. Future goals include drilling boreholes at high resistivity anomaly locations to test the accuracy of electrical resistivity to determine sand and gravel lenses.