TYPE OF TERRAIN

RESISTIVITY (OhmPERMITTIVITY metres) 1000 0.22 80 81

Freshwater lakes, unpolluted Sea water, away from river estuaries Agricultural plains, streams, richest loam soil Pastoral, low hills, fertile soil Flat, marshy, densely wooded in places Pastoral, medium hills with forestation Pastoral, heavy clay soils, hills Rocky soil, steep forested hills, streams

30

20

80 130

15 13

270

12

250 500

12 10

Rocky, sandy, some rainfall, some 500 vegetation Low-rise city suburbs, built-up areas, parks High-rise city centres, industrial areas 1000

3000

Sand deserts, arid, no vegetation > 20,000

An ohm-metre is the resistance between opposite faces of a 1-metre cube of the material. The above values are averages taken over large distances. Permittivity is the dielectric constant relative to air. These average values may be used to estimate groundwave signal strength over the above terrains, using Sommerfeld's formula, from VLF to HF.

MATERIAL Silver Copper, annealed Copper, hard drawn Gold, pure Aluminium Zinc Brass Iron, pure Tin Lead Steel, structural Constantan Mercury Carbon Sea water

RESISTIVITY Ohm-metres at 20 C 1.63 x 10^-8 1.72 x 10^-8 1.77 x 10^-8 2.44 x 10^-8 2.82 x 10^-8 5.68 x 10^-8 7.14 x 10^-8 1.00 x 10^-7 1.15 x 10^-7 2.20 x 10^-7 3.00 x 10^-7 4.90 x 10^-7 9.62 x 10^-7 3.00 x 10^-5 0.22

The 4-Rod (Venner) Fundamental Method of Determining Soil Resistivity Author: R.J.Edwards G4FGQ 15th February 1998 The four rods need not be of same diameter but should all be forced into the soil to approximately the same depth and tamped in at the soil surface. The rods should be in a straight line, uniformly spaced apart. Spacing should be at least three, preferably four times their depth. But very wide spacing needs a large test current and a fairly high supply voltage for accuracy.

A current is driven between the two outermost rods and measured. The resulting voltage between the inner pair of rods is measured. Then calculate as follows: Soil resistivity = 2 * Pi * Spacing-in-metres * Volts / Amps ohm-metres The voltmeter must be a high resistance type, at least 20 times the resistance of the soil between the pair of electrodes. To avoid errors due to extraneous earth currents or electro-chemical potentials, take the mean of measurememnts with rapid current reversals, or use an alternating 50 Hz supply current. Example: Four rods driven to a depth of 500 mm, spaced two metres apart, current = 142 milliamps. Measured volts = 1.14 Therefore resistivity = 101 ohm-metres. Note: in this case, a 50 volt supply is needed to drive 142 mA into the rods.