CAPACITY BUIDING TRAINING
BASIC GEOPHYSICS
BEKELE ABAIRE
[Link]@[Link] and babaire1@[Link]
AUGUST 2024
©2024 Catholic Relief Services. All Rights Reserved.
General
Definition of Geophysics
• Geo (meaning Earth) and Physics = Physics of the Earth
• Subsurface site characterization of the geology, geological structure,
groundwater…
• Maps lateral and vertical physical property variations
• Non-invasive
• Incorporate measuring, analysing and interpreting physical fields
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Commonly employed methods
Commonly employed methods
Method Physical property Application
Resistivity Conductivity -Location of water-filled bedrock fractures
- Location of gravel aquifers
- Mineral exploration
Induced polarization (IP) Chargeability -Detection of disseminated metallic
minerals
-Discrimination of clay from silt or sand
Gravity Density -Mapping large metallic mineral deposits
-Locating subsurface cavities
-Contacts between geologic units and
structures
Magnetics Magnetic -Geologic mapping
susceptibility -Mineral exploration
-Archaeology
Electro Conductivity -Lateral and vertical conductivity mapping
magnetic -Locating bedrock fractures
Seismic refraction Sonic velocity - Depth to bedrock
- Fractures zones in bedrock
-Subsurface stratigraphy mapping
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Stages of geophysical survey
• Selection of method
• The purpose of the survey
• Survey area (topography, accessibility, geology and environment)
• Possible source of noise
• Integrated surveys may be considered
• Plan and preparation should include field inspection to check
• Vegetation, Land use, Landowners
• Traffic condition, availability of mobile phones network…
• Measurement
• Data should have good repeatability
• The S/N ratio is high
• The measured values are reasonable and plausible
• The data must be checked by drawing graphs
•
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• Data processing
• The data processed should be appropriately visualized
• as graphs and contour maps
• Data unsuitable to analysis are eliminated
• Analysis
• Qualitative analysis: the analyst judges the nature of the data collected and
estimates approximate distribution
• Quantitative analysis: the data collected are converted to physical property
• Data inversion method is common nowadays
• The inversion is a process to directly calculate the model values from the measured data
• Use a priori data, such as the geology during data processing
• The result is displayed in graphs and contour maps
• Interpretation
• Interpretation involves a judgment on the analyzed geophysical result integrating the
existing information with geology and geological structure
• The interpretation should include discussions with geologists who are familiar
with the local geology
• Overlaying different data sets helps interpretation and judgment
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Organizing deliverables
• The deliverables are compiled as a report.
•
• Should satisfy the specification of the survey
• The report should be easily readable and includes:
• Location and quantity of the survey
• Instruments and equipment used
• Measurement method and data acquisition parameters used
• Data processing and analysis methods
• Interpretation and the basis of interpretation
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Geophysics for hydrogeological application
• Applications include mapping of:
• Bedrock topography
• Structural delineation
• Groundwater depth estimation
• Mapping salt water-fresh water boundaries
• Vertical Electrical Sounding (VES), Electrical Profiling (EP) and magnetic are
among geophysical methods used in groundwater investigation
• Geoelectrical methods are applied to identify geological structures,
stratigraphic units and to select potential ground water occurrence sites, and to
estimate depths to the possible aquifer zones
• Magnetic method is used in groundwater investigation to identify geological
structures and contacts between different lithologies
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Geoelectrical method
• Includes resistivity, Induced polarization and others.
• The resistivity method is classified into Vertical Electrical Sounding
(VES), horizontal profiling (HP) and 2D and 3D surveys
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Geoelectrical method
• Vertical Electrical Sounding (VES)
The vertical resistivity structure is estimated
• Wider electrodes separation represents the deeper resistivity structure
• The analysis assumes the ground is horizontally layered
Horizontal profiling (HP)
Horizontal change at a certain depth is investigated
2D or 3D survey (Resistivity Imaging method)
Produces 2D/ 3D resistivity images of the subsurface
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Electrical Resistivity
Where k is geometric factor, is potential and I is electric current.
• To determine the true subsurface resistivity from the apparent
resistivity values is the “inversion” problem
• In a nonhomogeneous earth, the resistivity which is measured is not the true
resistivity of the subsurface.
• For an earth with more than one layer, the apparent resistivity measured will
be an average of the resistivities of layers.
• To determine the true subsurface resistivity from the apparent resistivity values
is the “inversion
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Resistivity of earth materials
• The resistivity of rocks is greatly dependent on the degree of fracturing, and
the percentage of the fractures filled with ground water
• A given rock type can have a large range of resistivity depending on whether it
is wet or dry.
• The electrical properties of rocks are influenced by many factors. The
most common factors include:
• Mineralogy (specifically the concentration of metallic particles and clay
minerals)
• Porosity
• Pore saturation
• Pore-water salinity
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Vertical Electrical Sounding survey techniques
• Estimates the resistivity and thickness of the geological layers.
• undulations are small and the slope is gentle
• Subsurface layers are horizontally deposited
Electrode Arrays
Wenner Array Schlumberger Array
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VES CURVE
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VES data analysis and interpretation
• For a Schlumberger array
• plot the apparent resistivity versus half the electrode spacing (AB/2 )
• For a Wenner array
• Plot the apparent resistivity Versus spacing a
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Common shapes of apparent resistivity curves
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Exercises
• Exercise-1: Understanding VES data
• Plot resistivity data on log-log paper
• Estimate number of layers
• Estimate resistivity and depth of layers
• Exercise-2: Processing and interpreting VES data
• Analyse the provided VES data and interpret using 1D-VES data inversion software
• Construct cross-section using inverted parameters
• Provide geological interpretation
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THANK YOU,
