Recent developments in the direct-current geoelectrical imaging method

There have been major improvements in instrumentation, field survey design and data inversion techniques for the geoelectrical method over the past 25 years. Multi-electrode and multi-channel systems have made it possible to conduct large 2-D, 3-D and even 4-D surveys efficiently to resolve complex geological structures that were not possible with traditional 1-D surveys. Continued developments in computer technology, as well as fast data inversion techniques and software, have made it possible to carry out the interpretation on commonly available microcomputers. Multi-dimensional geoelectrical surveys are now widely used in environmental, engineering, hydrological and mining applications. 3-D surveys play an increasingly important role in very complex areas where 2-D models suffer from artifacts due to off-line structures. Large areas on land and water can be surveyed rapidly with computerized dynamic towed resistivity acquisition systems. The use of existing metallic wells as long electrodes has improved the detection of targets in areas where they are masked by subsurface infrastructure. A number of PC controlled monitoring systems are also available to measure and detect temporal changes in the subsurface. There have been significant advancements in techniques to automatically generate optimized electrodes array configurations that have better resolution and depth of investigation than traditional arrays. Other areas of active development include the translation of electrical values into geological parameters such as clay and moisture content, new types of sensors, estimation of fluid or ground movement from time-lapse images and joint inversion techniques. In this paper, we investigate the recent developments in geoelectrical imaging and provide a brief look into the future of where the science may be heading.