A MACROSCOPIC PHYSICAL MODEL FOR THE SELF-POTENTIAL OF A SULFIDE DEPOSIT

A macroscopic physical model is given for the self-potential of an electronic conductor in an electrolytic homogeneous environment. The primary source, which is the electric double layer on the surface of the conductor created by the spontaneous electrochemical reactions, is the quantity given in the model. The primary double layer generates electric currents, which give rise to the second surface charge and double layer on the conductor. The potential of the sources is solved numerically with the aid of the integral equation technique. As an application, the influence of the model parameters on the self-potential anomaly is examined. On the laboratory scale, the secondary double layer produced by the surface impedance may significantly attenuate the anomaly. In full scale, the effect of the surface impedance vanishes, and the surface charge is the predominant secondary source of the self-potential.