Geophysics

Geophysics is a branch of geo-sciences where principles of physics are applied to the study and quantification of physical processes and properties of the Earth. Geophysics utilizes, primarily, non-invasive techniques to analyze the Earth’s subsurface physical properties to derive geological structures, detect minerals and fossil fuels or locate artificially made structures.

The physical properties of the subsurface materials that are most commonly of interest in geophysical research are the following: thermal conductivity, density, electrical resistivity, elasticity and magnetic susceptibility. Several geophysical methods have been developed to quantify the aforementioned properties. The most common of those techniques include:

• Seismic methods
• Gravity method
• Electrical Resistivity methods
• Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) method

The interpretation of the data deriving from these geophysical techniques in order to identify geological structures and evaluate physical properties is a challenging task which requires extensive experience and expertise.