Electrical Resistivity Tomography ERT

ERT is a technique for producing sections through undisturbed archaeological deposits to a considerable depth

The multi-electrode electric tomography (also called electrical resistivity tomography or ERT) is a geo-electric probing technique commonly applied in archaeological research to detect buried structures. The ERT technique provides the measurement of the specific electrical resistance of soil at high depth across a two-dimensional section. This technique differs from earth resistance method in that the depth of investigation is higher and it is largely controlled by using variable electrode spacing. Conventionally,  ERT technique uses an array of probes and compares the resistance between each and every pair – according to different probes arrangements (Wenner, Schlumberger, Dipole-Dipole, Pole-Pole, etc.) –  in order to produce a cross-section or ‘pseudo’-section through the ground. The graphical representation of this section is then produced during pro-processing by the means of Finite Element Method (FEM).

Example of ERT section

The instrument used by ArcheoRes - Archaeological Research Group is a MAE A3000 equipped with 64 electrodes.