Philip Kearey, Michael Brooks, Ian Hill, An Introduction to Geophysical Exploration

Third Edition, Chapter 8

1. Introduction
There are many methods of electrical surveying. Some make use of elds within the
Earth while others require the introduction of articially generated currents into the
ground. The resistivity method is used in the study of horizontal and vertical
discontinuities in the electrical properties of the ground, and also in the detection of
three-dimensional bodies of anomalous electrical conductivity. It is routinely used in
engineering and hydrogeological investigations to investigate the shallow subsurface
geology. The induced polarization method makes use of the capacitive action of the
subsurface to locate zones where conductive minerals are disseminated within their
host rocks.The self- potential method makes use of natural currents owing in the
ground that are generated by electrochemical processes to locate shallow bodies of
anomalous conductivity.
Electrical methods utilize direct currents or low frequency alternating currents to
investigate the electrical properties of the subsurface, in contrast to the
electromagnetic methods discussed in the next chapter that use alternating
electromagnetic elds of higher frequency to this end.

2. Resistivity Method
2.1 Introduction
In the resistivity method, articially generated electric currents are introduced into the
ground and the resulting potential differences are measured at the surface. Deviations
from the pattern of potential differences expected from homogeneous ground provide
information on the form and electrical properties of subsurface inhomogeneities.

2.2 Resistivities of rocks and minerals

The resistivity of a material is dened as the resistance in ohms between the opposite
faces of a unit cube of the material. For a conducting cylinder of resistance R, length
L and cross-sectional area A (Fig. 8.1) the resistivity ris given by

=

The SI unit of resistivity is the ohm- metre (ohm m) and the reciprocal of resistivity is
termed conductivity (units: siemens (S) per metre; 1Sm-1 = 1ohm-1m-1; the term mho
for inverse ohm is sometimes encountered).
Resistivity is one of the most variable of physical properties. Certain minerals such as
native metals and graphite conduct electricity via the passage of electrons. Most rock-
forming minerals are, however, insulators, and electrical current is carried through a
rock mainly by the passage of ions in pore waters. Thus, most rocks conduct electricity
by electrolytic rather than electronic processes.It follows that porosity is the major
control of

Fig. 8.1 The parameters used in dening resistivity

Fig. 8.2 The approximate range of resistivity values of common rock types.

the resistivity of rocks, and that resistivity generally increases as porosity decreases.
However, even crystalline rocks with negligible intergranular porosity are conductive
along cracks and ssures. Figure 8.2 shows the range of resistivities expected for
common rock types. It is apparent that there is considerable overlap between different
rock types and,consequently,identication of a rock type is not possible solely on the
basis of resistivity data. Strictly, equation (8.1) refers to electronic conduction but it
may still be used to describe the effective resistivity of a rock; that is, the resistivity of
the rock and its pore water. The effective resistivity can also be expressed in terms of
the resistivity and volume of the pore water present according to an empirical formula
given by Archie (1942)
=
where the porosity, f the fraction of pores containing water of resistivity w and a,
b and c are empirical constants. w can vary considerably according to the quantities
and conductivities of dissolved materials.

2.3 Current flow in the ground

Consider the element of homogeneous material shown in Fig. 8.1. A current I is
passed through the cylinder causing a potential drop -V between the ends of the
element.
Ohms law relates the current, potential difference and resistance such that -dV = dRI,
and from equation (8.1) . Substituting

Fig. 8.3 Current ow from a single surface electrode.

= =

V/ L represents the potential gradient through the element in voltm-1 and i the
current density in Am-2. In general the current density in any direction within a material
is given by the negative partial derivative of the potential in that direction divided by
the resistivity.
Now consider a single current electrode on the surface of a medium of uniform
resistivity (Fig.8.3).The circuit is completed by a current sink at a large distance from
the electrode. Current ows radially away from the electrode so that the current
distribution is uniform over hemispherical shells centred on the source.At a distance r
from the electrode the shell has a surface area of 2r2, so the current density I is given
by

=
2 2
From equation (8.3), the potential gradient associated with this current density is

= =
2 2
The potential Vr at distance r is then obtained by integration

= = 2
=
2 2
The constant of integration is zero since Vr = 0 when r = ---

2.4 Electode spreads

Many congurations of electrodes have been designed (Habberjam 1979) and,
although several are occasionally employed in specialized surveys only two are in
common use. The Wenner conguration is the simpler in that current and potential
electrodes are maintained at an equal spacing a (Fig.8.6).Substitution of this condition
into equation (8.9) yields

= 2

During VES the spacing a is gradually increased about a xed central point and in
CST the whole spread is moved along a prole with a xed value of a. The efciency
of performing vertical electrical sounding can be greatly increased by making use of
a multicore cable to which a number of electrodes are permanently attached at
standard separations (Barker 1981). A sounding can then be rapidly accomplished by
switching between different sets of four electrodes. Such a system has the additional
advantage that, by measuring ground resistances at two electrode array positions, the
effects of nearsurface lateral resistivity variations can be substantially reduced.
In surveying with the Wenner conguration all four electrodes need to be moved
between successive readings. This labour is partially overcome by the use of the
Schlumberger conguration (Fig. 8.6) in which the inner, potential electrodes have a
spacing 2l which is a small
 Fig. 8.6 The Wenner and Schlumberger electrode congurations

proportion of that of the outer,current electrodes (2L). In CST surveys with the
Schlumberger conguration several lateral movements of the potential electrodes
may be accommodated without the necessity of moving the current electrodes. In
VES surveys the potential electrodes remain xed and the current electrodes are
expanded symmetrically about the centre of the spread. With very large values of Lit
may, however, be necessary to increase l also in order to maintain a measurable
potential. For the Schlumberger conguration
(2 2 )
=
2 (2 + 2 )
where x is the separation of the mid- points of the potential and current electrodes.
When used symmetrically, x = 0,so
2
=
2

2.5 Resistivity surveying euipment