PAPER 1

Field Application of Resistivity and Spectral

Time Domain IP to Investigate Geoelectrical
Signatures of Free-phase PCE
Johansson, Sara; Fiandaca, Gianluca; Dahlin,
Torleif
Published in: 20th European Meeting of
Environmental and Engineering Geophysics
Soils beneath former dry cleaning sites are often
contaminated with PCE since the mid20th
century. PCE and its degradation products,
especially VC (vinylchloride), are toxic and
cancerogenic, Only a small amount of VC
solved in the groundwater can cause serious
pollution of the groundwater. The conventional
method to delineate PCE contaminations in the
soil is to drill boreholes, collect samples of the
soil and groundwater and send these to
laboratory analysis. In this study, resistivity and
time domain induced polarization (DCIP) were
measured at a former dry cleaning site in
southern Sweden.
The aim of the measurements was to investigate
if the source contamination of PCE could be
detected with DCIP. The site is heavily
contaminated and situated over a major aquifer,
which makes the situation severe. In addition, a
protected wetland is closely situated east of the
site.
Chlorinated hydrocarbons belong to a group of
fluids referred to as DNAPLs (Dense NonAqueous Phase Liquids). All pure DNAPLs are
non-polar fluids and electrical insulators.
DNAPLs are denser than water and they tend to
sink through the soil until they reach a lowpermeable layer (e.g. the bedrock), provided
they exist in the soil as a so-called free-phase. A
free-phase product can exist as a continuous
phase or a residual saturation (Ajo-Franklin et
al. 2006, and references therein). Each
degradation step leads to a higher solubility of
the resulting chlorinated hydrocarbon and
therefore a more wide spread plume following
the groundwater movement.

The aim of the DCIP measurements was to

investigate how well the soil contaminated with
free-phase PCE could be delineated with DCIP.
Presence of free-phase PCE was expected to
give rise to highresistive anomalies and IPeffects, as previously indicated by e.g. Cardarelli
& Di Filippo (2009). Several drillings together
with soil and groundwater samplings have been
made at the site, providing reference data
approximately showing where in the soil the
main presence of free-phase chlorinated
hydrocarbons can be expected. Parallel DCIP
profiles were measured across the contaminated
site, using the ABEM Terrameter LS instrument
using separated cables for transmitting current
and receiving potentials. The DC and full IP
decay data were inverted using the 2-D DC/IP
inversion algorithm developed by Fiandaca et al.
(2013). The inversion code takes into account
the current waveform in the forward
computations, allowing for a quantitative
interpretation of the IP parameters (Fiandaca et
al. 2012). This gives access to the spectral
information contained in the IP decays, retrieved
in terms of the Cole-Cole model (Pelton et al.
1978). The inversion parameters include DC
resistivity (), chargeability (m0), the relaxation
time () and the frequency factor (C).

Figure 1 Inverted DCIP data and

borehole
data
with
geological
classification. The top profile show the
resistivity, followed by the Cole-Cole
parameters m0, and C.

The geology at the site is dominated by sandy

chalk till with an indistinct transition to
calcareous sandstone somewhere below -12
meters below the soil surface. Generally, the till
is overlain by a 2-3 meters thick layer of clay. In
the right part of the profile, in the direction
towards the wetland, the thickness of the
sediments increases. Two anomalies with higher
resistivity are seen in in the left part of Figure 1.
The most prominent one coincide with the
borehole SL601.
In figure 2, the inverted profiles of the resistivity
and the Cole-Cole parameters are compared to
soil sampling results. The sampling results
represents the total amount of free-phase
chlorinated hydrocarbons (in between 0.1 300
mg/kg TS from blue to red). White colour
represent levels where no samples has been
taken.

Figure 2 Inverted DCIP data and borehole data

with total amount of free-phase chlorinated
hydrocarbons in the sapled soil (mg/kg TS). The
white coloured levels have not been sampled.
The top profile shows the resistivity, followed by
the Cole-Cole parameters m0, and C.
In Figure 2, it can be seen that high or medium
high concentrations of chlorinated hydrocarbons
have been observed in the boreholes

corresponding to the high resistive anomaly

(707, 728, 710 and 711). No distinct IP-effects
could be seen at this location except for
relatively low values of the Cole-Cole parameter
C. The largest m0 anomaly is seen at the
location of the borehole S507, se Figure 1. The
anomaly is situated in the till, where no IPeffects were expected.
No soil sampling of chlorinated hydrocarbons
corresponding to this anomaly has been made,
see Figure 2. The IP-effects are located right
next to the boreholes where high concentrations
have been observed. One interpretation may be
that the degradation of the PCE at the interface
between the ground water and the free-phase
source plume enhances IP effects around the
plume.
The goal for the future is to be able to
use geophysics in combination with
drilling
and
sampling
for
the
challenging task to characterize freephase
chlorinated
hydrocarbon
plumes. The results indicate that DCIP
seem to be a promising method for
imaging this kind of contamination. A
high resistive anomaly was seen at a
location along the profile where soil
sampling
have
confirmed
high
concentrations
of
free-phase
chlorinated hydrocarbons.

PAPER 2
Electromagnetic coupling in frequencydomain induced polarization data: A method
for removal
Partha S. Routh and Douglas W. Oldenburg
Electromagnetic (EM) coupling is generally
considered to be noise in induced polarization
(IP) data and interpretation is difficult when its
contribution is large compared to the IP signal.
The effect is exacerbated by conductive
environments and large-array survey geometries
designed to explore deeper targets. In this paper
we present a methodology to remove EM
coupling from frequency-domain IP data. The
total electric field is then expressed as a product
of a scalar function, which is due to IP effects,
and an electric field, which depends on the EM
coupling response. It is this representation that
enables us to obtain the IP response from EMcoupling-contaminated data. To compute the EM
coupling
response
we
recognize
that
conductivity information is necessary. We
illustrate this with a synthetic example. The
removal method developed in this work for the
phase and the per cent frequency effect (PFE)
data are applicable to 1-D, 2-D and 3-D
structures. The practical utility of the method is
illustrated on a 2-D field example that is typical
of mineral exploration problems. There are two
approaches to solving theproblem: (i) using a
forward modelling solution that models both IP
and the EM coupling effects, and (ii) removing
EM coupling responses from the data and using
the traditional DC resistivity formulation to
model the IP effects. The first approach requires
the solution of Maxwells equations for electric
fields due to finite-length grounded wires; this is
computationally intensive to solve, especially in
two and three dimensions. The second approach,
using conventional DC forward modelling,
requires that EM coupling be removed from the
IP data. In this paper we have developed a
practical algorithm for removing EM coupling
responses from IP data in the low-frequency
regime. The methodology is general and can be
applied to 1-D, 2-D and 3-D conductivity
models. The examples presented make us

optimistic that this is valid. To apply our

methodology to 2-D problems we ideally need a
2-D EM forward modelling. This was not
available to us so we have designed an
approximate method that uses a localized
averaged 1-D conductivity model that has been
constructed from the 2-D conductivity obtained
from the DC resistivity inversion. Each
transmitter position is associated with its own 1D conductivity. The advantage of using a local
averaged conductivity model, compared to a
simple half-space or a single layered model, is
that the lateral conductivity variation along the
survey line is approximately accounted for.
However, a full 2-D EM forward modelling
would be ideal for computing the phases due to
EM coupling, especially when there are
topography and significant lateral conductivity
variations. The application of our method to a
field
example
has
shown
significant
improvement in the recovered model compared
to the existing methods such as three-point
decoupling and manual decoupling techniques.
Overall, the improvement in the signalto-noise
ratio in all of the examples presented in this
paper is substantial, and this will lead to much
greater interpretability of the IP data.

Aplikasi Metode Time Domain Induced

Polarization (TDIP) untuk Pendugaan Zona
Mineralisasi Emas di Desa Jendi Kecamatan
Selogiri Kabupaten Wonogiri
E.N. Fajariyah, Supriyadi
Tujuan penelitian ini adalah mengetahui zona
mineral emas di daerah penelitian berdasarkan
data resistivitas dan chargeabilitas yang
diperoleh menggunakan metode Induksi
Polarisasi. Penelitian ini menggunakan metode
Induksi Polarisasi dengan domain waktu.
Pengukuran IP dengan kawasan waktu (Time
Domain) adalah dengan mengalirkan arus listrik
kedalam tanah. Pada saat arus listrik dihentikan
potensial antara kedua electroda pengukur
segera turun ketingkat respon sekunder.
Potensial sekunder ini kemudian meluruh
dengan waktu Parameter yang dihitung adalah
chargeability.
Konfigurasi yang digunakan adalah konfigurasi
dipole-dipole sehingga dapat memetakan dengan
baik secara vertikal dan horizontal. Penelitian
dilakukan sebanyak 3 lintasan dengan panjang
masing masing lintasan 150 meter dan spasi
antar lintasan 50 meter. Alat yang digunakan
dalam pengukuran adalah Resistivitymeter Iris
Syscal R1 Plus Switch-72 yang mana dapat
mengukur resistivitas dan chargeabilitas secara
bersamaan. Dari pengukuran dilapangan
diperoleh data berupa nilai V, I, Rsemu, dan M.
Nilai R, K, dan Rho diperoleh dari hasil
perhitungan menggunakan microsoft excel.
Kemudian
dilakukan
pengolahan
data
menggunakan software Res2DinV, RockWork,
dan Surfer. Software Res2DinV digunakan untuk
pemodelanchargeabilitas 2 dimensi, sedangkan
RockWork dan Surfer menghasilkan pemodelan
3 dimensi.
Hasil pengolahan chargeability 2 dimensi
lintasan 1, lintasan 2, dan lintasan 3
menggunakan software res2dinV ditunjukan
pada gambar berikut:

mineral kalkopirit dengan nilai chargeabilitas 4

9
msec

Gambar 1. Penampang chargebility pada

lapisan 1, 2 dan 3

Gambar 2. Jenis batuan masing-masing lintasan

berdasarkan penampang chargebility
Hasil interpretasi dari model 2 dimensi dan 3
dimensi menunjukan bahwa daerah penelitian
didominasi oleh lapisan Alluvium dengan nilai
chargeabilitas 1 4 msec dan beberapa jenis
batuan serta mineral lain yaitu kalkopirit 4 9
msec, tembaga 3 12 msec, vulkanik
prekambrian 8 20 msec, batuan serpih 20 50
msec, vulkanik padat 50 100 msec, batu pasir
dan batu lanau 100 500 msec. Zona
mineralisasi emas diindikasikan dengan adanya

terletak pada lintasan 1 dan lintasan 2 pada

kedalaman lebih dari 20 meter. Keberadaan zona
mineralisasi emas pada lintasan 2 diduga
merupakan kemenerusan dari lintasan 1.