Design of a Low-Cost Electrical Resistivity Meter for Near Surface Surveys

MATIAS DE LA VEGA; M.V. BONGIOVANNI; GRUNHUT DUENYAS VIVIAN

Earth and Space Science.

AGU

Año: 2021

A programmable automated resistivity device was designed and constructed. The device was created to perform near surface studies, particularly archaeogeophysical target characterization. Field and physical model studies can be performed changing the current input of the device. The equipment consists of two independent devices, each one with its own microcontroller platform. They are interconnected through serial data transfer protocol. The first device, works as a resistivimeter where the ABMN electrode positions are programmed and permits the interaction with the user. The second one, connects the current and voltage channels to the programmed electrodes positions. A physical model and field measurements were performed with different electrode configurations such as dipole-dipole, Werner-Schlumberger and 112 in order to verify the performance of the automated resistivity device. The measurements give mean relative standard deviation values between 0.6% and 5.5% and data inversion convergence between 1.3% and 7.2%. Although this open source and low cost resistivity device was design primarily for arqueogeophysical studies, it could be adapted to other geophysical issues such as contamination plumes detection and characterization, tunnel detection, etc.