Methods for Estimating Associated Risks of Sinkhole Occurrences: A Demonstration Using Available Data from the Ruhr Valley Region of Germany

¹ Department of Geological Sciences, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208
² Institut fuer Geowissenschaften und Geiseltal Museum, University of Halle-Wittenberg, Domstrasse 5, D-00106 Halle (Saale),

Ian Lerche is Professor of Geology at the University of South Carolina. His current major research interests are in the fields of basin analysis, salt, economic risk, and environmental problems. He has published several hundred papers and more than a dozen books. He is the recipient of numerous awards and honors, including the Levorsen Award of the AAPG. Currently, he sits on several editorial boards and is also technical editor of Energy Exploration & Exploitation.

Christof Lempp studied geology and palaeontology at Eberhard-Karls-University of Tuebingen, Germany from 1970 to 1975, and received his Ph.D. degree at University Tuebingen, Germany in 1979. His thesis concerned the weatherability of overconsolidated pelitic rocks and their use in road construction. From 1979 to 1994 he has served as scientist, lecturer, and Assistant Professor at University Fridericiana of Karlsruhe, Institute of Soil Mechanics and Rock Mechanics in the division of civil engineering, involved in such diverse projects as engineering geology and rock mechanics (mining, tunneling, deep drilling, etc.). From 1994 to 1995 he was, by proxy, Professor of Engineering Geology at Technical University of Berlin, Germany. Since 1995, he has served as Professor of Engineering Geology at Martin-Luther-University in Halle, Germany.

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