Assessment of Ground Penetrating Radar as a Tool for Surveying World Newt Cave
Abstract
Techniques for shallow geophysical survey have advanced far and broadly in recent years. While their technologies have become more sophisticated and accurate for locating shallow features, a question remains about how accurate these methods actually are. A previous study found ground penetrating radar (GPR) images to render a more accurate passage size than a 3D dipole-dipole survey. Both surveys were compared to a LIDAR survey of the cave using the Caveatron survey system and downloading the data to the CloudCompare software. By surveying World Newt Cave, a shallow feature on the far west side of San Antonio, Texas, USA, this study aimed to confirm whether this conclusion was correct by taking GPR data in a 3D survey grid, rather than individual 2D scans. An analysis was performed comparing GPR to a LIDAR model point cloud survey, and measurements of the passages from both systems were compared. The LIDAR system used had limitations reading certain remote parts of the survey area, but did generate accurate data for the main part of the passages. Comparisons between models demonstrate the accuracy of GPR given the task of cave passage detection.
- Publication:
-
AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2019
- Bibcode:
- 2019AGUFMNS43D0852V
- Keywords:
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- 0994 Instruments and techniques;
- EXPLORATION GEOPHYSICS;
- 0999 General or miscellaneous;
- EXPLORATION GEOPHYSICS;
- 1835 Hydrogeophysics;
- HYDROLOGY