Dec. 6, 2002 KINGSTON, R.I. – November 25, 2002 – When a
property is suspected of having contaminated soil or
groundwater, it is usually a lengthy and costly process to
confirm the presence of pollutants and to delineate the extent
of the contamination. Soon that process may be simplified
considerably. University of Rhode Island geophysicist Reinhard
Frohlich, an associate professor of geosciences, has devised a
cost-effective, new method for finding underground contaminants
that will reduce drilling and digging beneath the surface. By
inserting two metal spikes in the ground at various distances
and connecting them to an electric current, Frohlich can measure
the voltage between the spikes and determine the resistivity of
the soil, which tells him if the soil is polluted. "My initial
objective was to do an experiment at the surface that would
explain what was going on beneath the surface," said Frohlich,
whose research was funded by a $55,000 grant from the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency. Resistivity m