Remediation of hazardous material spills is often costly and entails cumbersome procedures. The traditional method is to drill core samples in the area where the contaminant is thought to be present and then analyze these samples in a laboratory. The denser the sampling grid, the more effective it is; unfortunately, it is also more expensive to implement and more damaging to the environment. A nonintrusive method for detecting subsurface contamination, therefore, would be highly desirable. Toward this end, the capability of ground-penetrating radar (GPR) to identify natural subsurface features, detect man-made objects buried in the soil, and both detect and define the extent of contaminated soil or groundwater was assessed. The study concluded that the technology for the envisioned GPR already exists. In terms of hardware, it was found that a synthetic-pulse radar has the potential to operate effectively in the three types of subsurface environments modeled in the study, environments representative of seven out of ten 'common cases' found at remediation sites.

Caption title. "June 1992." "EPA/600-SR-92-089." Includes bibliographical references.