Behavior of electric potential fields over random conductivity,layered earth models

Solutions are derived for the potential distributions over one-layer and two-layer random conductivity earth models for the direct current resistivity method. Monopole and Wenner arrays are considered. It is shown that the random potential due to a spatially stationary Gaussian random conductivity is also Gaussian but not spatially stationary. The ensemble and sample statistics of the random kernel and apparent resistivity are examined. Representative curves of these functions are presented to show the effects of a random conductivity profile on them. It is shown that the effect of the random nature of the conductivity profile on an apparent resistivity sounding curve is greatest for small electrode spacings.