Technological development

The technological developments are strongly connected to methodological enhancements. New geophysical research questions demand a continuous adaption or new development of the equipment. These tasks are done by our engineers and technicians of the section or can be completed by other institutions or manufacturers.

Rapid developments in the whole electronics open new possibilities in measurement and controlling. The ongoing minaturisation of electronic components allows, e.g., for a combination of different measurement techniques as in electrophonics.

Technological developments can make valuable contributions for the work in the section by the continuous application of newly developed equipment and components in different projects and research topics.

System for geoelectrical underwater measurements

The investigation of sub-bottom sediments has a great importance for coast reseach, but also for laying tracks and expanding ship routes in the commercial domain. The electrical resistivity can serve as a key parameter for the characterization of sediments. We are developing a measuring system for the shallow near-coast regions in collaboration with the company Geoserve.  Details

Electrophonics

Electrophonics is a technological linkage of geoelectrics and seismics. The existing equipments RESECS (Geoserve) and GEODE (Geonics) can be used unchanged and can work synchronously. Merely the streamer and the sensors have to be modified slightly. From the methodological point of view both data sets can be jointly interpreted and thus reduce ambiguity. Details

Vertical electrode chain

Geoelectrical mappings and soundings on the surface are often not able to resolve thin layers with the demanded accuracy. Furthermore they prevent a view of even deeper structures. In such cases buried vertical electrode chains are able to give additional information. Details

High current source

For the geoelectrical investigation of very deep structures such as faults we need large currents in order to measure accurate potential differences. For this we use direct current generators, which can inject programmed low-frequency signals with currents up to 50A. Details

Mobile electrode group (MEG)

Natural or anthropogenic changes of the near-surface layers can be imaged by geoelectrical mapping methods. The MEG is a self-development of the institute that makes the manual sticking of electrodes unnecessary. Details