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Offshore Application of Self-Potential Prospecting Robert Frederic Corwin ,'/ B.S. (university of Missouri at ~olla)1964 M.S. (university of ~alifornia)1969 DISSERTATION Submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY iR Engineering in the GRADUATE DIVISION . "-I 1 . of the UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORMIA, BERKELEY Committee in Charge OFFSHORE APPLICATION OF SELF-POTENTIAL PROSPECTING ABSTRACT Robert Frederic Corwin Degree: Ph .D. Eng inear i rlg Geosc ience Ocean Eng i neering An offshore self-potential prospecting system, consisting of a portable chart recorder and a pair of towed electrodes, is shown to be capable of locating both onshore and submerged offshore deposits of conductive minerals. The silver - silver chloride electrodes, specially designed for this work, are shown to have a small and predictable response to changes in environmental parameters. The background noise level is generally less than a few tenths of a millivolt, allowing visual recognition of offshore self- potential anomalies with a gradient in excess of one miiiivolt over the electrode sepa ration. However, somc man-made str-uctures, or areas of geothermal activity, may generate fields large enough to interfere with self-potential profiling. 1 :! 4:"'4 extending from a reducing sea floor into oxidizing sea water, generates a potential field consistent in magnitude and polarity with those seen over sulfide ore bodies on land. As an oxidation - reduction mechanism appears to offer the best explanation for the self- potential phenomenon on land, conductive mineral deposits in the sea floor also should be capable of generating self-potential fields. The self-potential field generated by a submerged ore body may be simulated by a point current sink or dipole buried in the sea f loor, and the potential field at the water surface studied as a function of depth of burial, sea-floor resistivil-y, water depth, and dipole angle and separation, It is seen in most cases that an ore body of economic size will generate an easily detectable potential field at the water surface. Field work was conducted in areas of known sulfide mineralization (southeastern Alaska and Penobscot Bay, Maine) and onshore and off- shore geothermal activity (California, Nevada, znd Ensenada, Mexico). .*. .> - increased self-potential background noise levels were seen in the geothermal areas, along with some large anomalies. In Maine, large offshore self-potential fields were found to be generated by onshore su l f i de and graphite deposits, and submerged mi nera l deposits are thought to be responsible for other observed offshore anomalies. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This thesis was made possible by the assistance and advice of many people. 1 would particularly like to thank those mentioned below for their help. - At the University of California, the help given me by Profes- I sor Pat Wilde, in every phase of this work, went far beyond the call of duty. Dr. Ugo Conti assisted with the field work in Baja California and collaberated in the development of the lfCoCo" eiec- trodes. Professors I. Cornet and H.F. Morrison contributed val uab le advice and criticism, and Mrs. Antoinette Friedman and Mrs. Ann Van Dorn cheerfully handled the unenviable typing job. While researching and writing this thesis, I was employed by the Marine Minerals Technology Center, a former agency of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (the Center was . -..I. closed i n March, 1973, in a Federa l lleconomy" move 1. Mr. Burton B. Barnes, my supervi sor, supported the project, untangled red tape, and assisted with the field work in Alaska and Maine. Mrs. Carol Backhus, librarian, unearthed many of the more arcane references. Mr. William Ebersole planned the Alaska field trip, and he and Mr. Clyde Davis assisted with the work. The tradi-tional last-but-not-least acknowledgement: my wife, Janice. She knows why. CONTENTS Abstract .................................................... Acknowledgements ........................e...g.g.....*..e.e.. =I... I I Contents ...................................................... iv Figures ....................................................... ix Chapter 1. Introduction....................c....OI......e.me.. t Definition and description of ielf-potential.. ............. 2' History and present use.. ..........................,.,....A Equipment and field procedure ..............................6 Offshore application ............................-....**....7 Chapter 2. Mechanisms ......................................... I0 Introduction..................................*..**....... -1 I ... -.I* Early theories ............................................. I1 Oxygen cell mechanism ................................. *"ti pH ......................0.............................*.18 pH mechanism ................,..............................I8 Oxidation-reduction mechanism ......................*........L9 Eh and pH of natural environments ......*..............,. 22 Eh-pH, mineral stability, and immunity domains ..........30 Self-potential mechanism ...............................32 Alunite ...................................................*e38 Offshore ore bodies ...........................-............4l Eh and pH of sea water and marine sediments ............. 41 Self-potential generation by offshore ore bodies ........ 55 Fresh-water deposits ....................................56 Shoreline and near-shore deposits...................... 56 Experiments ............................................... 58 Laboratory work ........................................60 Field experiment ....................................... 62 Chapter 3 . Potential fields .................................. 71 Introduction............................................ e.72 Sea-floor and sea water resistivity....................... 72 Models .....................................*.......*..... 74 Conformal mapping and downward continuation........... 74 Spherical ore body .................................... *75 Polarized sheet ........................................ 75 Point and point dipole................................. 78 Point source of current buried in the sea floor .....82 . r. Model studies ...........................-........... 83 Standard case ....................................83 Gradient and detectabitity ................**.....85 Survey depth ..................................... 89 Effect of sediment resistivity..*................ 89 Effect of water depth ......................,..... 94 Effect of burial depth ........................*..98 Uniqueness ....................................... 98 Shoreline ..................................B... .I07 Chapter 4 . Equipment ........................................ Ill Introduction.............................*............. el12 Electrodes ...........................-................ *.!I2 Electrode reversibility............................... I13 Electrodes of the first kind.......................... I14 Electrodes of the second kind........................ -117 Lead electrodes .................................... It9 Coated electrodes .................................. I20 Lead-lead chloride electrodes ................... 122 Calomel electrodes .............................. I22 Si lver-si lver chloride electrodes ............... I23 Electrode isolation ................................... I24 "COCO" electrodes ..................................... I28 Standard potential .............................. I33 Response to salinity changes ....................... I35 Response to simultaneous salinity channe ....... 136 Differential salinity changes ................... 136 Response to temperature changes .................... 145 Simultaneous temperature change ................ -149 Differential temperature changes ............... 149 Response to Eh changes ...............,............. I57 Response to agitation and me~hanicafshock ......... I58 Response -to applied electric fields ................ 158 Chart recorder........................................... 161 Cable and connectors ..................................... I66 Complete system ..........................................I67 Summary of "CoCo'! e l ectrode characterist i cs ..............I67 Chapter 5. Noise ............................................ I70 Instrumental noise ....................................... 171 Electrodes ............................................ I72 ! I Cables ................................................ 172 't /I Connections ........................................... I75 IC. Chart recorder ........................................ I79 1:I! Environmental noise ...................................... I81 !: i i i Currents .............................*................ 181 1 I; . \a Waves ...........................................*.... I84 :1 i Wake turbulence ....................................... 184 Magnetic field variations (telluric noise) ............ I86 Geologic background noise ............................. I86 Streaming potentials ...............................- .. I89 Geologic contacts ........................*..........191 Corrosion ........................................... ..I94 Corrosion control systems ............,....U..e....ee....19 5 Stray currents .................................*......I97 Geothermal activity ....................g.e.............200 Offshore oil and gas fields ......................... =*205 Summ (y ................................................. *206 Chapter 6. Field Work .......e.O........................*.