Geophysical Survey of a Municipal Waste Landfill Using Electrical Resistivity and Induced Polarization Methods

Abandoned gravel pits have been often used as landfill area for the municipal and industrial waste. From 1971 to 1990 the ancient gravel pit En Colliare (north of the city of Lausanne, western Switzerland) was filled with slags of incineration, garbage from car shredding and municipal waste. The base of the landfill is in its central part close to groundwater table and landfill leachate polluted groundwater and the near river Venoge. Objective of this survey was to test the applicability of the geophysical method at this particular landfill site. Electrical resistivity and induced polarization 2D tomographic survey has been carried out to add quantitative data about the landfill content and its volume. In addition to the photogrammetric data, these results have served for the remediation project of the landfill. Since 2005 a new project has been prepared. The preparatory works have started in November 2008. Induced polarization (IP) method seemed to be more effective than electrical resistivity method due to variable lithological conditions and heterogeneous landfill content. Nevertheless, the combination of both methods proved to be valuable for the assessment of the landfill dimensions.