Sapienza Università Editrice

This book has been written in order to publish the final outcome of six years of research activities dedicated to both the primary development of emerging (mostly geophisycal) methods, and the improvement and combination of previously developed methods, for the investigation and assessment of contaminates sites.The research presented in this handbook was centred around two European Commission 7th Framework program projects: ‘‘ModelPROBE - Model driven Soil Probing, Site Assessment and Evaluation’’ (Grant agreement No. 213161; www.modelprobe.eu) and, to a much lesser extent, ‘‘SoilCam - Soil Contamination: Advanced Integrated Characterisation and Time Lapse Monitoring’’ (Grant agreement No. 212663; www.soilcam.eu).The methods presented in this handbook are ’non-to low-invasive’, aim for cost-effectiveness, and comprise advanced geophysical site characterization techniques, new types of vegetation analysis, and improved or new biogeochemical methods, mostly combined with direct push applications. Focusing on a wide potential readership, the book contains general introduction chapters concerning the principles of site assesment, combined with an overview about recent methods and detailed application manuals, as well as an annex providing additional information of general relevance.The reason for publishing the developments of the project is to make the outcomes understandable and available to all potential users: stakeholders, consultants and authorities, and, last but not least, scientists.