When talking about lake and river prospecting, dealing with fluid leakage is probably the main problem we can think of. Through geoelectrical methods viable solutions are available for this kind of problems. For leakage prospecting that may occur in dams, geophysics uses two of the most appreciated geoelectrical methods.
One of these methods is a less conventional method, called “Mise-a-la-Masse” and it gives very good results when investigating the flaws in the isolating membrane of lakes and dams. The Self Potential surveying method is also used for a long time in investigating leakages in dam walls (compacted soil dams).
Geoelectrical methods can be applied for lake and river prospecting. The sonar can also be employed in these cases to enhance the results accuracy and also to find out the depth of water, which is very useful. All together, these methods give the best results.
Other geophysical applications: