Subsurface Mapping covers a wide range of industry sectors which need to view objects buried under the surface of the Earth and where physical excavation is expensive, dangerous – or both.
Gap's geophysical survey and interpretation capabilities are providing outstanding results in:
- Detection of underground utilities such as sewer pipes
- Detection of underground contamination
- Determination of properties of rock for freeway cuttings and building foundations
- Non-intrusive detection of rare and sensitive archaeological features and artefacts
Underground Utilities
Gap can use SAM, along with general geophysical surveys, to detect the location of underground pipes that carry sewage, water, gas, petroleum, telephone cables and other services.
Lack of precise records of buried utilities hampers construction and leads to expensive accidents - and, in the case of sewer and chemical pipes, can cause environmental disasters.
SAM, especially, is proving capable of not only precisely detecting these pipes, but also accurately assessing their depth.
The pipes do not need to be metallic or magnetic and SAM can usually provide 100% detection.
SAM can also detect the full extent of “single-ended” pipes – where only one end of a pipe is accessible (example).
Contamination
Much environmental chemical contamination comes from known sources of pollution. Gap’s ultra high definition geophysics can produce accurate maps of underlying geology, making it possible to predict the underground flow of liquid and chemical pollutants from their source.
Underground sources of pollution and contamination such as broken pipes, underground storage tanks and industrial waste landfills also can be located using Gap's ultra-high definition geophysics.
Geotechnical Information
Gap provides continuous high-resolution surveys of underlying rock formations and geological structures for use in civil engineering projects including freeways and large buildings.
Gap can identify shear zones, faults, igneous intrusions and areas of soft and hard rock to supplement lower resolution techniques, such as drilling.
Gap surveys are fast and inexpensive and not only provide continuous information between drill holes, but can pinpoint areas of particular concern to identify locations where drilling can provide the most information.
Archaeological
The completely non-intrusive nature of Gap's technology allows it to be used to detect objects of archaeological significance. Gap has located ancient pottery kilns, native camp sites, long-buried temples and places of worship and ancient burial sites.
Gap also is often called on to find metallic objects of cultural or heritage value, including ancient canons or landfill sites containing heritage value memorabilia.