The ethanol is used an extensive form as fuel for vehicles in Brazil, due so much to characteristics as favorable climate for sugar cane cultivation alliance with a productive chain quite developed, as the energy efficiency and almost non-existent tenor of pollutant emitted in your combustion. The wide distribution net for attendance to the final consumer represents a constant risk of leaks and contamination of rivers, soil and groundwater. This paper discusses the results of the geophysical monitoring in laboratory scale experiment, resultant of the controlled leak of ethanol in sediments partially saturated in water. The extensive application of electrical methods in environmental studies and significant alterations of electric resistivity caused in the geological environment due the presence of exogenous compositions they justify the selection of this method. There was an increase of the values in the beginning of the experiment to the maximum around 52h, followed for fall accentuated up to 342h and happened by slow and constant growth of the values up to 2,742h, when compared to previous values without ethanol addition. The data suggest a temporary relationship among variations of electric resistivity to the geochemistry behavior of the ethanol in geological environment.
electrical resistivity; logging; ethanol; monitoring
