Modeling and analysis of direct-current electrical resistivity in the Durham Triassic basin, North Carolina

Sixty-two Schlumberger electrical soundings were made in the Durham Triassic basin in an effort to determine basin structural geometry, depth of the sedimentary layers, and spatial distribution of individual rock facies. A digital computer program was used to invert the sounding curves of apparent resistivity versus distance to apparent resistivity versus depth. The apparent-resistivity-versus-depth data from the computer-modeling program were used to construct a geoelectric model of the basin that is believed to accurately represent the subsurface geology of the basin. The largest depth to basement in the basin along a resistivity profile (geoelectric section) was determined to be 1,800 m. A resistivity decrease was observed on certain soundings from depths of 100 to 1,000 m; below a 1,000-m depth, apparent resistivity increased to the bottom of the basin. Resistivity values for basement rocks were greater than 1,000 ohm-m and less than 350 ohm-m for the sedimentary layers in the basin. The data suggest that the basin contains a system of step faults near its eastern boundary.