This paper presents the results of the application of electrical resistivity method in the delineation of areas potentially impacted by necrochorume in Vila Rezende's municipal cemetery, Piracicaba - SP (Brazil). The results indicate a depth of water table among 3.1 and 5.1 m in drought, with two flow directions: a SW and another to the SE. Also indicate unfavorable conditions in subsurface to percolation of necrochorume but favorable to the corpses phenomenon saponification. The probable contamination plumes have the same directions of the groundwater flow. The probable plume is prolonged to out of the cemetery. The location of the conductive anomalies and likely contamination plumes demonstrated that the contamination is linked with the depth of water table level and the burial time. The electrical resistivity method has proved to be an important tool for assessing the environmental quality in cemeteries.
electrical resistivity; saponification; cemetery; necrochorume; contamination plume
