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The Leading Edge; August 2001; v. 20; no. 8; p. 896-900; DOI: 10.1190/1.1487303
© 2001 Society of Exploration Geophysicists
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Cave detection and 4-D monitoring

A microgravity case history near the Dead Sea

M. Rybakov, V. Goldshmidt, L. Fleischer and Y. Rotstein

The Geophysical Institute of Israel

Corresponding author: M. Rybakov, rybakov@gii.co.il

Editor's note: The TLE Editorial Board and staff appreciate the extensive technical review and editing of this article by Pat Millegan of Marathon Oil in Houston.

The first 20% of the full text of this article appears below.

Sinkholes—large, open holes that result from the earth simply collapsinG—are a serious environmental problem and hazard around the Dead Sea (Figure 1). The largest is about 30 m in diameter and 15 m deep (Figure 2). The most alarming case is a recent collapse on both sides of the main highway at E'n Gedi, a popular destination for recreation and tourism. Sinkholes initially opened at a campsite east of the road (Figure 3). Subsequently, several sinkholes opened west of the road in a palm grove, warning of a possible collapse of the highway.


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  		Figure 1. Location of sinkholes. 1= Qalya. 2 = Samar Springs. 3 = Mineral Beach. 4 = E'n Gedi. 5 = Nahal Hever south. 6 = Assael. 7 = Parsa. 8 = Newe Zohar. 9 = Nahal Heimar. 10 = Dead Sea Works. Shaded relief from the DTM of Hall (1993).

 

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  		Figure 2. One of largest sinkholes in the Dead Sea area (after Gilat, 1999).

 

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  		Figure 3. A recent sinkhole in the E'n Gedi camp (after Gilat, 1999).

 
Microgravity surveying has been used to detect karst caves in carbonate rocks, but given the geology of the Dead Sea coast, it was not clear whether the method would be feasible there. However, the Dead Sea sinkholes were developing very rapidly, motivating a quick start of microgravity monitoring. This technique was chosen because it is a 3-D surface geophysical method that can detect sinkholes regardless of shape or fill material, if there is sufficient density contrast. Moreover, temporal (4-D) changes in gravity at sinkhole sites suggest subsurface mass redistributions that may signal impending collapse.

The density contrast in classic karst areas worldwide reaches 2.6 g/cm3 for air-filled caves and 1.5–1.6 g/cm3 for water-filled caves. However, in this case, the sinkholes are developing in the young, thick, low-density sediments that . . . [Full Text of this Article]




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