Electrical conductivity models for the continental crust based on laboratory measurements on high-grade metamorphic rocks

Summary. Deep electrical conductivity soundings are increasingly being used as an additional source of information regarding the nature of the lower continental crust. However, a lack of relevant laboratory-based conductivity measurements makes interpretation of such soundings difficult. Laboratory measurements have been made on saturated and unsaturated samples of possible lower crustal rock types subjected to confining pressures up to 0.4 GPa, temperatures up to 300°C, and with variable pore fluid pressure up to the confining pressure. Extrapolation of these results suggests that the surprisingly high conductivities deduced for depths of approximately 20 km in certain stable continental areas may result from a combination of basic rock type and high pore fluid pressures, for whereas the conductivities measured in acid rock types can be explained in terms of conduction through the pore fluid alone, the conductivities measured in basic rock types imply enhanced conduction presumably through the matrix or along grain boundaries. The lower conductivities deduced from field experiments for the upper crust may be due to more acid rock types and/or lower pore fluid pressures, perhaps due to hydration reactions. In areas where the high conductivity layer is coincident with a low velocity layer an explanation in terms of changing pore fluid pressure, i.e. low to high, with increasing depth seems more likely.