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Given the range of geological conditions under which airborne EM surveys are conducted, there is an expectation that the 2D and 3D methods used to extract models that are geologically meaningful would be favoured over ID inversion and transforms. We do after all deal with an Earth that constantly undergoes, faulting, intrusions, and erosive processes that yield a subsurface morphology, which is, for most parts, dissimilar to a horizontal layered earth.
We analyse data from a survey collected in the Musgrave province, South Australia. It is of particular interest since it has been used for mineral prospecting and for a regional hydro-geological assessment. The survey comprises abrupt lateral variations, more-subtle lateral continuous sedimentary sequences and filled palaeovalleys. As consequence, we deal with several geophysical targets of contrasting conductivities, varying geometries and at different depths. We invert the observations by using several algorithms characterised by the different dimensionality of the forward operator.
Inversion of airborne EM data is known to be an ill-posed problem. We can generate a variety of models that numerically adequately fit the measured data, which makes the solution non-unique. The application of different deterministic inversion codes or transforms to the same dataset can give dissimilar results, as shown in this paper. This ambiguity suggests the choice of processes and algorithms used to interpret AEM data cannot be resolved as a matter of personal choice and preference.
The degree to which models generated by a ID algorithm replicate/or not measured data, can be an indicator of the data's dimensionality, which perse does not imply that data that can be fitted with a 1D model cannot be multidimensional. On the other hand, it is crucial that codes that can generate 2D and 3D models do reproduce the measured data in order for them to be considered as a plausible solution. In the absence of ancillary information, it could be argued that the simplest model with the simplest physics might be preferred.
For near surface geophysical surveys, small-fixed offset loop-loop electromagnetic induction (EMI) sensors are usually placed parallel to the ground surface (i.e., both loops are at the same height above ground). In this study, we evaluate the potential of making measurements with a system that is not parallel to the ground; i.e., by positioning the system at different inclinations with respect to ground surface. First, we present the Maxwell theory for inclined magnetic dipoles over a homogeneous half space. By analyzing the sensitivities of such configurations, we,show that varying the angle of the system would result in improved imaging capabilities. For example, we show that acquiring data with a vertical system allows detection of a conductive body with a better lateral resolution compared to data acquired using standard horizontal configurations. The synthetic responses are presented for a heterogeneous medium and compared to field data acquired in the historical Park Sanssouci in Potsdam, Germany. After presenting a detailed sensitivity analysis and synthetic examples of such ground conductivity measurements, we suggest a new strategy of acquisition that allows to better estimate the true distribution of electrical conductivity using instruments with a fixed, small offset between the loops. This strategy is evaluated using field data collected at a well-constrained test-site in Horstwalde (Germany). Here, the target buried utility pipes are best imaged using vertical system configurations demonstrating the potential of our approach for typical applications. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. Pill rights reserved.
Most airborne electromagnetic (EM) processing programs assume a flat ground surface. However, in mountainous areas, the system can be at an angle with regard to the ground. As the system is no longer parallel to the ground surface, the measured magnetic field has to be corrected and the ground induced eddy current has to be modelled in a better way when performing a very fine interpretation of the data. We first recall the theoretical background for the modelling of a magnetic dipole source and study it in regard to the case of an arbitrarily oriented magnetic dipole. We show in particular how transient central loop helicopter borne data are influenced by this inclination. The result shows that the effect of topography on airborne EM is more important at early time windows and for systems using a short cut-off source. In this paper, we suggest that an estimate be made off the locally averaged inclination of the system to the ground and then to correct the data for this before inverting it (whether the inversion assumes a flat 1D, 2D or 3D sub-surface). Both 1D and 2D inversions are applied to synthetic and real data sets with such a correction. The consequence on the ground imaging is small for slopes with an angle less than 25 degrees but the correction factor can be useful for improving the estimation of depths in mountainous areas.
Ground loop-loop electromagnetic surveys are often conducted to fulfill the low-induction-number condition. To image the distribution of electric conductivity inside the ground, it is then necessary to collect a multioffset data set. We considered that less time-consuming constant offset measurements can also reach this objective. This can be achieved by performing multifrequency soundings, which are commonly performed for the airborne electromagnetic method. Ground multifrequency soundings have to be interpreted carefully because they contain high-induction-number data. These data are interpreted in two steps. First, the in-phase and out-of-phase data are converted into robust apparent conductivities valid for all the induction numbers. Second, the apparent conductivity data are inverted in 1D and 2D to obtain the true distribution of the ground conductivity. For the inversion, we used a general half-space Jacobian for the apparent conductivity valid for all the induction numbers. This method was applied and validated on synthetic data computed with the full Maxwell theory. The method was then applied on field data acquired in the test site of Provins, in the Parisian basin, France. The result revealed good agreement with borehole and geologic information, demonstrating the applicability of our method.