8.2.

2 Resestivities of rocks and minerals

• The resistivity of a material is defined as the resistance in ohms between the opposite faces of a unit cube of
the material. For a conducting cylinder of resistance dR, length dL and cross-sectional area dA.

• The SI unit of resistivity is the ohm-metre (ohmm) and the reciprocal of resistivity is termed conductivity
The resistivity of rocks
Pattern of resistivity of rocks
Current flow in the ground
• Ohm’s law relates the current, potential difference and resistance.
• dV/dL represents the potential gradient through the element in
voltm-1 and i the current density in Am-2.
In homogeneous ground the depth of current penetration increases as the separation of the current
electrodes is increased,and Fig.8.5 shows the proportion of current flowing beneath a given depth Z
as the ratio of electrode separation L to depth increases.When L = Z about 30% of the current flows
below Z and when L = 2Z about 50% of the current flows below Z.
Electrode spreads
• In surveying with the Wenner configuration all four electrodes need to be
moved between successive readings.This labour is partially overcome by the
use of the Schlumberger configuration (Fig. 8.6) in which the inner, potential
electrodes have a spacing 2l which is a smallproportion of that of the
outer,current electrodes (2L).
• In CST surveys with the Schlumberger configuration 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 fixed 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.