Processing of passive EM fields acquired during active-source airborne EM surveys

Abstract

The recording of raw or streamed airborne electromagnetic (AEM) data, as done by CGG during MEGATEM surveys, allows for the extraction of passive EM signals also present, but not normally processed. These include (1) powerline responses, (2) responses in the very low frequency (VLF) range due to radio transmissions and (3) natural-source audio-frequency magnetic (AFMAG) and VLF responses in the frequency range 25 Hz–25 kHz extracted from individual atmospheric electrical discharges (sferics). The latter approach manages to extract good signal in the audio-frequency magnetotelluric (AMT) dead band (1–5 kHz) for one of the discussed data sets. The recording of the three-component AEM data allows for the vector processing of these passive EM responses, including the derivation and modelling of the vertical-to-horizontal magnetic field ratio (tipper) data. Conductivity information can be derived from the tipper data with an apparent conductivity transformation and, more rigorously, with 2D and 3D inversions that take into account the terrain’s topography. The extraction and modelling of passive EM responses is demonstrated on two data sets. A powerline apparent-conductivity grid derived from a MEGATEM survey near Timmins, Canada indicates conductivity structures similar to those in the corresponding active-source EM data. VLF and AFMAG responses derived from South American MEGATEM data show a strong correlation to topography. These data were successfully modelled with 2D and 3D inversions, and the derived shallow conductivity structures confirm and complement the information extracted from the active-source EM data.

KEYWORDS:

• Airborne electromagnetics
• electromagnetic geophysics
• processing
• inversion
• 2D modelling
• 3D modelling

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to BHP for permission to publish the MEGATEM data from South America, to Warner Miles, GSC for providing the MEGATEM data from Canada, to Doug Oldenburg for providing the UBC-GIF Octree 3D inversion algorithm, to Michael Becken for the use of his apparent-conductivity algorithm and to Ken Witherly and two anonymous reviewers for providing valuable feedback.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).