Environmental Problems, how geophysics can help you! applicability of geophysical methods

The research features how geophysical methods are used to optimize solutions for different types of environmental problems. To verify the use frequency of these methods today, a wide survey was carried out in recent articles from the scientific journals of the Geophysical Society of three countries: Journal of Environmental & Engeneering Geophysics (JEEG) and Near Surface Geophysics (NSG) and Revista Brasileira de Geofísica (RBGF). The investigation time frame was from the second semester of 2016 until the end of 2019, resulting in an overall total of 448 articles analyzed, and among these, 125 articles related to the environment were selected. After the data tabulation, statistical analyzes were carried out in order to assess which equipment and geophysical methods are bringing innovation to environmental studies. In addition, other factors have been verified, such as the purpose of the surveys, the application places and the methods integration. As a conclusion was reached that the geoelectric methods and the GPR are the methodologies most used; aquifers and contaminated areas are the places of greatest use of geophysics; and the detection of residues and contaminants, studies on geological and reservoir stability, as well as the growing exploitation of underground water resources are the main objectives of geophysics application in contemporary environmental studies. In addition, that most studies do not perform multi-method evaluations, which could result in a great optimization of results.