Mark Teague (TeaCo Geophysical, LLC) has been an ideal partner in exposing Millsaps students to the methods and capabilities of Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR). Mark has shared his time, equipment, and money with our department. In fact, a financial contribution from TeaCo helped to establish a student chapter of the Association of Engineering Geologists at Millsaps. Mark has also guest lectured in the Applied Geophysics course and worked with students as a research advisor. He is currently collaborating with two Millsaps geology majors on their Senior Research Projects (SRP). One project is utilizing high resolution GPR to investigate the 3-D architecture of a spring associated with a slope wetland on the Millsaps campus. The other SRP Mark is involved with focuses on imaging the near-surface erosional and depositional characteristics of a point bar on Bayou Pierre in south-central Mississippi. As part of this project, Mark designed and organized a field experiment to test GPR antenna characteristics. Students and faculty from both Millsaps and the University of Southern Mississippi spent a great day in the field collecting and evaluating data at the Bayou Pierre site. The Geophysics Program at Millsaps is indebted to Mark for his willingness to share his knowledge of GPR with our students and we look forward to continued collaboration!
James B. Harris
Professor of Geology
Millsaps College
We have worked with Teaco Geophysical on numerous projects in LA & MS. Our projects have included: utility locates prior to soil boring, UST detection & SUM services, and wireline geophysical of water wells. Teaco has used GPR, RD and acoustic techniques for our private utility locates. Wireline geophysical efforts have included natural gamma, deviation, resistivity, optical televiewing, and cement bond logging. They are always responsive, dependable and produce the necessary results. Teaco is an excellent resource for any firm requiring these supporting services.
Thank you for being part of our first 30 years in business.
Scott M. Bergeron, P.E., P.G. (Louisiana)
Professional Technical Support Services, Inc.
"Our 30th Year in Business"
Baton Rouge, LA
Also published in Subsurface Views, click here to view it.
GPR SURVEY ASSISTS IN PALEONTOLOGICAL EXCAVATION
Result: In 2008, TeaCo conducted a successful mid frequency GPR grid survey over an area located in central Mississippi for the purpose of identifying remains of potential paleontological significance. All parties agreed on confidentiality to protect landowner form undue nuisance caused by the casual fossil hunters, and to protect items for future generations to appreciate. TeaCo successfully identified numerous areas in close proximity to where an Eocene aged whale was partially recovered. These areas are to be further investigated in the near future.
Client Comments: “From hunting mammoths in the Siberian permafrost to digging dinosaurs in the Texas Big Bend, GPR is now established as an invaluable tool in the field of vertebrate paleontology. For example, a large fossil whale discovered east of Quitman, Mississippi, in the late 1970s was finally excavated in December 2005—or so we thought. That which was exposed at the surface was easily located, but as skeletons that come to rest on the seafloor can scatter across a large area, there is a need to locate dissociated parts without needless, haphazard digging. GPR provides a means by which fossil bone concentrations, primarily of large animals, may be detected so as to greatly reduce exploration time, surface disturbance, and even financial expense.”
George E. Phillips
Paleontology Curator
Mississippi Museum of Natural Science
GPR SURVEY USED TO LOCATE UTILITY VAULT
Result: In August of 2010, TeaCo Geophysical was hired to locate a utility vault that fell within an area proposed to be excavated in an upcoming expansion. The vault was successfully located and lay directly below the proposed location for an elevator shaft. The expansion plans were altered to avoid potentially dangerous excavation.
Client Comments: “I contacted TeaCo Geophysical to perform a GPR survey for the purpose of locating a utility vault that was suspected to be within an area where extensive construction would be performed. TeaCo successfully located the vault. Once the exact location was known the resulting data was compared to proposed expansion plans and the elevator shaft located directly over the utility vault. I was thankful to provide my client with this information so that their expansion plans could be adjusted and construction could continue safely.”
Shelby Murray, PE
Pickering Firm
Bayou Pierre Point Bar GPR
