The area to be tested generally needs to be a minimum of 50 feet away from any type of electrical power source (primarily underground power, underground pipelines or some buildings with major power supplies). Clients are asked to describe the survey site conditions when booking. We need to have enough native soil to drive (install) four 1m long 3/4 inch diameter electrodes into the ground. The electrodes are placed in a straight line and require an area that is approximately 16 feet long and 2 feet wide to complete each sounding. The ground should consist of no more than 30% large gravel or stones. If the top 3 feet contains more than 30% large gravel, large stone, cobble, or bedrock, then more soundings may be required and special techniques may need to be implemented to collect the data we require to complete the final report. Because the technology is heavily reliant on the electrode soil bond to properly and consistently record a seismoelectric event, surveys must be completed on virgin “native” soils. If there is fill on the property, it will need to be excavated down to native soil. Excavation may not be a viable option in every case.

Recommended

While we recommend that soundings be collected in groups of 5 or more with not more than 100ft between soundings in each group, we can deviate from that recommendation with the understanding that final results may be a bit less accurate if deviation does occur. If there is any risk at all of underground services that might be more shallow than 4 feet below ground surface anywhere near the area to be surveyed, the client should have underground locates carried out and have all in ground piping, wiring, gas lines or other services clearly marked well before we arrive to do the survey.