Remote Real Time Monitoring for Underground Contamination in Mongolia Using Electrical Impedance Tomography

Mongolia’s abundant natural resources have driven much recent economic development and with it the need for an underground contamination monitoring system. For instance, the fast growth of the mining industry coincides with underground contamination caused by petrol, copper tailings, mercury, etc. These contaminants are highly electrically conductive, and can therefore be assessed by electrical impedance tomography (EIT). This non-destructive and inexpensive method can visualize the conductivity distribution of a target area, and is suited for use in Mongolia. A number of electrodes are placed on the ground surface to induce currents and to measure the resulting voltages. We introduce a new electrode configuration, and use the local projective conductivity image method to monitor the near-surface area. Additionally, conventional EIT is used to monitor areas deeper underground. The collected voltage data can be used for both algorithms–separate measurements are not required–allowing near real-time monitoring for underground contamination.