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NUMERICAL MODELLING OF STANDARD AND CONTINUOUS VERTICAL ELECTRICAL SOUNDINGS 1
Author(s) -
MOLANO C. E.,
SALAMANCA M.,
OVERMEEREN R. A.
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
geophysical prospecting
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.735
H-Index - 79
eISSN - 1365-2478
pISSN - 0016-8025
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2478.1990.tb01870.x
Subject(s) - geology , electrical resistivity and conductivity , terrain , vertical electrical sounding , depth sounding , finite element method , hydrogeology , regional geology , groundwater , geophysics , field (mathematics) , economic geology , aquifer , mineralogy , geometry , geotechnical engineering , thermodynamics , physics , mathematics , electrical engineering , engineering , metamorphic petrology , telmatology , ecology , oceanography , pure mathematics , biology
A bstract Analytical solutions of vertical electrical soundings (VES) have mostly been applied to groundwater exploration and monitoring groundwater quality on terrains of fairly simple geology and geomorphology on which the electrode arrays are symmetrical (e.g. Schlumberger or Wenner configurations). The sounding interpretation assumes flat topography and horizontally stratified layers. Any deviations from these simple situations may be impossible to interpret analytically. The recently developed GEA‐58 geoelectrical instrument can make continuous soundings along a profile with any colinear electrode configuration. This paper describes the use of finite‐difference and finite‐element methods to model complex earth resistivity distributions in 2D, in order to calculate apparent resistivity responses to any colinear current electrode distribution in terrains in which the earth resistivities do not vary along the strike. The numerical model results for simple situations are compared with the analytical solutions. In addition, a pseudo‐depth section of apparent resistivities measured in the field with the GEA‐58 is compared with the numerical solution of a real complex resistivity distribution along a cross‐section. The model results show excellent agreement with the corresponding analytical and experimental data.