Combination of seismic and resistivity tomography for the detection of abandoned mine workings in Munster/Westfalen, Germany: Improved data interpretation by cluster analysis

The detection of abandoned mine workings is a frequent objective of geophysical investigations. Several non-destructive geophysical methods have the potential to image these structures, although in practice the interpretation of the results may be complicated. In this study, an abandoned mine was investigated using different geophysical methods on the same site. Seismic refraction tomography and resistivity tomography was undertaken on numerous profiles. With both methods it was possible to detect the mine workings, although interpretation of the resistivity distributions was difficult. To achieve a more meaningful interpretation of the results, seismic modelling was done. By cluster analysis, even further information about the condition of the galleries could be gained.