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Relationship between electrical resistivity and

basic geotechnical parameters for marine clays
Michael Long, Shane Donohue, Jean-Sebastien L’Heureux, Inger-Lise Solberg,
Jan Steinar Rønning, Romaric Limacher, Peter O’Connor, Guillaume Sauvin,
Magnus Rømoen, and Isabelle Lecomte

Abstract: Recently, considerable efforts have been made in the attempt to map quick clay areas using electrical resistivity
measurements. However there is a lack of understanding regarding which soil parameters control the measured resistivity
values. To address this issue, inverted resistivity values from 15 marine clay sites in Norway have been compared with basic
geotechnical index properties. It was found that the resistivity value is strongly controlled by the salt content of the pore
fluid. Resistivity decreases rapidly with increasing salt content. There is also a relatively clear trend of decreasing resistivity
with increasing clay content and plasticity index. Resistivity values become very low (≈5 U·m) for high clay content
(>50%), medium- to high-plasticity (Ip≈ 20%) materials with salt content values greater than about 8 g/L (or corresponding
remoulded shear strength values greater than 4 kPa). For the range of values studied, there is poor correlation between resis-
tivity and bulk density and between resistivity and water content. The data studied suggest that the range of resistivity val-
ues corresponding to quick clay is 10 to 100 U·m, which is consistent with other published limits. A comparison is made
between two-dimensional electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) and resistivity cone penetration test (RCPTU) data for two
of the sites and the two sets of data show similar trends and values irrespective of scale effect.
Key words: marine clay, quick clay, geophysics, resistivity, laboratory testing, Norway.
Résumé : Récemment, des efforts considérables ont été déployés dans le but de cartographier les zones d’argile sensible à
l’aide de mesures de résistivité électrique. Cependant, on ne comprend pas encore bien quels paramètres des sols contrôlent
les mesures de résistivité obtenues. Pour remédier à cette situation, des valeurs de résistivité obtenues sur 15 sites d’argile
marine en Norvège ont été comparées aux propriétés géotechniques de base. Il a été déterminé que la valeur de la résistivité
est fortement contrôlée par le contenu en sel du fluide interstitiel. La résistivité diminue rapidement lorsque le contenu en
sel augmente. On observe aussi une tendance claire à la diminution de la résistivité lorsque le contenu en argile et l’indice
de plasticité augmentent. Les valeurs de résistivité deviennent très faibles (≈ 5 U·m) pour des teneurs en argile élevées
(>50%), pour des matériaux ayant une plasticité moyenne à élevée (Ip ≈ 20%) avec des valeurs de contenu en sel supérieu-
res à environ 8 g/L (ou des valeurs de résistance au cisaillement remoulée correspondantes supérieures à 4 kPa). Pour la
gamme de valeurs étudiées, la corrélation entre la résistivité et la masse volumique apparente, et entre la résistivité et la te-
neur en eau, est faible. Les données étudiées suggèrent que la gamme de valeurs de résistivités correspondant à l’argile sen-
sible est de 10 à 100 U·m, ce qui concorde avec d’autres limites publiées. Une comparaison est présentée entre les données
de tomographie en résistivité électrique (ERT) à deux dimensions et l’essai de résistivité de pénétration au cône (RCPTU)
pour deux sites, et les deux séries de données démontrent des tendances similaires et des valeurs ne tenant pas compte de
l’effet d’échelle.
Mots‐clés : argile marine, argile sensible, géophysique, résistivité, essais en laboratoire, Norvège.
[Traduit par la Rédaction]

Received 2 February 2012. Accepted 2 August 2012. Published at www.nrcresearchpress.com/cgj on .

M. Long and R. Limacher. Department of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering, University College Dublin (UCD), Newstead
Building, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland.
S. Donohue. University of Bath, Bath, UK; formerly University College Dublin (UCD), Dublin, Ireland.
J.-S. L’Heureux. Geological Survey of Norway (NGU), Trondheim, Norway; International Centre for Geohazards (ICG) at NGI, Oslo,
Norway.
I.-L. Solberg. Geological Survey of Norway (NGU), Trondheim, Norway.
J.S. Rønning. Geological Survey of Norway (NGU), Trondheim, Norway; Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU),
Trondheim, Norway.
P. O’Connor. APEX Geoservices, Gorey, Co. Wexford, Ireland.
G. Sauvin. International Centre for Geohazards (ICG) at NGI, Oslo, Norway; NORSAR, Kjeller, Norway; University of Oslo (UiO), Oslo,
Norway.
M. Rømoen. Norwegian Geotechnical Institute (NGI), Oslo, Norway.
I. Lecomte. International Centre for Geohazards (ICG) at NGI, Oslo, Norway; NORSAR, Kjeller, Norway.
Corresponding author: Mike Long (e-mail: [email protected]).

Can. Geotech. J. 49: 1–11 (2012) doi:10.1139/T2012-080 Published by NRC Research Press
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2 Can. Geotech. J. Vol. 49, 2012

Introduction Fig. 1. Site locations.

In recent years considerable efforts have been made in
Norway and Sweden with respect to mapping of quick clay
formations using combined geotechnical and geophysical
methods. Although it was recognised that some intrusive
geotechnical investigations will always be necessary, the ob-
jective of these studies was to develop techniques to maxi-
mize the use of nonintrusive relatively simple geophysical
surveys such as electrical resistivity tomography (ERT). For
example Solberg et al. (2008, 2012) and Lecomte et al.
(2008a) describe the use of resistivity measurements for map-
ping quick clay at landslide areas at Buvika, mid Norway;
Rødde, mid Norway; and Finneidfjord, northern Norway; re-
spectively. Donohue et al. (2011) and Pfaffhuber et al. (2010)
detail integrated geophysical work with similar objectives for
a site at Smørgrav in Southern Norway and Sauvin et al.
(2011) outline comparable work at an adjacent site at Vålen.
Similar work in Sweden has been published by Dahlin et al.
(2005), Lundström et al. (2009), and Löfroth et al. (2011).
Parallel work has been carried out on use of the resistivity
cone penetration test (RCPTU) in quick clay areas in both
Norway (e.g., Rømoen et al. 2010) and in Sweden (Dahlin
et al. 2004; Schälin and Tornborg 2009; Löfroth et al. 2011).
Although most recent research efforts on this topic have
taken place in Scandinavia, quick clays continue to pose a tent (w) of 20% to 50%, unit weight (g) of 17 to 20.5 kN/
hazard in other countries such as Canada (Geertsema and m3, relatively high clay content (10% to 50%), low to me-
Torrance 2005) and Japan (Torrance and Ohtsubo 1995). dium plasticity (Ip in range 2% to 30%), and of soft to firm
Perhaps not surprisingly these studies found that there is consistency (undrained shear strength, su, in the range 10 to
no simple correlation between resistivity and sensitivity, as 40 kPa). Sensitivity (St) is the most variable parameter, vary-
they can be influenced by factors such as the density, water ing from 2 to extremely high values of the order of 350. The
content, silt fraction, fabric and structures of the soil, chemis- exception is the Farriseidet site, which is underlain by or-
try of the pore fluid, and mineralogy of the clay particles. ganic clay of low unit weight and high water content.
The objective of the present work is to investigate the in-
fluence of the basic index parameters of Norwegian clays on
Electrical resistivity tomography (ERT)
the measured resistivity values to obtain a deeper understand-
ing of what controls the values. The ultimate intention is to Background
provide assistance to practicing engineers in the interpretation The use of two-dimensional (2D) resistivity measurements
of resistivity surveys in marine clay areas. as a tool for subsurface profiling has expanded during the last
In this study, clay properties from geotechnical testing are 10 years due to advances in the measurement technique and
compared with resistivity data, mainly from ERT, at 15 sites. the data acquisition and processing software. The develop-
At three of the sites (Rissa, Finneidfjord, and Kattmarka), ment has also been driven by the relatively high cost of tradi-
large destructive quick clay landslides had occurred; see Gre- tional drilling and sampling techniques. Two-dimensional
gersen (1981) and L’Heureux et al. (2011a), Longva et al. resistivity measurements give a continuous and, ideally when
(2003) and L’Heureux et al. (2011b), and Nordal et al. combined with other geophysical methods such as reflection
(2009) and Solberg et al. (2011), respectively. seismic and ground penetrating radar, relatively detailed pic-
ture of the subsurface within a short time. In an area without
The sites previous investigations, the 2D resistivity method gives an
overview of the subsurface as a basis for further investigation
The location of the sites is shown in Fig. 1. The sites are and for the determination of optimal locations for drilling.The
all located in coastal areas of Norway coinciding with those method is a cost effective and valuable complement to drill-
locations underlain by elevated marine clays. The sites may ing as it can separate intact marine clay deposits (high salt
be grouped as follows: content – low resistivity) from quick clay (low salt content –
• Southern Norway: E16Kjørby – Wøyen, Skøyen – Asker, higher resistivity), in addition to identifying coarser material
RVII – Hilleren, Drammen – Museumpark, Farriseidet, and bedrock. Typical resistivity values for various materials
Skienselven, Månejordet, Smørgrav, and Vålen. are summarized in Table 2, which is modified from Solberg
• Mid Norway: Berg, Rissa, Rødde, and Buvika. et al. (2012)
• North Trøndelag and Northern Norway: Finneidfjord and
Kattmarka. Equipment and data acquisition
A summary of the soil properties at the 15 sites surveyed The ERT surveys at eight of the nine southern Norway
is given in Table 1. The clay is characterized by water con- sites were carried out by APEX Geoservices – UCD. The ex-

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 Long et al.
Table 1. Summary of soil types and material properties for sites surveyed.

Depth
Location Soil type (m) w (%) g (kN/m3) Clay (%) Ip (%) su (kPa) St References
Southern Norway
E16 Kjørby – 0–2 m dry crust, 2–15 m 2–15 20–55 16.5–19 6–21 9–18 35–45 8–23 Rømoen et al. (2010)
WøyenBH1054 medium sensitive clay (or-
ganic?), 15–35 m quick
clay
15–35 30–40 17.5–19 46 6–9 20–55 >30 Rømoen et al. (2010)
E16 Kjørby – Soft clay medium sensitive 1.5–10.2 32–51 16.6–19 n/a 9–17 18–33 5–26 Rømoen et al. (2010)
WøyenBH1306
Skøyen – Asker 0–2 m dry crust, 2–5 m low 2–5 30–40 17.6–18.4 n/a 6 one va- 10–40 2–12 Norwegian Geotechnincal
sensitive clay, 5–16.5m lue Institute (NGI) files
(proven) quick clay only
5–16.5 20–35 18.1–20.6 — — 10–15 NGI files

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RVII - Hilleren 0–4 m dry crust, 4–15 m, 4–15 31–42 18–19 30–44 11–21 10–35 3–9>80 Long et al. (2009)
low sensitive clay, 15–
26 m (proven) medium
sensitive clay
PROOF/ÉPREUVE

15– 33–38 17.5–19.5 40–45 5–13 5–25 5–30 Long et al. (2009)
Drammen -Mu- 0–4 m fine sand, 4–12 m 4–12 40–55 16.5–17 40–42 20–30 25–30 6–10 Bjerrum(1967), Lunne and
seumpark low sensitive plastic clay, Lacasse(1999)
12–35 m lean clay
12–20 30 18.5–19.5 32–39 10 33–33 3–5 Bjerrum(1967), Lunne and
Lacasse(1999)
Farriseidet 0–3m peat, 3–8 m quick (or- 0–3 >400 10.5 n/a n/a 8 10 NGI files
ganic?) clay, rock at 8m
3–8 75–120 13.8–15.4 29–49 13–27 7–28 70–140 NGI files
Skienselven 0–6 m silty sandy clay, 6– 6–10.7 26–33 19.1–19.7 n/a 3 10–24 110–240 NGI files
10.7 m (proven) quick clay
Månejordet 0–2 m dry crust, 2–5.5 m 2.5–5.5 28–50 18–20.5 20 14–26 30–45 <10 Statensvegvesen / UCD
low sensitive sandy clay, files
5.5–14.5 m quick clay
5.5–14.5 25–40 18–19.5 24–27 6–9 20–50 50–350 Statensvegvesen / UCD
files
Smørgrav 0–5 m soft clay 0–5 27–42 17.9–18.5 41–57 13–14 37 19 Donohue et al. (2011),
Pfaffhuber et al. (2010)
5–13 m quick clay 5–13 38–45 17.8–18.3 37–44 10–15 19–25 23–63 Donohue et al. (2011),
Published by NRC Research Press

Pfaffhuber et al. (2010)

13–22 m soft clay 13–22 39–46 17.8–18.2 53–58 20–22 24–28 5–6 Donohue et al. (2011),
Pfaffhuber et al. (2010)
Vålen Soft to firm low sensitive 3.2–22.2 37–47 18.2–19.6 36.6–39.4 16.4– 12–34 2–15 Sauvin et al. (2011)
clay 20.3
Mid Norway
Berg Firm to stiff low sensitive 3.6–17.6 23–32 19.8–20.6 n/a 6.6–10.5 39–82 4–10 Rømoen (2006)
clay

3
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4 Can. Geotech. J. Vol. 49, 2012

Note: n/a, not available. Additional references: Long et al. (2009); Bjerrum (1967); Lunne and Lacasse (1999); Rømoen (2006); Gregersen (1981); Aasland (2010); Ottesen (2009); Lecomte et al. (2008b);
Gregersen (1981), Aasland

2008b); L’Heureux et al.

Ottesen (2009), Solberg et
(2010), L’Heureux et al.
ception isVålen where the work was done by the Norwegian
Geotechnical Institute (NGI). The work at the six sites in mid

Lecomte et al. (2008a,

Solberg et al. (2011a),

Nordal et al. (2009),
Multiconsult (2009)
Solberg et al. (2008),
Norway and northern Norway was performed by the Geolog-
ical Survey of Norway (NGU).

Aasland (2010)

Helle (2004)
Similar techniques were used at all sites. For the APEX–

al. (2011b)
UCD surveys, data was acquired using a multi-electrode
References

(2011a)

(2011b)
Campus Tigre resistivity meter with a 32-takeout multi-core
cable and 32 conventional stainless steel electrodes. An elec-
trode spacing of 3 m was used as the default. However at
several of the sites a 5 m spacing was also used to provide
deeper data (e.g., at E16 Kjørby – Wøyen and RVII- Hille-
2.5–37 (65–235
occasionally)

ren). As the subsurface layers were not expected to deviate

significantly from the horizontal, a four-electrode Wenner ar-
13–61.5

15–350
2–14.1

4.8–67
ray configuration was used to acquire multiple readings for
3–11

each ERT profile. The Wenner array also generally provides

St

a good signal to noise ratio (Donohue et al. 2011).

The work at Vålen employed a Terrameter LS with four
cables of 21 takeouts (81 active electrodes). A roll-along gra-
12–38.5
su (kPa)

28–71

20–80

12–27

dient configuration with 2 and 4 m electrode spacing was

9–38

9–48

used to acquire the data, leading to a total profile length of

160 to 320 m.
The equipment used by NGU was the Lund system, devel-
12–17

oped by Dahlin (1993), comprising a relay box (ABEM

Ip (%)
6–14

7–12

6–9

ES10–64) and four multi-electrode cables and 81 active stain-

n/a

n/a

less steel electrodes, controlled by an ABEM Terrameter SAS

4000. The distance between the electrodes was generally 5 m
and occasionally 2 or 10 m. Both the Wenner and Gradient
Clay (%)
37–57

30–47

28–47

24–35

array systems were used. The Gradient array can yield up to

9–17

seven times more data than the Wenner array in a shorter

47

time and thus can be useful for examining lateral changes in

resistivity (Dahlin and Zhou 2006).
g (kN/m3)

18.3–19.8
19.1–19.7

18.4–19.3

18.4–21.8

18.5–19.7
18.1–20

Data processing
In all cases the data processing and inversion was carried
out using the software Res2Dinv (Loke 2007). This software
uses a forward-modelling subroutine to calculate the apparent
resistivity values and a nonlinear least-squares optimization
22–42

28–40
26–33

30–39

28–40

26–38
w (%)

technique (Loke and Barker 1996). In a study of synthetic

data to represent marine clays, Reiser et al. (2010) showed
that “smooth” inversion with a vertical–horizontal filter of
2.2–11.1

2.4–10.9
1.5–20.5

2.4–23.4

2.5–11.5

1.2–19.6

0.5 resulted in the most accurate inversion models. “Smooth”

Depth

inversion was generally used as standard (Solberg et al.

(m)

2012), but it was found that “robust” inversion can give bet-
ter definition of sharp boundaries, e.g., between clay and
Soft occasionally sandy clay

Solberg et al. (2011); Helle (2004); Multiconsult (2009).

bedrock (Reiser et al. 2010).

Firm silty clay occasionally

Soft silty clay occasionally

Soft to firm clay medium

The least-squares equations resulting from the inversion

process were solved using the Gauss–Newton method. As
North Trøndelag and Northern Norway

there occasionally was a large subsurface resistivity contrast,

Firm quick clay

the Gauss–Newton method was used for the first two to three
Soft quick clay

iterations, then the quasi-Newton method was employed. The

sensitive

latter allows an approximate solution within a pre-defined

Soil type

quick

quick

convergence limit. This was found to provide the best com-

promise between computational time and accuracy (Loke
and Dahlin 2002). Most inversions performed converged to
Table 1 (concluded).

root mean square (RMS) errors of less than 6% within five

to six iterations and the final RMS errors were usually less
than 1.5%.
Rissa H3-H4

Finneidfjord

Kattmarka
Rissa H5
Location

Soil sampling and testing

Buvika
Rødde

In Norway, the standard site investigation procedure is to

recover continuous piston samples of unconsolidated overbur-

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Long et al. 5

Table 2. Typical resistivity values for various materials (modified from Solberg et al. 2012).

Resistivity (U·m) Main characterization Description

1–10 Unleached marine clay The clay has been exposed to little leaching since deposition. The pores in the
deposits clay still contain salt water, which stabilize the structure. Because of the
large concentration of ions in the pore water, the conductivity of the clay is
good, and thus the resistivityvalues are low
10–100 Leached clay deposits Sensitive clay develops as groundwater leaches ions from the marine clay. The
electrical conductivity of the deposit is still high, but not as good as for the
unleached marine clay. Other sediment features can give resistivity values si-
milar to those of quick clay: further leached marine clay (not quick any-
more), silt, and fine-grained till
>100 Dry crust clay deposits, Dry crust clay; remoulded, dry clay from quick-clay landslides; and coarser
coarse sediments, (bed- materials like sand and gravel will have higher resistivity values than marine
rock) clay. Most bedrock types will have values of several thousand U·m.

den material and to subsequently subject each of the samples Fig. 2. Resistivity and salt content of pore fluid.
to routine index testing as well as more advanced strength
and compression tests if these are required. In most of the
sites studied here the sampling technique involved use of the
NGI 54 mm composite sampler (Andresen and Kolstad
1979), which is the most common sampler used in Norway.
It is a composite piston sampler using plastic inner tubes.
The displacement method is used, where the sampler is
pushed down to the desired depth without pre-augering.
Long et al. (2009) describe a detailed study into the quality
of samples retrieved using this procedure and demonstrate
that the resulting quality is acceptable for routine and
medium-sized projects. At a number of sites in the mid Nor-
way region the version of the sampler that uses a thin-walled
54 mm tube only was used.
Index testing normally comprises determination of water
content, bulk density, sensitivity using the Swedish fall cone,
and unconfined compression testing on all recovered piston
samples. A limited number of plasticity, particle density,
grain size, salt content, and organic content determinations
are also usually made. Specifically, salt content is determined
by expelling pore water in a centrifuge and using a correla-
tion between measured electrical conductivity and salinity.
Clay (particles less than 0.002 mm in size) and silt (particles
between 0.002 and 0.06 mm in size) are determined using ei- not measured routinely in all investigations, the amount of
ther a hydrometer or the falling drop method (Moum 1965). data is relatively limited. As expected the link between these
Fall cone testing makes use of the Swedish fall cone. In Nor- two parameters is strong. Resistivity decreases rapidly with
way, fall cone data are interpreted according to NS8015 increasing salt content and reaches a low value of about
(Norwegian Standardisation System 1988), which is largely 5 U·m and becomes more or less constant once the salt con-
based on the Swedish Geotechnical Institute (SGI 1946) cali- tent exceeds approximately 8 g/L. The exponential trendline
bration with some local modifications–additions. shows a relatively good coefficient of correlation, R2, value
of 0.8.
Results and correlations In the past authors such as Bjerrum(1954) and Rosenqvist
(1955) have suggested that clay becomes quick (i.e., sensitiv-
Inverted resistivity values were extracted from the Re- ity St> 30 and remoulded shear strength sur< 0.5 kPa) when
s2Dinv data files. A one-dimensional (1D) plot of resistivity the salt content is less than 5 g/L. Subsequently Torrance
versus depth at the location of the relevant borehole was (1974) suggested the limit should be 2 g/L. The plot of sen-
made and the results compared with the geotechnical param- sitivity versus salinity of the pore fluid, shown in Fig. 3,
eters obtained from piston samples extracted from the same shows that although all of the quick clay data points have a
depth. In each case a resistivity profile and a matching bore- salt content less than 5 g/L, there are also a significant num-
hole, i.e., a borehole on the same line as the resistivity sec- ber of data points with a salt content less than 2 or 5 g/L for
tion or located at most 5 m from the section, was used. which the sensitivity is less than 30. In addition, Andersson-
Sköld et al. (2005) measured a salinity of 5.6 g/L in Swedish
Resistivity and salt content of pore fluid quick clay. Nonquick marine clay may also contain very low
The relationship between resistivity and salt content of the salt content due to continued leaching or weathering.
pore fluid is shown in Fig. 2. Unfortunately as salt content is This illustrates that although salt content of the pore fluid

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6 Can. Geotech. J. Vol. 49, 2012

Fig. 3. Sensitivity and salt content of the pore fluid. Fig. 5. Resistivity and plasticity index.

Fig. 6. Resistivity and remoulded shear strength.

Fig. 4. Resistivity and clay content.

about 40% (by mass) the resistivity values are generally low.
is a very important controlling factor, sensitivity of marine The polynomial trendline shown has a reasonable R2 value of
clay is also influenced by other factors (Mitchell 1993). 0.59.

Resistivity and clay content Resistivity and plasticity index

The relationship between resistivity and clay content is A similar pattern, to that of clay content, emerges in the
shown in Fig. 4. There is a relatively strong correlation be- plot of resistivity against plasticity index (Ip) in Fig. 5. Note
tween the two properties, with resistivity decreasing with in- there are unfortunately relatively few data points for high-
creasing clay content. This finding is as expected as clay plasticity clays with Ip> 20%. Again there is a reasonably
particles facilitate surface conductance of electrical current. strong trend of reducing resistivity due to increasing Ip. This
Those sites with relatively low clay content (e.g., the compa- is consistent for the finding for clay content above, as Ip will
ratively silty materials at Finneidfjord, Kattmarka, and increase with increasing clay content. However Ip in sensitive
Rødde) show high resistivity values. Beyond clay content of clays varies not only with the grain size of the soil, but also

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Long et al. 7

Fig. 7. Resistivity and remoulded shear strength less than 0.5 kPa. Fig. 9. Resistivity and bulk unit weight.

Fig. 8. Resistivity and sensitivity.

Fig. 10. Resistivity and water content.

with the intensity of the leaching. For example, Bjerrum

(1954) showed that leaching by fresh water of a Norwegian
marine clay resulted in a drop in the liquid limit from 45%
to 25%, while the plastic limit shows a much lower reduction
from about 20% to 17%. Hence the sensitive clays may show trendline through the data, but the resulting R2 value was
a relatively lower Ip than a similar nonsensitive clay, thus poor.
making any correlation between resistivity and Ip more com-
plex. Resistivity and remoulded shear strength
Nonetheless for the data presented here beyond an Ip value As remoulded shear strength (sur) is directly related to the
of about 20%, corresponding to the upper limit of medium salt content of the pore fluid, one would expect a strong link
plasticity (Norsk Geoteknisk Forening (NGF 1982)), the re- between resistivity and sur (as measured by the fall cone). In
sistivity values are low (≈ 5 U·m) and more or less constant. addition, leaching decreases the liquid limit of marine clays
For the low-plasticity materials the resistivity values are gen- and consequently the remoulded shear strength (Mitchell and
erally higher, but are more scattered, probably due to the rea- Soga 2005). As seen in Fig. 6, resistivity decreases rapidly
sons discussed above. Some attempts were made to fit a with increasing remoulded shear strength and becomes more
or less constant when the sur value exceeds 4 kPa. The rea-

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8 Can. Geotech. J. Vol. 49, 2012

sons for the relatively high values at the RVII – Hilleren site Resistivity and water content
are unclear and warrant further study. Remoulded shear Inverted resistivity values are plotted against water content
strength values in silty materials needs to be treated with cau- in Fig. 10. There is no clear pattern in the plot, even for the
tion as the shearing action may not be totally undrained, main body of the data where the resistivity is less than
leading to possible relatively high values. 50 U·m. Similar to the relationship with bulk unit weight,
In Fig. 7, the focus is on those values where sur is less than the values for the materials with either high silt or –sand con-
0.5 kPa, which is the threshold for quick clay according to tent or high organic content fall well away from the main
NGF (1982). There is a clear trend of increasing resistivity body of the data.
with decreasing sur. This is consistent with the fact that sur
will decrease with increasing intensity of leaching. Solberg Discussion
et al. (2012) reviewed a large body of data and found that
10 to 100 U·m represented the resistivity range for quick Resistivity and geotechnical properties
clay. Although most of the data discussed here is within this The data presented above shows that the measured resistiv-
range, some of the sites with relatively high silt content (e.g., ity values depend on a number of interrelated factors. It is
Skienselven, Rødde, and Kattmarka) exhibit significantly difficult to separate the influence of each individual parame-
higher resistivity values up to 150 U·m. ter. In Fig. 8, for example, an attempt has been made to do
this, where the clay content values have been superimposed
Resistivity and sensitivity on the plot of resistivity against sensitivity. Although the
Sensitivity is the ratio of peak (su) to remoulded shear higher clay content materials correspond to the lower resistiv-
strength (sur). Unfortunately the values of su and sur are not ity values, there is insufficient data or insufficient trends to
plot, e.g., contours of clay content on the diagram.
unique and will vary with the test type, mode of deformation,
stress conditions, and strain rate, amongst other factors. In The data shows that resistivity is strongly influenced by
turn, the absolute value of sensitivity will depend on the test the salt content of the pore fluid and also influenced signifi-
cantly by the clay content and plasticity of the material. It
used. For consistency, in this study the results from only the
could be argued that the data for clay content and plasticity
Swedish fall cone tests have been used. This test is the one
index in Figs. 4 and 5 merely reflect reducing salt content.
most widely used in Scandinavia. Leaching will have a much
However these figures contain more data than shown in
stronger effect on sur than su. In fact, the su value will be
Fig. 6 and include data for sites where the remoulded shear
largely unaffected. Thus a good relationship between resistiv-
strength (and hence salinity) are similar.
ity and sensitivity is to be expected.
For the data available, no relationship was found between
Resistivity values are plotted against sensitivity (from the
resistivity and water content. However as the range of values
fall cone) in Fig. 8. There is a good relationship between the
studied here is relatively limited, and many other studies have
two properties, with resistivity increasing more or less line-
shown the importance of water content on measured resistiv-
arly with sensitivity. The increase in scatter of the data with ity, this finding will not be universally applicable.
increasing St is due to the decreasing accuracy of the fall
cone measurements. ERT versus RCPTU
The high values for Skienselven, Rødde, and Kattmarka
The data presented in this study compares point data (lab-
are due to the silty nature of the material as presented above.
oratory measurements) with larger soil volumes (geophysical
The relatively high values for RVII need to be investigated
data) and scale effects may therefore arise. The influence of
further.
such scale effects may be studied by comparing ERT data
with the previously mentioned resistivity cone penetration
Resistivity and bulk unit weight test (RCPTU). The latter involves an 80 cm long, 4.4 cm di-
The relationship between resistivity and bulk unit weight is ameter module on which four ring electrodes are mounted.
shown in Fig. 9. Intuitively one would expect resistivity to The two outer rings apply current and the two inner rings
decrease with increasing unit weight (or density) as the par- measure the voltage. The distance between the two outer
ticles are forced closer together. For the bulk of the data, rings is approximately 20 cm, and thus the RCPTU measure-
where the resistivity is less than 50 U·m, there is some weak ments relate to a small, relatively homogenous, body of soil
tendency for decreasing resistivity with increasing bulk unit similar in scale to a soil sample. Unlike ERT data, RCPTU
weight. However the trends are far from clear and vary from results do not need to be inverted. Pfaffhuber et al. (2010)
site to site. For example, the Rissa data follows the expected illustrate how RCPTU data can be used successfully to con-
trend whereas the Smørgrav data shows the opposite ten- strain an ERT inversion process.
dency. Some sites, for example Skøyen – Asker, show rela- There is some evidence that RCPTUs will give slightly
tively constant resistivity for a range of unit weight values. lower resistivity values in the high sensitive clay zones.
The higher resistivity values recorded for the sites at Schälin and Tornborg (2009) found RCPTU measurements
Skienselven, Finneidfjord, and Kattmarka fall outside the in highly sensitive clay could be 2 to 3 Ω·m lower than ERT
general trend and can be attributed to the silty nature of these inverted data. This is also in agreement with the work of Fu-
materials. The Farriseidet site shows low bulk unit weight kue et al. (1999) who showed that remoulded clay has better
values due to the organic nature of the material. conductivity than undisturbed clay, as the breakage of the
It would seem that, although bulk unit weight plays a role chemical bonding between the clay particles will decrease
in the resulting measured resistivity, its influence is out- the resistivity. Sauvin et al. (2011) found good agreement be-
weighed by other factors. tween ERT and RCPTU data for the Vålen research site.

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Long et al. 9

Fig. 11. Comparison of ERT and RCPTU for (a, b) Rissa and (c) Rødde.

Dahlin et al. (2004) also found good correlation between Conclusions and recommendations
ERT and RCPTU data, but their study did not include quick
clays. The ultimate objective of this work was to provide assis-
tance for practicing engineers in the interpretation of resistiv-
Figure 11 shows a comparison of ERT and RCPTU data
ity surveys in glacio-marine and marine clay areas by
from tests sites at Rissa (Figs. 11a and 11b) and Rødde
studying the influence of basic geotechnical parameters on
(Fig. 11c). The data are taken from Solberg et al. (2010) and
resistivity values from 2D measurements. It was found that
Solberg et al. (2012), respectively. The two sets of data for
Rissa show that the RCPTU data can give either lower or 1. There is a strong link between resistivity and both salt
higher resistivity values than for the ERT data. Overall, the content of the pore fluid and remoulded shear strength.
relationship between the two sets of data at both sites is very Resistivity decreases rapidly with increasing salt content
good and confirms the reliability and applicability of the or remoulded shear strength. The resistivity values be-
ERT data for the present purposes. come more or less constant if the salt content is greater
than about 8 g/L and the remoulded shear strength is
Possible methodical weaknesses with ERT greater than 4 kPa.
Two-dimensional ERT data measured at the surface may 2. There is a trend of decreasing resistivity with increasing
suffer from some methodical weaknesses. Effects of three-di- clay content and plasticity index. Although these trends
mensional geology may influence the measured resistivity are not conclusive, for high-plasticity clays, with Ip≈ 20%
values and consequently the inverted 2D resistivity section. and clay content >50%, the measured resistivity values
In addition, the principles of equivalence and suppression are very low (≈ 5 U·m).
may influence the inverted sections (Reynolds 2011). Sup- 3. It would seem that, although bulk density plays a role in
pression appears when resistivity in one layer lies between the resulting measured resistivity, its influence is out-
the resistivity of the surrounding layers while equivalence ap- weighed by other factors such as salt content of the pore
pears on ascending or descending resistivity towards the fluid and clay content.
depth. Anisotropic resistivity may also influence the results 4. The data presented here suggest that the range of resistiv-
when data from different methods are compared. The effects ity values corresponding to quick clay is 10 to 100 U·m,
of these weaknesses are nonunique inversion results. and this is consistent with other published limits. Thus
Nonetheless, the comparison between ERT and RCPTU ERT surveys alone are not sufficient for mapping quick
data, shown in Fig. 11, confirms there is a good correlation clay and need to be supplemented with conventional dril-
between 2D surface and 1D borehole resistivity data. How- ling and sampling.
ever, in detail there are deviations that make it necessary to 5. A comparison of ERT and RCPTU data show comparable
have great and partly overlapping intervals for the resistivity trends and similar resistivity values. This confirms that
in different materials in an interpretational model. The the ERT data, which represent bulk resistivity, can give
present study will give a better understanding of what kind sufficiently accurate information on local soil conditions.
of geotechnical information can be extracted from the resis- For future work it would be useful to
tivity data.

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10 Can. Geotech. J. Vol. 49, 2012

• Extend the range of clays studied to those of higher plas- role for the stability of slopes at Finneidfjord, Northern Norway. In
ticity. Proceedings of the 5th International Symposium on Submarine
• Carry out additional work on silt sites to examine the Mass Movements and Their Consequences. Edited by Y. Yamada
controlling factors on resistivity for these materials. et al. Kyoto, Japan. Springer Science + Business Media. pp. 321–
330.
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