Chapter 4

Induced Polarization
4.1 Introduction
When current is passed through the ground there are several mechanisms whereby charge may accumulate in some region. That is, these regions become polarized and the subsurface acts as a capacitor. Induced polarization is observed as a time delay in the response of the subsurface to a change in an applied current source. The measurements can be obtained using equipment similar to that used in resistivity surveys and it is common to collect both types of data. Induced polarization has been used in base metal exploration as well as environmental and groundwater applications (such as contamination monitoring). In general, if a DC current is passed through the ground and then it is interrupted abruptly the measured potential does not drop to zero instantaneously. Instead there is a slow decay, which can occur over seconds or even minutes. If the current is switched on again, then there is an initial jump in measured potential followed by a gradual build up to the original DC amplitude.

t1

t2

t1

t2

Figure 4.1: Time delayed response in measured potential (right) to abrupt changes in applied current (left). IP measurements can be carried out by detecting the decaying voltage as a function of time, this is time domain IP. The build up takes a nite time, therefore the measured potential and hence apparent resistivity will depend on how long one waits to measure after applying current. If the current direction is periodically reversed, then the apparent resistivity will depend on the frequency of the applied variations. Generally, a decreases as the frequency increases. Therefore, it is also possible to measure and compare the apparent resistivity at two or more frequencies (usually below 10 Hz), this is frequency domain IP.

39

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40

4.1.1

Sources of IP

During the time of applied current ow some charge (or energy) storage must take place within the subsurface. Lab experiments indicate that this occurs mainly through electro-chemical processes. Membrane or Electrolytic Polarization When the current frequency is low and there are no metallic

minerals present, the current ow occurs mainly due to electrolytic conduction which requires that the rock be porous. Most rock-forming minerals will have a net negative charge at the interface between the rock surface and the pore uid. Therefore, positive ions in the uid are attracted to the walls of the pores. The excess concentration of positive ions may extend out from the wall for a distance of the order of 100 m. This may be on the same order as the size of pore throats resulting in a blockage that inhibits ion ow when current is applied. Positive and negative charges build up on either side of the blockage while the current is applied and move away over some nite time once the current is removed (i.e. the pore restrictions act as capacitors). This eect is particularly pronounced in rocks containing clay minerals which tend to have particularly small pore spaces. Grain or Electrode Polarization This source of IP is dominant when metallic grains are present and the

current ow is partly electronic, partly electrolytic. Consider an otherwise open pore space that is blocked by a metallic grain. Current can ow via electrolytic conduction in the uid, electrons can be exchanged across the grain boundary and transported by electronic conduction through the metallic grain and exchanged across the opposite grain boundary back to the uid where the current is carried on by electrolytic conduction. However, since the current ow is faster within the metallic solid than it is across the grain boundary or within the electrolytic uid, a charge build up occurs at the grain interfaces. The charge build up in the grain leads to an ion build up in the uid, when the external current is removed the charge build up within the grain dissipates and the ions diuse away from the grain interface. The strength of this mechanism depends on the amount of metallic mineral present, but also on the distribution of that mineral. Grain polarization is a surface eect and thus should be greater when there are metallic grains disseminated throughout the subsurface than when there is a single massive metallic body.

a)

b)
+ - + + - --+ - + - -+ -+ +

- - - - - - -+ -+ + + + - + + - +- + +- +- + + + + - - -+ + + + - - + + +

- -

Figure 4.2: Sketches of a) membrane and b) electrode polarization, in both cases the applied current ows from right to left. The greater the fraction of pores that are blocked by conducting grains (or polarizing constrictions), the greater the IP eect. The amount of grain polarization IP also depends on the size of the grains; however, two opposing factors must be considered. First, for a given content of conducting mineral the amount of grain surface in contact with the electrolyte increases as grain size decreases. Second, the combined internal and

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41

surface resistance of a mineral grain increases as the grain size decreases. Therefore, if the conductive mineral is present as only a few large grains, the small surface area exposed may result in a small charge build-up which will be dicult to detect. On the other hand, if the same amount of conducting mineral is present as very small grains, the high surface resistance may cause the current to ow predominantly through the unblocked pores, again yielding a very small IP eect. One expects that the amount of induced polarization will be greatest at some intermediate grain size. For rocks with the same conducting mineral content, those with a low total porosity will polarize to a greater extent than rocks with a high porosity. With a lower porosity, a greater fraction of the total current is forced to ow through the conducting mineral grains. Hence, a small sulphide concentration in a dense igneous rock will cause more noticeable polarization than a large sulphide concentration in a porous rock such as sandstone. The amplitude of induced polarization will depend on the fraction of pore space lled with electrolyte. In a partially dehydrated rock (above the water table), the equivalent resistance in the electrolyte bearing pores will increase, but the total charge build-up in the blocked pores will be unchanged. However, the discharge of the build-up will be slower when the rock is not saturated, increasing the apparent size of the IP eect.

4.1.2

Equivalent Electrical Circuits

Decay and build-up of potential in the subsurface resembles the charge and discharge times in a ResistanceCapacitance (R-C) electrical circuit (gure 4.3a). However, the charge/decay is logarithmic in the geophysical case, not exponential as in the R-C circuit. Furthermore, the build-up and decay in the Earth do not begin at the static potential limits, 0 and Vc , as is the case for the R-C circuit. So a simple R-C circuit is not enough to act as a model for the IP phenomenon. A better approximation is provided by a circuit where the eective resistance of the pore uid is also included in series with the capacitor (gure 4.3b). The parallel current paths in the model represent ow through unblocked pores with resistance R0 and ow through pores subject to polarization with resistance R1 and a capacitance C . The resistance and capacitance in the polarizing path combine to give the Warburg Impedance, ZW . Impedance is the term for opposition to AC current ow; the AC equivalent to Ohms Law being Z= V (t) cos( t) = Z0 I (t) cos( t ) (4.1)

The impedance is thus characterised by both an amplitude and a phase. The amplitude of the Warburg Impedance is known to vary as |ZW | 1/2 .

a)

b)

R0

R1

Figure 4.3: a) A simple R-C circuit b) the equivalent Earth circuit for IP measurements

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4.2

Field Operations

IP equipment is similar to that for resistivity surveys but produces a greater current; the transmitter power generally ranges from 110 kW and operates at frequencies of 0.110 Hz. In principle, any array conguration can be used but in practice the pole-dipole, dipole-dipole and Schlumberger are most common. Sources of noise include, SP signals, telluric currents and electromagnetic coupling of the array wires (array wires should be shielded, kept separated by 10+ m if possible and crossed at right angles if not separated). Anomalies can be plotted in proles, map-view, or pseudo-section. Unfortunately, it is often only possible to make qualitative interpretations. Furthermore, it may nor be possible to distinguish between the IP eects arising from the desired target and that of other sources, e.g. one might not be able to distinguish between membrane polarization of uid lled pores and the electrode polarization of disseminated metallic grains. On the other hand, IP can detect disseminated metallic ores that would not be obvious from resistivity e.g. or EM surveys.

A B a

M N a

M N a n=7 n = 12

M N a

n=2

Figure 4.4: The dipole-dipole array indicating where the measured IP anomalies would be plotted in pseudosection (black docks). A common interpretation approximation is that depth is approximately equal to a/2 for n = 2, a for n = 3, and 2a for n = 4; however, this is only a rough guide and may not be applicable in all settings.

4.2.1

Time Domain Measurements

Vc
t1 t2

t
Vc

Figure 4.5: Time domain IP measurement

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43 Measurement in the time domain may simply consist of a plot of potential versus time over the rst 110 s

after switching o the current. Such plots establish the shape of the decay curve (e.g. gure 4.5), which may be qualitative evaluated. Note that the current direction is reversed between measurements to remove any induced polarization that has not yet discharged. The most common, quantitative measure in time domain IP is the chargeability dened by M= 1 Vc
t2 t1

V (t) dt

(4.2)

which is the area under the V (t) curve, normalised by the steady-state potential. M has units of time, usually expressed in milliseconds. The value of chargeability will depend on both the geologic setting and on the duration of integration. For example, when integrated over an interval of 1 s a typical value for pyrite is M = 13.4 ms, and for magnetite M = 2.2 ms.

4.2.2

Frequency Domain Measurements

Since impedance is frequency dependent, apparent resistivity measurements at low and high frequencies will be dierent. In practice measurements are generally made at frequencies near 0.1 Hz, to approximate the DC limit, and 10 Hz, high enough to be in the region where Warburg Impedance is important, but not so high as to be in the purely inductive regime (we will deal with this limit in a later chapter). The IP anomaly is generally plotted in terms of the Percentage Frequency Eect P F E = 100 or the Metal Factor M F = 2 105 rock resistivity on the IP anomaly. Table 4.1: The metal factor of some materials Material Alluvium Clays Gneiss, Precambrian Gravels Granite, barren Groundwater Magnetite, massive Sulphides, massive Sulphides, fracture lling Sulphides, disseminated Sulphides, nely disseminated Tus Values from Telford et al. (1990). M.F. (S/cm) 0200 1300 10100 0200 1 0 33000 10,000 1,00010,000 1001,000 10100 1100 0.1 10 0.1 10 (4.4) 0.1 10 10 (4.3)

which normalises the PFE by the low frequency apparent resistivity, partially removing the eect of the host

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1030 Edwards

44

Figure 4.6: Examples of (top) apparent resistivity and (bottom) percent frequency eect pseudo-sections over Frequencies 0.31 and 5.0 Hz. a galena prospect in Burma. Frequencies used were 0.31 and 5.0 Hz. From Edwards (1977).
lengths of 100 m, 50 m, and 25 m, are contoured gradients occur; nevertheless, there are no apparent into pseudosection 4.2.3 one Spectral IP without difficulty. The ef- contradictions among the three data sets shown. fective depths range from 8.3 m to 173 m. In this Figure 1I is compiled from data in Hallof (1967). case, the observations were not even made in the the There is measurement a bit of scatter the the data. compared to( the Also known as complex resistivity this method requires careful ofin both magnitude (|Z )|) same field season; the shallower data were taken a other examples. because these MF s are calculated and phase () of the polarization voltage over a wide range of frequencies (perhaps 103 103 Hz). By convention year later than the 100-m data, over a resurveyedline. from very low PFE s (maximum PI+E = 3.5 percent), the values plotted on base 2 log-log and plots to pseudoobtain characteristic response spectra (gure 4.7). The behaviour Figureare 9 shows apparent resistivity MF with a large probable error. In the discussion of the sections over the Iso-Copperfields River ore separate pscudosections in the original. the statement between the lowand high-frequencyMagusi limits is known as the relaxation of the system and is described by body, Quebec (Fountain, 1974). In the original reis made concerning choice of dipole length and 1 The problem is complex; it is not merely port, there are three pseudosectionsfor a = 300 ft, separation: Z ( ) = 0 1 M 1 (4.5) 1 + ( the )c separationof the electrodes. Compare a = 200 ft, and a = 100 ft, n = 1 to 4, separatelydisa matter i of cussed and interpreted. Figure 9 demonstrates that for instance the n = 3 measurementsfor u = 100 ft where 0 is the DC resistivity, is the relaxation time of the system and M is the chargeability. The frequency this is unnecessary, since they can be viewed in a with the n = 1 measurementsfor tl = 300 ft. It is exponent (c) has a maximum value of 0.5 and ranges from 0.250.35 for most sulphides. The phase single pseudosection. clear from Figure I I massive that there i\ no reason why Figure 10the illustrates case frequency where remarkable these two lines of data should agree. shift peaks at so-called a critical When this pseudosection plot was being developed, changes in apparent resistivity occur over short 1 felt it would be mainly of acatlcmicinterest, and distancesin the pseudosection.The PFE anomaly was it was 1 Fc = [2 (1 M ) 2c ] (4.6) located with 50 m dipoles at the end of a reconnais- that an exploration geophysicistfamiliar with the consance line, and detailed with 40 m and 20 m dipoles ventional plots would not find it worthwhile to change Note that F is independent of resistivity and that it increases with increasing chargeability. Fitting on a resurveyedcline. The target is a galena prospect to a new plot. However. the author has a habit of curves to the data in leads to estimates the Burma. various parameters. It detail has been found into thata single and csection, depend in meta-sediments the Southern Shanof State, compiling all IP work The wide range of resistivities is presumably due to type because it provides an excellent on the quality mainly on the grain-size distribution rather than the of metallic mineral present. check For example, coarsethe association of massive crystalline galena with of the data. To date, in the few cams where there has grained mineralisation tends to correspond with zones large and small Fc . mismatch When there is a complicated grain-size wide quartz veins, silicified marbles. and clay been a serious between nearby values on the typical of this area. It was pointed out, in connection plot, checking of the data has shown either an error distribution the phase-frequency spectrum may not be a simple curve and interpretation is unlikely to in be with Figures 6 and 7, that there might be some field calculations or a bad orginal observation. In unambiguous. Dierent ore types commonly have responses which can be distinguished in plots of the phasedifficulties with the n = 1 or n = 2 values in parts of one frequency-domain survey in Burma, noise probangle vs. frequency where (gure 4.8) or apparent chargeability vs. time constant. a pseudosection large resistivity lems were so extreme, due to pre-monsoon thunder-

FIG. 10. Dipole-dipole modified pseudosections over a galena prospect in the Southern Shari State, Burma.

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log(|Z|) or log(!)

|Z|

-4

-2

log2(frequency)
Figure 4.7: Typical spectral IP response (after Pelton et al. (1983)).

103 3 6 102 2 5

phase angle (mrad)

1 101 4

100

-2

log2(frequency)

Figure 4.8: Characteristic phase-angle plots for 1) Porphyry copper (low concentration) 2) Porphyry copper (high concentration) 3) Magnetite 4) Pyrrhotite 5) Massive sulphide 6) Graphite (after Pelton et al. (1978)).