Ground-penetrating radar (GPR) is a geophysical method that uses radar pulses to image the underground surface for utilities or infrastructure. This nondestructive method uses electromagnetic radiation in the microwave band UHF/VHF frequencies of the radio spectrum, and detects the reflected signals from subsurface structures. GPR can have applications in a variety of industries, where scanning can include rock, soil, ice, fresh water, pavements and structures.
In the right conditions, engineers can use GPR to detect objects under the ground such as electrical, water or gas lines, changes in material properties, and voids and cracks.
GPR has many applications in a number of industries. Within the Earth sciences it is used to study bedrock, soils, groundwater, and ice. It is of some utility in prospecting for gold nuggets and for diamonds in alluvial gravel beds, by finding natural traps in buried stream beds that have the potential for accumulating heavier particles. Before you dig or core make sure you have a qualified company GPR the subsuface.