Chapter 1

General Principles
1.1 Introduction
Let us assume that we are interested in the nature of the Earth beneath our feet. However, suppose that we are unaware that there are experts, that call themselves geo-scientists, who are pleased to share their knowledge and wisdom on this subject. What do we do? An obvious choice is to dig a hole and climb down it to examine the interior of the Earth for ourselves. Unfortunately, it is so dark in our hole that we can not see our hand in front of our face, let alone the solid substance of the Earth. Then we have a brilliant idea! We climb out of the hole and get an electric lamp. When we return to the hole we can now see what is around us. We have invented an electrical method for exploring the interior of the Earth! The methods we will be investigate in this course are less direct, but under the right circumstances and used with intelligence they are far more enlightening. In the past, much has been made of the dierence between measurements made with direct current and those made with alternating current. In early texts the rst type are called electrical methods and are based on a totally dierent theory than the second type, which are called electromagnetic methods. If one considers that both are governed by the same physical laws, which are described by Maxwells equations, then it is clear that the two types of methods are fundamentally related. Direct current methods are just a low frequency, asymptotic application of the fundamental equations. In electrical geophysical exploration our goal is to create an image of the Earths subsurface in terms of its electrical properties. That is, we wish to construct an image based on variations in the resistivity, or its inverse the conductivity, of the subsurface. One form for the geoelectric image is a geometric set of boundaries separating zones within which the resistivity is roughly uniform. These regions may then be interpreted in terms of e.g. geological, mineralogical or archaeological structures. The design of a eld survey involves the selection of a technique along with operating parameters that will give the best possibility for success. This implies that we know something about the subsurface (perhaps the typical electrical properties and geometries of our target and the background geological features) before we begin our exploration. If we know the probable geometry of subsurface structures we can describe the general dimensionality of the study region. The best of all worlds for a geoelectrician is a at Earth in which there are no horizontal variations in physical properties, this is the so-called one dimensional Earth. In a 1-D Earth resistivity/conductivity vary with z (depth) only. This model is useful in situations such 1

General Principles

as sedimentary layers and volcanic rocks, which are often at lying, and in some case even igneous rocks have a more-or-less one dimensional zoning of properties. We can almost assume that at rst approximation problems can be treated as one dimensional. In reality, no exploration problem is exactly one dimensional and most real exploration problems involve detecting deviations from one-dimensionality. We must, therefore, move on to two and three dimensional Earth models. Although we have known all along that the true Earth is a three dimensional object, two dimensional modelling is often enough: sedimentary basins, synclines and anticlines are roughly two dimensional; faults tend to be two dimensional; veins, dykes and jointing patterns can often be viewed as 2-D as well. However, it must be remembered that in the end the Earth is three dimensional. When designing a eld survey it is essential to develop a strong current in the vicinity of our exploration target. There are two mechanisms by which we recognise the presence of an electrical inhomogeneity in the Earth. 1. By the generation of current circulating within a conductive body (or current not circulating within a resistive body). 2. By generating currents that penetrate the boundary between two regions with dierent electrical properties.

a)

b) A B

Figure 1.1: a) Inductive (toroidal) response. The current ows in closed paths. b) Galvanic (poloidal) response. The current appears to begin and end at poles A and B. The rst is said to be an inductive response. Current ows within the conductive region in proportion to its conductivity and the time rate of change of the applied magnetic eld ( B/ t). If the target is highly conductive, then the induced currents will be strong and the resulting, secondary, magnetic eld is easy to detect. The second is said to be a galvanic response. The currents will be distorted by the presence of the anomalously conductive body. The penetration of an electromagnetic eld into the Earth depends both on the frequency of oscillation and on the conductivity of the Earth. Often, specic exploration problems are characterised by specic ranges in depth of interest leading to dierent preferred frequencies (see gure 1.2).

General Principles

Target depth (m)

10,000 1,000 100 10 1

Crustal Studies Oil & gas Groundwater Mineral Ores Environmental Studies

10-6 10-4 10-2 1 102 Frequency (Hz)

104

Figure 1.2: Fields show general matches of target depth and required frequency

1.2

Electrical Properties of the Earth

The electrical properties of rocks and minerals are expressed in terms of their resistivity (), or its inverse the conductivity ( = 1/), and their dielectric constant ( r ). In general, the electrical properties of rocks depend on their constituent minerals, the mineral associations, the rock porosity and uid content.

1.2.1

Resistivity

The resistance (R) of a homogeneous, linear conductor is given by R= where s (1.1)

is the length of the conductor and s is the cross-sectional area. In SI the unit of resistance is the ohm

(symbol ) and resistivity has units of ohm metres ( m). The reciprocal of resistance is known as conductance (G) and is measured in siemens (symbol S), the classical unit the mho is still sometimes used with 1 mho = 1 S = 1 1 . Conductivity is measured in siemen per metre (S/m). The relation between these parameters is G= 1 s s = = R (1.2)

Materials can be classied according to the conductivity (or equivalently their resistivity) into three groups: Conductors Semiconductors Insulators > 105 S/m 108 S/m < < 105 S/m < 108 S/m

The resistivities of a selection of relevant materials are given in table 1.1. Note that the possible range of electrical resistivities within the Earth is much larger than the range of other geophysical parameters (e.g. density, seismic wave speed) but also that the range within a single rock type can also be very large. The boundaries between the conductivities/resistivities of conductors, semiconductors and insulators are somewhat arbitrary but the conduction mechanisms dier signicantly between these materials so the distinction is useful. The current ow may be electronic (charge is carried by free electrons) as in metallic conduction or electronic semi-conduction. The current can also be ionic (charged carried by moving ions) in the cases of solid and aqueous electrolytic conduction.

General Principles

Table 1.1: The resistivity of some materials Material Basalt Chalk Dolomite Galena Granite Limestone Magnetite Pyrite Quartz Rock Salt Rainfall runo Silver Sulfur Top soil Resistivity ( m) 10 1.3 107 50 150 350 5000 3 105 300 300 3 106 50 107 5 5 10 5.7 103 2.9 105 1.5 300 1 106 30 1 1013 20 100 1.6 108 1015 250 1700

Values from Reynolds (1997) and Serway (1990).

Metallic Conduction In native metals such as gold, silver and copper the electrons are a large number of free electrons which are not bound to a single nucleus and thus can move throughout the material. When an external, electric eld is applied the electrons accelerate along the eld lines and a current is produced. This current would increase without limit if the electrons did not occasionally collide with the nuclei. The average time between collisions for a given electron is called the relaxation time ( ) and is generally of the order of 103 s. The conductivity in metals is given by = ne2 me (1.3)

where n is the number density of free electrons, e the electron charge and me the electron mass. Note that imperfections in the metallic lattice structure are always present and interfere with the electron free movement, conductivity will decrease as the lattice imperfections increase. One source of imperfections is the thermal motion of the nuclei, as temperature increases so do thermal oscillations resulting in a more distorted lattice and lower conductivity. Electronic Semiconductors Non-metallic materials may still carry current by electron motion; however,

they have a smaller number of free electrons with lower motility. These materials need a signicant amount of energy for the electron to become dissociated from their home atoms. One such source of energy is heat, in which case the number of conduction electrons (ne ) follows ne exp[E/kT ] (1.4)

where E is the energy required to free an electron, k = 1.38 1023 J/K is Boltzmans constant and T the absolute temperature (i.e. measured in kelvin). For semiconductors a higher temperature results in more free electrons and therefore a higher conductivity. When the material is composed of several atomic species we must sum the equations for each species.

General Principles

Solid Electrolytic Conduction Most rock forming minerals are solid electrolytes. In some crystals, e.g. NaCl, valence electrons are given up by anions to complete the valence shells in companion cations and the cations and anions are held together by Coulomb forces. When an external electric eld is applied it is very small compared to the binding force. Thus, in ideal crystals no movement of the constituent ions should occur. However, imperfections exist and some movement of ions within the solid is possible. Aqueous Electrolytes Water, sometimes called the universal solvent, will always contain dissolved ions in

natural settings. The dissolved ions can be mobilized by an applied electric eld producing a current. The presence of an aqueous electrolyte in the pore space of a rock is often the most important factor controlling the electrical conductivity. The conductivity will depend on the amount of water present, the salinity of the water, temperature and the way in which water is distributed throughout the rock. The correlation between a water saturated rocks bulk resistivity (t ) and its water content is given by an empirical relation known as Archies law t = am w (1.5)

where, a is an empirically determined constant, is the porosity expressed as volume fraction of the rock, w is the resistivity of the aqueous solution and the parameter m is called the cementation factor. The ratio F = t /w is known as the Formation Factor. In some rocks part of the pore space is lled by air (being above the water table), natural gas, carbon dioxide or petroleum - all of which are insulators. In this case Archies law can be written t = am f n w (1.6)

where f is the volume fraction of pores with water and n is another parameter (called the saturation exponent). The three parameter values are adjusted to t the equation to a particular set of measurements; typical values are 0.5 a 2.5, 1.3 m 2.5 and n 2. The parameters a and m appear to depend on the geometric form of the pore space cross-section through

which the current ows. Pore geometry is complicated and dicult to describe mathematically. At least three categories of pore structure are dened 1. Inter-granular. The space left over, e.g. in clastic or detrital rocks, when the grains are deposited to form the rock. 2. Vesicular. Rocks such as extruded lavas may have large, poorly connected pores that form as expanding gas bubbles become trapped in the solidifying lava ow. Also occurs in dense limestone under the action of percolating ground water. 3. Fractures, joints and micro-cracks. Usually occur in crystalline rocks, these are often poorly interconnected pore spaces. Let us consider a current ow in a rock with a uid lled crack. The total resistance to current ow through the rock is (from equation 1.1) R= t s (1.7)

General Principles

Figure 1.3: A simple path allowing current ow through a section of rock of length where t is the bulk resistivity and s is the cross-sectional area of the rock. In most cases the resistivity of the solid will be much higher than that of the uid; therefore, the amount of current ow in the solid will be negligible compared to that in the uid. If we consider the current to be propagating solely through the uid lled crack, then we expect a resistance R= where obtain t = w = w The ratio
c/ c c

w c sc

(1.8)

and sc are the eective length and cross-sectional area of the crack. Setting these equations equal we

s sc
c 2

s sc

(1.9)
c

, which is the ratio between the average length of the path through the crack and the length of is the volume of the crack (or pores). The second ratio on the right-hand side

the rock is the so-called tortuosity. The ratio sc /s is known as the diminution ratio. Note that s is the volume of the whole rock and that sc
c

of equation (1.9) is thus the inverse of the rock porosity ( must be less than one and is often expressed as a percentage). Equation (1.9) is reminiscent of Archies Law (1.5) and thus add some physical justication for its use.

1.2.2

Dielectric Properties

Electrons are strongly bonded to the atoms in dielectric bodies which are, therefore, electrical insulators. Although there is eectively no current ow through the material when an electric eld is applied there is still some reorganization of the charge within the body. Positive and/or negative charges within the dielectric are slightly displaced by the applied electric eld resulting in electric polarization of the body. The polarization vector (P ) for a body is expressed in terms of the amount of charge which is separated and the distance through which it has moved; i.e. P is dened as the electric dipole moment per unit volume and has units of coulomb per square metre. The electric permittivity ( ), also known as the static permittivity (when responses at dierent frequencies are considered), is a measure of the degree to which a given material becomes polarized. It is common to consider the relative dielectric constant (
r

or K ), as the measure of polarizability;

0

is the

ratio of the materials permittivity to the permittivity of free space (

relative dielectric constant is also known as the relative permittivity or just the dielectric constant. Conduction takes place in some materials (those in which charge carriers are free to move); polarization takes place in all materials.

= 8.85 1012 C2 N1 m2 ). The

General Principles
a)

+++++++

7
b)

+++++++ ++++++++

Figure 1.4: Parallel plate capacitors a) in a vacuum and b) with a dielectric material. Consider a parallel plate capacitor placed in a vacuum and connected to a battery with voltage (V ). The charge (Q) that collects on the capacitors plates is proportional to the area of the plates (A) and inversely proportional to the separation between them ( ). Mathematically we have C= where C is the capacitance, measure in farads (F). If some material is inserted between the plates, then every charged particle in the material will be subjected to coulomb forces from the charges on the plates. Electron orbits will be slightly shifted towards the positive plate and the proton bearing nuclei will be shifted towards the negative plate. This separation of charges constitutes the electric polarization of the material and it results in the build up of a surface charge on the body. The surface charge on the dielectric body will draw a small additional charge (q ) from the battery onto the capacitor plates, we therefore have a new capacitance (C ) which is given by C = where Q+q A = V (1.11) Q = V A
0

(1.10)

is the electric permittivity of the inserted material. The dielectric constant (or relative permittivity) is
r

given by

= C /C = / 0 . Table 1.2: The relative dielectric constant of some materials Material Air Average soil Basalt Coal Dolomite Granite Limestone Quartz Water Relative Dielectric Constant 1.00054 16 8 45 6.8 8 58 79 4.3 81

Values from Reynolds (1997) and Serway (1990).

At very high frequencies, the polarizing charges do not have time to separate completely and their motion only constitutes an alternating electric current which adds to the medium conductivity. Both conductivity and permittivity depend on frequency, above we discussed the DC or low-frequency limit, hence static permittivity. The above discussion also assumed electronic polarization however this is not the only possibly mechanism.

General Principles

Ionic polarization will take place in materials with ionic bonds. In the absence of an external eld the dipole moment of a given ion pair within an ionic crystal (e.g. NaCl) will be cancelled by that of a neighbouring ion pair and there will be no net polarization of the material. Application of an electric eld will displace the positive and negative ions resulting in a distorted lattice for which neighbouring dipole moments no longer cancel; the material will now have a net polarization and hence a surface charge. In materials made up of polar molecules, the geometric centre of the negative charges does not coincide with that of the positive charges. If the molecules are able to rotate, then an applied electric eld will tend to align the polar molecules again resulting in the build up of a surface charge and an orientation polarization. Orientation polarization is not generally important in solids as molecular rotation is severely restricted; however, it may be important in liquids since molecular rotation is relatively easy. Liquid water is made up of polar molecules and has a dielectric constant that is generally an order of magnitude greater than that of rocks.

1.2.3

A Geoelectrical Section Anisotropy

Some rocks may be very uniform, with constant physical properties over a large range of depths. However, many times the subsurface consists of layers with dierent resistivities. A geoelectric section diers from a geologic section in that the boundaries between layers are determined by resistivity contrast rather than by the combination of factors used by geologists to establish the boundaries between units. For example, fossils are often a key factor in establishing geological boundaries yet they have virtually no eect on the electrical properties of the rocks. The electrical properties will depend mainly on the texture and water content of the rocks. Electrical and geological boundaries will coincide where the geological distinction corresponds to a pronounced change in the properties that control bulk resistivity.

1m

1 m
!1 h1 !2 h2 !i hi !N hN
Figure 1.5: A geoelectric section. Consider a column of rock with a 1 m2 cross section cut from a geologic unit consisting of a number of

General Principles layers. The resistance of the ith layer is Ri = i where i ,

i i

Ai

(1.12)

and Ai are the layer resistivity, the distance that the current ows in the layer and the layer cross

sectional area. For current owing vertically through this section, i.e. perpendicular to the layer boundaries, we have
i

= hi and Ai = 1 m2 , thus R i = i h i (1.13)

To nd the total resistance in this direction we note that the current ows through each layer in succession, the layers are connected in series, and thus the total transverse resistance (RT ) is given by
N N

RT =
i=1

Ri =
i=1

i h i

(1.14)

and the transverse resistivity (T ) is T = RT /H = i h i hi (1.15)

Let us return to equation (1.12) and consider the horizontal ow of current, i.e. ow parallel to the layer boundaries. In this case,
i

= 1 m and Ai = hi 1 m, so that the resistance of a given layer is Ri = i /hi (1.16)

To nd the total longitudinal resistance (RL ) we must use the expression for current owing through resistors in parallel to obtain 1 = RL and hence the longitudinal resistivity (L ) is L = R L H = hi hi /i (1.18)
N i=1

1 = Ri

hi /i
i=1

(1.17)

The longitudinal resistivity is always smaller than the transverse resistivity. A material for which the resistivity depends on the direction of current ow is said to be anisotropic and the ratio = T = L ( h i i ) ( ( hi ) hi/i )
2

(1.19)

is the anisotropy coecient. Note that 1, the limit where equals one is for perfectly isotropic settings. thick enough to show on a log, then it is called macro-anisotropy. Rocks can be anisotropic on a microscopic scale either due to presence of thin layers of (dierent) isotropic rock or inherent anisotropy arising from some

Rocks may be anisotropic due to structure at a variety of scales. If the anisotropy arises due to layers are

preferential orientation of texture. The dierence between macro- and micro-anisotropic textures can be dicult to distinguish in practice with both producing very similar observational eects.