Context and objectives
Remote sensing processing of medium and high resolution satellite imagery, topography and detection of ground movements and erosion by radar interferometry, and GIS integration of geological, seismic and environmental data will be applied for the determination of geologic risks in the routing and construction of a gas pipe line in Jordan. Detailed tectonic and lithologic mapping, hazards and environmental maps in GIS formats will be produced.
Natural Hazards.
Geological risks require detailed safety reports to be prepared prior to the construction of a 380 km pipe line, in the presence of seismic risk (active faults and earthquakes), landslides triggered by earthquakes, erosion processes and flooding, environmental restrictions, and archaeological site preservation requirements.
Specific objectives :
Geological risks require detailed safety reports to be prepared prior to the layout and construction of pipelines. A complete study of the geological risk present many advantages in terms of safety for people during and after construction, and in terms of cost/benefit for the construction and exploitation of the pipe line. For long pipelines, Remote Sensing, used together with other techniques, provide a fast and economic way to update the geological information and to provide large and accurate digital elevation models as input for the risk assessment study. The main objective of this project is to apply these techniques to a real case, a 300km long pipe line in a seismic area in Jordan, and to build up a methodology that can be used in all the cases of pipe line planning.
Several types of geological risks will be studied:
- the seismic risk itself, consisting in direct destructive effects of earthquake ground motion;
- the risk of surface rupture along the trace of active faults;
- the risk of slope instability in static conditions;
- the risk of landslides triggered by earthquakes;
- the risk linked to fast erosion processes like those produced by floods.
This will provide a full set of information that can be used to optimise the planning and the layout of the construction in an interactive way. In order to promote the method for future applications, a validation of the results and the evaluation of cost/time benefit will be achieved.