ELECTRICAL RESISTIVITY INVESTIGATION OF KARST FEATURES, SOUTHWEST MISSOURI
There are a variety of geophysical methods that can be used to investigate karst features including electrical resistivity, gravity, seismic refraction and very low frequency electromagnetics. While all of these methods are useful in imaging karst features, electrical resistivity methods have been shown to be the most useful in deciphering sinkholes and caves. To investigate a known cave and related sinkholes and faults within Mississippian carbonates south of Nixa, Missouri, a series of two-dimensional electrical resistivity profiles will be collected using the Schlumberger array. The data will be collected using 64 electrodes and a four meter electrode spacing. Terrain data will be collected to include in modeling. The data will be modeled using a robust two-dimensional inversion method where the inversion parameters will be varied to determine the statistically most reasonable model. To constrain the inverse models, seismic ambient noise data will be collected and analyzed which will provide thicknesses of the overlying soil layer.