Monitoring the Robert S. Kerr dam and its Mississippian bedrock foundation using satellite and bathymetric surveys

Abstract

The Grand River Dam Authority (GRDA) contracted and funded the Boone Pickens School of Geology to conduct studies over several of GRDA’s dams along the Grand River system to better analyze the dams’ structural integrity. One of these dams, the Robert S. Kerr Dam, was the primary dam where a continuous Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) survey was conducted along with bathymetric and Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) surveys to monitor the motion of the dam and the condition of the bedrock foundation upon which Kerr Dam is constructed. The GNSS survey and InSAR data when compared with meteorological and water level data illustrated that the Kerr Dam has not undergone any motion that is anomalous to seasonal temperature change. Bathymetric surveys were limited to qualitative analysis due to varying data resolutions demonstrate that the spillway of Kerr Dam is undergoing erosional events though these events are not implicated in the dam’s motion.