Ground Penetrating Radar Fundamentals

Ground penetrating radar (commonly called GPR) is a high resolution electromagnetic technique that is designed primarily to investigate the shallow subsurface of the earth, building materials, and roads and bridges. GPR has been developed over the past thirty years for shallow, high resolution investigations of the subsurface. GPR is a time-depen­ dent geophysical technique that can provide a 3-D pseudo image of the subsurface, includ­ ing the fourth dimension of color, and can also provide accurate depth estimates for many common subsurface objects. Under favorable conditions, GPR can provide precise infor­ mation concerning the nature of buried objects. It has also proven to be a tool that can be operated in boreholes to extend the range of investigations away from the boundary of the hole.