Product · Electromagnetic (EM) Systems
Geonics EM38 (Original)
The original-generation EM38 shallow terrain conductivity meter — predecessor to today's EM38-MK2, and a long-time standard in soil salinity mapping, precision agriculture, and archaeological prospection.
Refurbished Absolute Certified Surplus
This model is no longer in production — it has been superseded by the current EM38-MK2. PartnerGeometrics sources it through the used and refurbished market — available as Refurbished, Absolute Certified, or Surplus only.
About the Geonics EM38 (Original)
The original EM38 is a compact, 1 m intercoil-spacing conductivity meter designed to be carried by a single operator without any boom or ground contact, targeting shallow near-surface conductivity — soil profile characteristics, salinity, and shallow archaeological or utility features. It can be operated in vertical or horizontal dipole orientation to sample two different effective depths from the same instrument.
The current EM38-MK2 carries the same core coil geometry forward with improved electronics and, in dual-dipole configurations, simultaneous multi-depth readings. The original EM38 remains a capable, widely used instrument on the secondhand market, particularly for soil science and archaeology applications where its established measurement principle is well documented in the literature.
| Specification | Value |
|---|---|
| Intercoil spacing | 1 m |
| Effective depth | ~0.75 m (horizontal dipole) / ~1.5 m (vertical dipole) |
| Measured quantities | Apparent conductivity (mS/m) + in-phase component |
| Generation | Original, pre-MK2 |
| Operation | Single operator, hand-carried, no ground contact |
| Typical applications | Soil salinity, precision agriculture, shallow archaeology |
Available as Refurbished, Absolute Certified, or Surplus. See our condition tier guide for details on what each tier includes.