The present work aims to assess the adequacy of the ground penetrating radar as a screening tool in site in site investigation practice in hydrogeological, geotechnical and environmental studies. An extensive site investigation program was carrid out in Southeast Brazil looking for characterizing the subsurface. Tests were performed to determine the statigraphy of soil profiles, the position of the water level, the detection of buried structures and contamination. The results have shown a great deal of success in identifying water levels and buried structures. Soil surface were only identified when abrupt changes in the dielectric constant of the porous media were observed. Howerer, the results so far do not enable to delineate contamination plumes with the accuracy desired. The accuracy of the target depths were greatly improved by using the result of the dielectric constant measured by the time domain reflectometry (TDR)