The estimation of shallow subsurface soil properties, such as fine content and hydraulic conductivity, is a key aspect in many engineering geology applications. When large areas have to be investigated, alternative and reliable procedures to common from point-wise investigations through drilling or laboratory tests are required to overcome time and cost limitations. In this paper, a non-invasive procedure for the fine content estimation and the assessment of hydraulic conductivity is proposed and applied to two different case studies: a small earth dam and a river embankment. Electrical and seismic properties were used for the 2D imaging of hydro-geotechnical characteristics and the results compared with independent investigations. The results show the effectiveness of the proposed procedure, highlighting its potentialities and future applications.

Keywords: Fine content, Hydraulic conductivity, Seismic and electric methods, Hydrogeological and geotechnical characterisations, Shallow subsurface soil.