GLE 594: An introduction to

applied geophysics

Induced Polarization

Fall 2007
 What is IP?
• An effect caused by certain types of minerals in
porous materials that become polarized, or
temporarily store charge.
• When current is shut off, rather than immediately
returning to zero, the voltage decays slowly to zero
over a matter of milliseconds to seconds.
 IP Basics
• Essentially it is a surface phenomenon that causes charge storage
• When current switches off, stored charge redistributes itself
which generates small transient voltage
• Works best:
• if material causing the effect is disseminated.
• if material has decreasing porosity
• if material has decreasing salinity of pore fluid.

• In terms of our circuit

model, can think of IP I V
effect as some type of
charge storage device
(capacitors - Warburg
Impedance) in parallel with
resistors.
 IP Mechanisms
Membrane Polarization
• Membrane polarization occurs
when pore space narrows to
within several boundary layer
thicknesses
• Charges accumulate when an
electric field is applied
• Result is a net charge dipole
which adds to any voltage
measured at the surface
• After current is turned off,
charge dissipates generating
voltage
 IP Mechanisms
Electrode Polarization
• Electrode polarization occurs
when pore space is blocked
by metallic particles. Again
charges accumulate when an
electric field is applied
• The result is two electrical
double layers which add to
the voltage measured at the
surface
• After current is turned off,
charge again dissipates
generating voltage
 Time Domain IP Measurement
• Measurement Procedure
• Current waveform: modified square wave with a f = 0.01 to
100 Hz.
• Two different sets of measurements are made:
• Current is still on (V0). This is the normal DC resistivity response
• At one or multiple times after current has been turned off

(Reynolds 1997)
 Time Domain IP Measurement
• Types of Measurements
• Polarizability
• Make measurement of Vp
immediately after turn-off.
• h=100· Vp/V0

• Chargeability
• Integral of the decaying transient
t 2
1
• M   V (t )dt
V0 t1

• Spectral Time Domain Measurements

• Make measurements at a number of time.
• i.e., V(t1), V(t2), V(t3)….

(Reynolds 1997)
Frequency Domain IP Measurements
• Measurement Procedure
• Current is a sinusoidal or standard square wave of frequency 0.01 to
100 Hz.
• Measure voltage amplitude at single frequency and at least one other
parameter depending on measurement type.
 Frequency Domain IP Measurements
• Types of Measurements
• Percent Frequency Effect (PFE)
• Make amplitude measurements at
two different frequencies and
calculate apparent resistivities.
• PFE=100·(r2-r1)/r1 [%]
T
• Phase
• Make amplitude measurement as t
well as a phase measurement
between current and voltage.
• f= 2p(t/T) [rad]

• Spectral Measurements
• Make amplitude and phase
measurements at multiple frequencies.
 IP Rock Properties
• Experiments have found that
often the IP impedance that
rocks exhibit obey a ‘Cole-
Cole’ model:
 1 
| Z ( ) | r 0 1  M 1  
c
 1  i   

– M is chargeability – ability to
1. Porphyry
store charge Copper (low
concentration)
– τ is a time constant: Depends on
2. Porphyry
grain size distribution Copper (high
concentration)
– c is constant also depending on 3. Magnetite
grain size 4. Pyrrhotite
– ω is radial frequency 5. Massive
Sulphide
6. Graphite

(Reynolds 1997)
 Dependence on Grain Size

• As mentioned previously, 
and c are proposed to be
dependent on grain size
• Note ‘correlation’ in terms
of grain size and ‘sharp
peaks’.
• Main use in the future may
be in determining grain-size
distribution parameters such
as permeability

(Reynolds 1997)
DC/IP Measurement System

Transmitter Receiver
• AC Power Supply • Voltmeter
– More power than DC • Precision clock
– Precision wave form • Waveform detector
generator.
Referencing
• Ammeter
• Precision clock

•Metal electrodes •Electrodes

•Special metal alloys
•Porous Pots
 Measurement Electrodes
• Metals
• Most metals will start to corrode or produce oxide and other compounds.
These reactions produce noisy electrical signals.
• Some metal alloys (e.g, Braided tin-copper alloy) have shown to not react
much, thus less noise. Problem: electrode polarization…
• Active area of research.
Metal
• Porous pot
• Involves immersing a metal in a salt solution where the
salt contains ions of the metal.
• Because solution is same as metal, minimal chemical
reactions.
• Ionic contact provided to earth through porous ceramic.
Metal-Salt
Solution
Ceramic Cup
 Noise in IP measurements
• Due to very small signal levels of IP effect, these
measurements are much more susceptible to noise
compared to standard DC measurements.
– Electrode Effects
– Cultural effects
– Tellurics
– Self potentials
• Fluid flow
• Chemical reactions
– EM coupling
 Arrays and EM Coupling
• Proper choice of array is critical for good IP data quality
• Have to keep frequency times the square of the array length
small
• Also don’t want wires close to each other
ds r dS
V I B
a b A

Good IP array s
r dS I
A a V ds b B

Bad IP array s
 Rio Nuevo Landfill (Alumbaugh)
• Landfills in Tucson were often
located wherever there was a
good deep arroyo outside of
town.

• Problem is that many of these

landfills are now prime real-
estate.
 Rio Nuevo Landfill (Alumbaugh)
• A test was
conducted in 1998
to determine the
applicability of
geophysics for
locating buried
waste.
• A series of test
borings showed
high correlation
between IP high’s
and waste.
 Rio Nuevo Landfill (Alumbaugh)
• A full 3D survey
was then
commissioned
which.
• Detected not only
waste, but also
pockets of clay
fill.
 Mineral Exploration/Geologic Mapping
• DC resistivity and
IP surveys have
long been
employed in
mineral
exploration.
• DC resistivity,
however, will often
have problems
when ore is
disseminated.
• In this example, the resistivity appears to be good in mapping
resistive overburden, and to a certain extent the faulting. However
ore is not delineated.
 Mineral Exploration/Geologic Mapping
• The IP data is
much better in
detecting the ore,
as well as
highlighting the
faulting.