Application of seismic attributes for constraining Magnetotelluric Inversion

Abstract

Unconstrained inversion of surface magnetotelluric data generates non-uniqueness solutions. Boundaries derived from seismic reflectively images have the potential to substantially improve MT inversion. Seismic should be highly beneficial where significant and strong reflectors can reasonably be associated with contrast in electrical conductivity across well-defined relatively continuous boundaries. We show how seismic reflections can assist in defining such inversion controls as the smoothness penalty across known boundaries. We apply and compare a range of cooperative inversion strategies using large scale co-located magnetotelluric and seismic reflection field data sets from the Carlin style gold district in Nevada USA.