Three-dimensional controlled-source electromagnetic and magnetotelluric joint inversion

• Published in: Geophysical journal international Vol. 178; no. 3; pp. 1305 - 1316
• Main Authors: Commer, Michael, Newman, Gregory A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01-09-2009
• Subjects: 54; 58; DATA ACQUISITION; Electrical properties; EXPLORATION; FOCUSING; Inverse theory; Magnetotelluric; Marine electromagnetics; Numerical solutions; RESOLUTION; SIMULATION
• ISSN: 0956-540X; 1365-246X
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-246X.2009.04216.x

The growing use of the controlled-source electromagnetic method (CSEM) and magnetotellurics (MT) for exploration applications has been driving the development of data acquisition technologies, and three-dimensional (3-D) modelling and imaging techniques. However, targeting increasingly complex geological environments also further enhances the problems inherent in large-scale inversion, such as non-uniqueness and resolution issues. In this paper, we report on two techniques to mitigate these problems. We use 3-D joint CSEM and MT inversion to improve the model resolution. To avoid the suppression of the resolution capacities of one data type, and thus to balance the use of inherent, and ideally complementary information content, different data reweighting schemes are proposed. Further, a hybrid model parametrization approach is presented, where traditional cell-based model parameters are used simultaneously within a parametric inversion. The idea is to limit the non-uniqueness problem, typical for 3-D imaging problems, in order to allow for a more focusing inversion. The methods are demonstrated using synthetic data generated from models with a strong practical relevance.