Geophysical exploration of an old dumpsite in the perspective of enhanced landfill mining in Kermt area, Belgium

• Published in: Bulletin of engineering geology and the environment 2019-02, Vol.78 (1), p.55-67
• Main Authors: Yannah, Mero, Martens, Kristine, Van Camp, Marc, Walraevens, Kristine
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Earth and Environmental Science; Earth Sciences; Foundations; Geoecology/Natural Processes; Geoengineering; Geotechnical Engineering & Applied Earth Sciences; Hydraulics; Nature Conservation; Original Paper
• ISSN: 1435-9529; 1435-9537
• DOI: 10.1007/s10064-017-1169-2

Landfills are becoming major sources for industrial raw materials yet it is difficult to determine the type of material hosted in old dumps. The investigated old dump in Kermt-Hasselt is an ultimate example of an uncontrolled system of waste disposal from field observation. The application of enhanced landfill mining (ELFM) on old dumps is intended to manage the tonnes of waste deposited in the past for economic and environmental development. The goal is to use geophysical methods to characterize buried waste resources (metals, plastics, rubbles) concealed in a dump over an area of 7540 m 2 . The results show a dump of ~2 m thick, characterized by heterogeneous buried waste material mostly of domestic origin. The concealed waste recorded ground conductivity between 12 - 80 mS/m, resistivity of 155–380 Ωm, radar signals between 10 - 50 ns and magnetic field between 42,400–46,000 nT. Metallic and plastic materials constitute the main sources of the measured anomalies.