The 3D joint inversion of MT and ZTEM data

Abstract

MT and ZTEM data were inverted with a number of 2D and 3D algorithms to recover the subsurface conductivity structure of an area of interest. A 2D inversion algorithm was used to model the magnetotelluric TM and TE mode impedances and the ZTEM tipper data, separately. The derived conductivity-depth sections don't show much agreement, possibly indicating the conductivity structure of the area to be highly three-dimensional. A 3D inversion algorithm was used to invert the MT and ZTEM data, separately and jointly. Overall, there is good agreement between the derived conductivity structures. This suggests that a joint inversion can extract successfully the combined subsurface conductivity information from the two data sets.