Geophysical Monitoring for the Preservation of Architectural Monuments

Abstract

Preservation of buildings and structures always was and remains to be an urgent problem for the mankind. Cracks and deformations of walls and subsidence of foundations eventually resulting in destruction of buildings are very common, and measures taken for their elimination are fairly expensive and often belated. All this makes it necessary to control the course of active geological processes, determine their nature, and take timely measures for prevention and mitigation of possible adverse impacts. Geophysical methods of measurement from the ground surface causing no impact on the state of geological environment should play an important role in preservation of buildings, towns and cities. At the same time, traditional measurements of this kind in urban conditions with limited space and numerous hindrances and interferences are often inefficient and inexpedient. A new methodology of geophysical exploration and studies is put forward and analyzed for investigating the negative influence of geological processes in the upper layer of the geological section on buildings and engineering structures.