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The application of direct-current resistivity prospecting methods to ice masses

University of British Columbia

Direct-current resistivity prospecting methods have been used but rarely in the past in physical investigations of icecaps and glaciers. However these methods have the advantage of using light-weight and inexpensive equipment that is simple to operate. As part of the geophysical program of the Arctic Institute of North America's Devon Island Expedition, resistivity measurements were made in the accumulation and ablation zones of an ice-cap and on an adjoining glacier during the summers of 1961 and 1962. Depths of ice ranging from 50 to 750 meters were measured on the Sverdrup Glacier. Depth soundings on the ice-cap were not very successful owing primarily to insufficient power. However, some indication of the depth and composition of the firn was obtained. Ice resistivities were for the most part in the range from 4.10⁴ to 10⁵ ohm-meters, as compared with values of several megohm-meters found for temperate glaciers in lower latitudes. Variations of ice resistivities as a function of other physical properties were investigated.

Text

2011-10-19

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http://hdl.handle.net/2429/38096

Physics

University of British Columbia

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