Journal of the Korean Society of Mineral and Energy Resources Engineers ISSN:2288-0291(Print) 2288-2790(Online) 한국자원공학회지

In this study, we have made numerical experiments to compare the resolving power and signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio of commonly used electrode arrays for two-dimensional resistivity survey. As for the resolving power of the electrode arrays, dipole-dipole array is the best, pole-dipole array is intermediate and pole-pole array is the worst. Schlumberger and Wenner arrays results in poor resolution about the vertical structure, and thus may only be applicable to the layered or gently dipping earth structure. The S/N ratio of resistivity survey is directly related to the measured voltage level. The pole-pole and Wenner arrays can give the highest signal level, while the dipole-dipole array gives the lowest. Assuming the measured voltage being contaminated with the same noise level, the resistivity image using the dipole-dipole array becomes seriously distorted as the earth gets conductive, while that using the pole-pole array remains similar to noise-free image.