NATURAL POTENTIAL ANOMALIES AS A QUANTITATIVE INDEX OF THE RATE OF SEEPAGE FROM WATER RESERVOIRS*

Water seepage from reservoirs causes appreciable anomalies of natural electric fields. The possibility of mapping leakage places by means of the SP method has been discussed by the authors in an earlier report. Further work has shown that detailed measurements of the natural electric field allow to determine the seepage rates from individual areas of a water reservoir in relative units. If data on the total discharge from a water reservoir are available, the conventional seepage units can be converted into absolute ones. Using this technique on a water reservoir in Armenia has permitted to control the change of the leakage rate as hydroinsulation operations were in progress. It has been established that as a result of shielding the bottom with clay material leakage from the central part of the reservoir has stopped. On the other hand, construction of cement seepage‐proof protection has had so far no appreciable positive effect.