Advanced Analysis of Self-potential Anomalies: Review of Case Studies from Mining, Archaeology and Environment

Self-potential (SP) method is one of the most non-expensive and unsophisticated geophysical methods. However, its application is limited due to absence of reliable interpreting methodology, first for the complex geological-environmental conditions. The essential disturbances appearing in the SP method and some ways for their removal (elimination) before the quantitative analysis are discussed. A brief review of the available interpretation methods is presented. For the magnetic method of geophysical prospecting, have been developed special quantitative procedures applicable under complex physical-geological environments (oblique polarization, uneven terrain relief and unknown level of the normal field). Earlier detected common peculiarities between the magnetic and SP fields have been extended. These common aspects make it possible to apply the advanced procedures developed in magnetic prospecting to SP method. Besides the reliable determination of the depth of anomalous targets, these methodologies enable to calculation of corrections for the non-horizontal SP observations and direction of the polarization vector. For classification of SP-anomalies is proposed to apply a new parameter---`self-potential moment'. The quantitative procedures (improved modifications of the characteristic point, tangent techniques and areal method) have been successfully tested on SP models and employed in numerous real situations in mining, archaeological, environmental and technogenic geophysics. The obtained results indicate the practical importance of the developed interpretation methodologies.