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Three-dimensional arbitrarily anisotropic modeling for time-domain airborne electromagnetic surveys

  • Electrical & electromagnetic methods
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Abstract

Electrically anisotropic strata are abundant in nature, so their study can help our data interpretation and our understanding of the processes of geodynamics. However, current data processing generally assumes isotropic conditions when surveying anisotropic structures, which may cause discrepancies between reality and electromagnetic data interpretation. Moreover, the anisotropic interpretation of the time-domain airborne electromagnetic (TDAEM) method is still confined to one dimensional (1D) cases, and the corresponding three-dimensional (3D) numerical simulations are still in development. In this study, we expanded the 3D TDAEM modeling of arbitrarily anisotropic media. First, through coordinate rotation of isotropic conductivity, we obtained the conductivity tensor of an arbitrary anisotropic rock. Next, we incorporated this into Maxwell’s equations, using a regular hexahedral grid of vector finite elements to subdivide the solution area. A direct solver software package provided the solution for the sparse linear equations that resulted. Analytical solutions were used to verify the accuracy and feasibility of the algorithm. The proven model was then applied to analyze the effects of arbitrary anisotropy in 3D TDAEM via the distribution of responses and amplitude changes, which revealed that different anisotropy situations strongly affected the responses of TDAEM.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to Teacher Liu Yun-He and Dr. Ren Xiu-Yan for their advice and suggestions. We want to thank all reviewers and editors for their constructive comments and suggestions, which greatly improved the clarity of this paper.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Geophysical and Geochemical Exploration, Chinese Academy of Geological Science, Langfang, 065000, China

    Wei Huang, Fang Ben, Qing-Min Meng, Wen-Jie Li, Gui-Xiang Liao, Shan Wu & Yong-Zai Xi

  2. College of Geo-exploration Sciences and Technology, Jilin University, Changchun, 130021, China

    Chang-Chun Yin

  3. Laboratory of geophysical Electromagnetic Probing Technologies, Ministry of land and Resources, Langfang, 065000, China

    Wei Huang & Fang Ben

Authors
  1. Wei Huang
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  2. Fang Ben
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  3. Chang-Chun Yin
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  4. Qing-Min Meng
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  5. Wen-Jie Li
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  6. Gui-Xiang Liao
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  7. Shan Wu
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  8. Yong-Zai Xi
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Fang Ben.

Additional information

This paper is financially supported by National Nonprofit institute Research Grant of IGGE (Nos. AS2017J06, AS2017Y04, and AS2016J10), Survey on coastal area for airborne magnetic method of UNV in Jiangsu (No. DD20160151-03), Key National Research Project of China (No. 2017YFC0601900), Key Program of National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 41530320), Natural Science Foundation (No. 41274121), and China Natural Science Foundation for Young Scientists (No. 41404093).

Huang Wei received her B.Sc. majoring in exploration technology and engineering in 2011, and Ph.D. majoring in Geo-exploration and Information Technology in 2016 from Jilin University. She is presently working in IGGE as an engineer, mainly engaged in the theoretical research and application of aero-geophysical techniques. Her research interests are forward modeling and inversion for AEM, data preprocessing and processing for AEM, and imaging and inversion for AEM. Email: huangwei2012511@163.com.

Corresponding author: Ben Fang received his B.Sc. majoring in exploration technology and engineering in 2011 and Ph.D. majoring in Geo-exploration and Information Technology in 2016 from Jilin University. He is now working in IGGE as an engineer, mainly engaged in the theoretical research and application of aero-geophysical techniques.

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Huang, W., Ben, F., Yin, CC. et al. Three-dimensional arbitrarily anisotropic modeling for time-domain airborne electromagnetic surveys. Appl. Geophys. 14, 431–440 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11770-017-0627-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11770-017-0627-8

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