Testing Fournier's Method for Finding Water Table from Self‐Potential

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Abstract
Fournier's approximate method for relating self‐potential anomalies to water‐table elevation is satisfactory for five of the six sites where it has been tested in New Hampshire. At these sites water‐table elevations were determined independently from observation of surface‐water bodies and by seismic refraction at the times of the self‐potential surveys.At three sites on drumlins formed of glacial till, the apparent coupling coefficients range from 0.95 to 4 mV/m whereas two surveys on sand and gravel deltas yield apparent coupling coefficients of −16 and −17 mV/m. At a third delta the apparent coupling coefficient suggests that the water table is in an underlying till rather than in the deltaic deposits.Modeling of self‐potential anomalies using Fournier's method may permit isolation of anomalies caused by sources other than ground‐water flow as well as location of significant geological inhomogeneities. Because of nonuniqueness it is not possible to determine water‐table elevations from self‐potential surveys alone.

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