ORIGINAL ARTICLE The application of GPR and electrical resistivity tomography as useful tools in detection of sinkholes in the Cheria Basin (northeast of Algeria) I. Nouioua • Aek. Rouabhia • Ch. Fehdi • M. L. Boukelloul • L. Gadri • D. Chabou • R. Mouici Received: 28 August 2011 / Accepted: 13 July 2012 / Published online: 26 July 2012 Ó Springer-Verlag 2012 Abstract Sinkhole collapse is one of the main limitations in the development of karst areas, especially where bedrock is covered by unconsolidated material. Studies of sinkhole formation have shown that sinkholes are likely to develop in cutter (enlarged joint) zones as a result of subterranean erosion by flowing groundwater. Ground-penetrating radar (GPR) and electrical resistivity imaging or tomography (RESTOM) are well suited to mapping sinkholes because of the ability of these two techniques for detecting voids and discriminating subtle resistivity variations. Nine GPR profiles and two-dimensional electrical resistivity tomog- raphy have been applied, with relative success, to locate paleo-collapses and cavities, and to detect and characterize karst at two sinkhole sites near Cheria City where lime- stone is covered by about 10 m of clayey soils. The survey results suggest that GPR and RESTOM are ideal geo- physical tools to aid in the detection and monitoring of sinkholes and other subsurface cavities. Keywords GPR Á Resistivity tomography Á Sinkhole Á Karst Á Che ´ria Á Algeria Introduction Around Cheria, there has been a serious karstic hazard caused by Eocene limestone dissolution; this has resulted in subsidence and the collapse of Quaternary terraces and pediments producing dolines (Baali 2001). This active process is a major source of property damage and a potential cause of personal injuries. It is a growing problem because of rapid urban development and changes over recent decades in the way town planning has controlled the area. While the population of Cheria has remained approximately constant, the city has multiplied its urban and industrial area by four times in four decades. In many cases, karstic structures, such as subsidence features, voids and collapses, represent disruptions to the geometry of an originally near-horizontal layered system. Geophysical techniques can be used to identify the feature geometries by contrasts in the physical properties. These properties, such as density, magnetic susceptibility, elec- trical resistivity and conductivity, vary between the media involved, and materials such as limestone, gypsum, silt- stone, clay, sand, breccia, air and water all have different geophysical properties. Consequently, geophysical surveys are commonly applied for the detection of different types of subsoil anomalies. They allow large areas to be covered in short times and represent an efficient way to detect subsurface heterogeneities including voids, subsi- dence areas or refilled cavities. Techniques used include seismic reflection and refraction (Cook 1965), gravimetry (Colley 1963; Butler 1984; Bishop et al. 1997; Rybakov et al. 2001), Ground penetrating radar (Ballard 1983; Annan et al. 1991) and resistivity tomography (Zhou et al. 2002). More recently, surveying based on magnetic sus- ceptibility differences has also proved useful for detect- ing and modeling cavities and soil heterogeneities on the I. Nouioua (&) Á L. Gadri Á D. Chabou Department of Mines, University of Tebessa, Avenue du 4 mars, 12002 Te ´bessa, Algeria e-mail: inouioua@yahoo.fr Aek. Rouabhia Á Ch. Fehdi Á R. Mouici Department of Geology, University of Tebessa, 12002 Te ´bessa, Algeria M. L. Boukelloul Department of Mines, Badji Mokhtar University, 23000 Annaba, Algeria 123 Environ Earth Sci (2013) 68:1661–1672 DOI 10.1007/s12665-012-1859-9