A New Ground Resistivity Method For Engineering And Environmental Geophysics

Several years ago, a capacitive-coupled resistivity system was developed in Russia by one of us<br>(V.M.T.), for engineering geophysical applications in permafrost areas of Siberia. This system,<br>called VCHEP (cyrillic acronym for high frequency capacitive-coupled resistivity) uses both<br>transmitter and receiver antennas operating in the range of several kilohertz. Measurements of<br>applied current and received voltage potential are converted to apparent resistivity using a<br>geometrical factor related to the antenna array. The transmitter and receiver type and geometry<br>can be varied depending upon a particular application; however, the most cost-effective array<br>is the in-line double dipole line antenna configuration. Using such a, drag-cable design of<br>antennas, data acquisition rates may far exceed those techniques requiring galvanic electrode<br>contact. Considerable experience with this method has been obtained in northern areas of<br>Siberia; and as part of the Canada/Russia Northern Scientific Exchange Program, testing has also<br>been conducted in the Canadian western arctic.