Muon tomography of underground fracture zones
Abstract
A high resolution muography survey has been performed in the Királylaki tunnel in Budapest (Hungary) to search for unknown cavities. Preliminary radiographic measurements suggested large density anomalies above the tunnels in a 20--60 m thick cherty dolomite rock (2.5--2.7 g/cm3).
A Bayesian inversion method has been adapted to overcome the underdetermination originating from limited-angle tomographic nature of muography.
The angular resolution of the gaseous muon detectors enabled a spatial voxel resolution of 1--2 meters, and the 3D distribution of karstic fracture zones has been obtained. Multiple 5--10 m long core drills validated the existence of low-density regions. The core samples showed convincing agreement with the inversion, containing fractured rock (altered dolomite powder, below 1.8 g/cm3).
This result shows the potential of mapping underground fracture zones with muography which has possible applications for tunnel construction and maintenance, or hillside-slip risk assessment, among others.
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