A fast inversion technique for the interpretation of data from resistivity tomography surveys has been developed for operation on a microcomputer. This technique is based on the smoothness-constrained least-squares method and it produces a two-dimensional subsurface model from the apparent resistivity pseudosection. In the first iteration, a homogeneous earth model is used as the starting model for which the apparent resistivity partial derivative values can be calculated analytically. For subsequent iterations, a quasi-Newton method is used to estimate the partial derivatives which reduces the computer time and memory space required by about eight and twelve times, respectively, compared to the conventional least-squares method. Tests with a variety of computer models and data from field surveys show that this technique is insensitive to random noise and converges rapidly. This technique takes about one minute to invert a single data set on an 80486DX microcomDuter.

Techniques to reduce the time needed to carry out 3D resistivity surveys with a moderate number (25 to 100) of electrodes and the computing time required to interpret the data have been developed. The electrodes in a 3D survey are normally arranged in a square grid and the pole-pole array is used to make the potential measurements. The number of measurements required can be reduced to about onethird of the maximum possible number without seriously degrading the resolution of the resulting inversion model by making measurements along the horizontal, vertical and 45' diagonal rows of electrodes passing through the current electrode' The smoothness-constrained least-squares inversion method is used for the data interpretation. The computing time required by this technique can be greatly reduced by using a homogeneous half-space as the starting model so that the Jacobian matrix of partial derivatives can be calculated analytically. A quasi-Newton updating method is then used to estimate the partial derivatives for subsequent iterations' This inversion technique has been tested on synthetic and field data where a satisfactory model is obtained using a modest amount of computer time'

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A fast technique for the inversion of data from resistivity tomography surveys has been developed. This technique is based on the smoothness‐constrained, least‐squares method, and it produces a 2-D subsurface model that is free of distortions in the apparent resistivity pseudosection caused by the electrode array geometry used. A homogeneous earth model is used as the starting model for which the apparent resistivity partial derivative values can be calculated analytically. Tests with a variety of models and data from field surveys show that this technique is insensitive to random noise, provided a sufficiently large damping factor is used, and that it can resolve structures that cause overlapping anomalies in the pseudosection. On a 33 MHz 80486DX microcomputer, it takes about 5 s to process a single data set.

A study of collinear symmetrical four‐electrode arrays and their tripotential variations indicates the existence of an electrode array for which all the tripotential arrangements have the same depth of investigation. Examination of computer‐generated sounding curves confirms this result only when depth of investigation is defined as the median of the depth of investigation characteristic curve. The results lend support to this being the most practically useful definition of depth of investigation.