Time-Lapse Electrical Resistivity Tomography (TL-ERT) for Landslide Monitoring: Recent Advances and Future Directions

Abstract

To date, there is a growing interest for challenging applications of time-lapse electrical resistivity tomography (TL-ERT) in Earth sciences. Tomographic algorithms for resistivity data inversion and innovative technologies for sensor networks have rapidly transformed the TL-ERT method in a powerful tool for the geophysical time-lapse imaging. In this paper, we focus our attention on the application of this method in landslide monitoring. Firstly, an overview of recent methodological advances in TL-ERT data processing and inversion is presented. In a second step, a critical analysis of the main results obtained in different field experiments and lab-scale simulations are discussed. The TL-ERT appears to be a robust and cost-effective method for mapping the water-saturated zones, and for the identification of the groundwater preferential pathways in landslide bodies. Furthermore, it can make a valuable contribution to following time-dependent changes in top-soil moisture, and the spatio-temporal dynamics of wetting fronts during extreme rainfall events. The critical review emphasizes the limits and the advantages of this geophysical method and discloses a way to identify future research activities to improve the use of the TL-ERT method in landslide monitoring.