Application and Development of Magnetotelluric Methods

D. Sutarno
Earth Physics Laboratory
Department of Physics, Institut Teknologi Bandung
Jl. Ganesa 10 Bandung, 40132
E-mail : sutarno@fi.itb.ac.id
Abstract
The enormous growth in the use of the magnetotelluric (MT) method since 1960's has been an unexpected
surprise. It seems to have offered help of the right kind at right time for many commercial purposes. As
exploration was forced into more difficult areas, and with the volatility in resource price, the importance of
MT, in conjunction with other techniques, has tended to grow continuously.The method is now used in a
broad variety of applications. This range from the very deep and large scale studies of the crust and upper
mantle, through a wide range exploration application for petroleum and geothermal system, to the shallow
problems of epithermal gold, 'deep' base metals and even ground water. Its usefulness in poor seismic
areas and its negligible environmental impact are integral parts of effective exploration at minimum cost.
The aim of this paper is to set out what the method does, and to summarize the developments of the method.

Keywords: Electromagnetics, magnetotellurics, impedance tensor, tipper, conductivity, apparent

resistivity, remote references, robust estimations, robust inversion.

1
1. Introduction Mineral 10 - 2000 0.1 - 1000 10-1 - 10+1
Geothermal 100 - 100000 0.1 - 1000 10-2 - 10+2
The signals used for MT are natural
Oil/Gas 100 - 100000 0.1 - 1000 10-3 - 10
electromagnetic (EM) fields in the frequency
Deep Crust/ 1000 - 300000 0.1 - 100000 10-4 - 10
range 0.0001 to 10000 Hz, although in general
Upper Mantle
only a part of this broad range is used in any
particular application (see Table 1). Most of the
signal reaching the earth below 1 Hz is due to Data recording and processing are now
current flow in the ionized layers surrounding the almost universally done digitally. In some
earth. The currents are powered by solar activity system the data are simply recorded for a
and result in magnetic micropulsations that predetermined length of time, and are processed
constitute the primary component of natural field later. In other system the data are processed more
at these frequencies. At frequencies above 1 Hz, or less in real time, and no raw data are saved.
worldwide thunderstorm activity within the All new commercial systems are built around
atmosphere is the major contributor. micro-computer and include the capability of
When these primary magnetic processing on-site. Figure 1 schematically shows
fluctuations reach the surface of the earth, a a field setup of the MT system.
small portion of the energy propagates vertically
downward, inducing telluric currents as they go.
Energy in the down-going disturbance is quickly
dissipated as heat. The penetration mechanism in
this situation is actually diffusion rather than
wave propagation. Depth control is provided by
the skin depth that comes as a natural
consequence of the greater penetration of the
lower frequencies. Magnetic field components
are usually measured with induction coils,
although superconducting SQUIDS were widely
used in early 1980s. SQUIDS appear to have
fallen into disfavour for several reasons; in
survey operation they never achieved the low
noise level expected of them, they are less robust Figure 1. Field setup of MT measurement
than induction coils, and it is often difficult to
obtain and keep liquid helium in remote 2. Impedance Tensor and Tipper
operational areas. At the same time, the The relationships among the field
performance of newer induction coil has components at a single site are systematically
improved, putting SQUIDS at a further contained in the impedance and the tipper. They
disadvantage. are quantities from which conductivity structure
Electric fields are of course obtained by is interpreted. In general, the frequency domain
meassuring time variations in the voltages relation between electric and magnetic
between pair of electrodes. Contact resistance components measured at earth surface is
and noise can be reduced by installing the connected through a tensor relationship, as
electrodes in wet pit several hours, or days,
E = Z H, (1)
before they are used, to allow the
electrochemical environment to stabilize. The where
definitive study of electrode noise is still that of
 Z xx Z xy 
Petiau and Dupis1). Filloux2) describes the use of Z
Z yy 
(2)
MT in deep oceans that includes a review of  Z yx
instrumentation for sea floor MT.
This linear coupling between the
Table 1 Frequency Range for MT Application different component represents a two input-
Application Depth Range Resistivity Frequancy single output linear system. In MT analysis,
(m) Range Range elements of the tensor are used to calculate
(-meter) (Hz) apparent resistivity and impedance phase which
Ground water 10 - 100 1 - 100 10-1 - 10+1 are defined in the usual fashion as:
1
 1 2
 ij  Z ij , (3)
5f
and
Z ij
 ij  . (4)
Z ij
It is evident that Z simplifies in the 1D and 2D
cases. In the former Z xx  Z yy  0 and
Z xy   Z yx . In 2D, if one of the coordinate
directions is (or is rotated to be) along strike,
Z xx  Z yy  0 but Z xy   Z yx , otherwise all
four terms are non-zero. Fields and tensor can
always be mathematically rotated to its
principals axes. These leave two possible strike
directions for a clearly 2D cases. The choice
between these can only be made from
independent information, usually the tipper
function which relates the vertical to the
horizontal magnetic field components. The
relation is given by
H z  Tx H x  T y H y ,
(5)
where the elements Ti are complex since they
may include phase shifts. Given a 2D structure
with strike in x  direction, in those coordinates
the above equation simplifies to
H z  TyH y . (6)
Here, T  is called the tipper since it represents
a tipping of the H vector out of the horizontal
plane.
In the 2D cases the problem separates
into two independent modes, E perpendicular to
strike (TM) or E parallel to strike (TE). The
tipper arise only in the TE mode, and surface
charge accumulates only in TM mode. This neat
simplification of the 2D case does not occur in
3D models. Discrete 3D bodies have exposed
edges to accumulate charge density for any
applied field direction. Indicators of three-
dimensionality are well known. They include
widely varying apparent resistivity and phase
curves, non-zero tensor skew, the absence of a
definite minimum in tensor ellipticity, and the
difficulty of relating results 1D or 2D analyses to
a sensible geological model. Numerical model
program and algorithms for 2D are available in
public domain literature and comercially. They
include Finite difference 3,4), finite element 3,5-9)
and integral equation methods 3,10). On the other
hand, reliable 3D programs and results are much
2
more recent arrivals on the scene, are expensive,
and still lack adequate generality.
3. Data Processing and Analysis
The object of the data processing is to
extract, from the noiselike signals, a set of
smooth, repeatable functions representing the
earth's response, which can be used to interpret
conductivity structure. For this purpose, it is first
necessary to separate the frequencies and then to
statistically determine relationship (impedances,
apparent resistivities) amongst field components
at each frequency.
Conversion from time to frequency
domain is generally done by Fast Fourier
Transformation (FFT) after preliminary removal
of mean and linear trends, and windowing to
avoid transient effect from the ends to the data
sets. Data are usually collected in several broad,
overlapping frequency bands, each of which can
be treated in the same way. Wight and Bostick 11)
developed an efficient technique, called cascade
decimation, for continuous data collection and
processing. By low-pass filtering and decimation,
all of the data collected in this procedure
contribute to the results over the entire spectrum.
MT data quality improved spectracularly as a
result of the development remote reference (RR)
method 11). In this method, in addition to the
cluster of three magnetometers and two pairs
electrodes at the site of interest, another
orthogonal pair of components is simultaneously
collected for synchronous detection, at site near
by. In principle, the signal will be common but
the noises will be different so that the remote
(reference) signals are used for synchronous
detection. This has made vast improvement in
the quality of the results in the many cases where
noise is of the same order of size as the signal. In
extreme cases, where noise is either negligible or
far greater than signal, the RR approach is unable
to improve results. Of course there is a cost
involved in RR operation, due to extra
acquisition and processing required. This is
minimized by maintaining a reference pair for
complete survey, where this is posible. Another
approach has been deploy several complete (5-
channel) systems recording simultaneously in an
area, with synchronized timing.
A variety of methods have been
proposed for the numerical computation of
impedance functions and their associated error in
the presence of noise. Most of these are base on
classical least squares (LS) regression. However,
estimation procedures based on LS would not be
stastically optimal, as outliers (abnormal data)
are frequently superimposed on a common
Gaussian noise background which constitutes the
normal ambient noise field. One appealing
approach to dealing with outliers is to make the
estimation procedure robust, e.g. to modify in
such a manner that it is resistant to the effects of
the outliers.
Robust methods for spectral analysis of
MT data have been described by Sutarno and
Vozoff13). These methods are adaptive, in that
their detailed operation depends on the data and
thus tends to be iterative and slower than
conventional procedures. Robust methods always
yield impedance estimates which are better than
the conventional estimates because the 'real' MT
data almost never satisfy the statistical
assumptions of Gaussian distribution and
stationarity upon which normal spectral analysis
is based. Performance of robust estimation of
the MT impedance is further improved by
imposing some desirable and physically realistic
constraints on the MT impedance function 14-17). It
is shown that applying the Hilbert transform
(HT) operation to the causal impedance function
improves the robust impedance estimate, as it
implicitly incorporates a smmothness constraint
and requires consistency between the real and
imaginary parts. This new robust method can
produce usable MT impedance functions even
under conditions of severe noise contamination
and in the absence of remote reference data.
Figure 2 shows an example of MT data
processing results computed by the new robust
method 29), along with the results from the
conventional standard and RR methods.
Figure 2. A comparation of results for xy on MT
data from the Columbia River Plateau, by four
different analyses (after Sutarno and Vozoff,
1991): standard, RR, std. Robust, and RR
robust). The two robust analyses provide very
smooth and consistent results.
4. Inversion and Interpretation
Interpretation here means eventually
attaching geological label to the results of the
geophysical measurements. Inversion may be
used in the process, to get numerical models
which match the results.
As experience has accumulated,
interpretation has developed in both quantitative
and qualitative directions. It should be noted that
the most critical need is the ability to relate MT
results to geological ‘realities’: mineralogical
composition, porosity, and permeability, fabric
and fracture characteristics, temperature, etc.
The aim is to minimize the number of holes that
must be drilled for exploration and development.
Our abilities are improving, but they still have a
very long way to go: at present we are still
struggling with the most basic geometric
problems.
Qualitative interpretations usually begin
with a general overview of the data analysis
results. This is done either site by site (1D basis),
or on a 2D basis in which the locations and
directions of profiles are selected from the
available data. Niblet-Bostick (N-B)
transformation is often done at this stage because
of its simplicity. Correlation between sites can
often be seen in apparent resistivity and phase, as
well as in the N-B curves. The emerging picture
is frequently reinforced by continuity in the

3
pattern of conventional rotation directions and for 1D inversion with 2D finite difference
tippers, so that the plan of a structure can be forward model program.
mapped with considerable confidence.
Given a possible model based on the CSAMT Synthetic Data with Single Outlier
above results and geology or other information, it 10000 120

can be used to construct a computer model D a ta

In v . R o b u s t C S A M T 105
D a ta

A p p a r e n t R e s is t iv i ty ( O h m .m )
In v . R o b u s t C S A M T

whose response can be compared with the

In v . T a n p a R o b u s t C S A M T 90
In v . T a n p a R o b u s t C S A M T

P h a se (D e g re e )
75

observed data. Alternatively, it may be the basis 1000 60

45

for inversion, which usually requires an initial 30

15

model followed by iterative for refinements. 100 0

0 1 10 100 1000 10000

Inversion is widely available for 1D models, is in 0 1 10 100

F re q u e n c y (H z)
1000 10000
F req u en cy (H z)

limited availability for 2D, and is not yet 1

M o d e l S in te tik
1
M o d e l S in te tik

available for 3D model because of the large In v . R o b u s t C S A M T In v . T a n p a R o b u s t

10 10
computing requirements.

d e p th (m )

d e p th (m )
Roughly speaking, the publications of 100 100

MT inversion tend to come in one of two

varieties; simple and useful but spesific, or 1000 1000
0 1 10 100 1000 10000 0 1 10 100 1000 10000
elegant and instructive but very general. The R e s is tiv ity (O h m .m ) R e s is tiv ity (O h m .m )

former are usually overdetermined cases,
consisting of small numbers of layers and many
data points. Conductivities and thicknesses are
found such that the response fit the observed data
to within the measurement errors, as estimated
from RR processing or from scatter in the data.
The problem is linearized by taking a starting
model which is assumed to be close to the
‘correct’ solution. Its response is compared to
that observed, and adjustments are made to each
of parameters based only on the first partial
derivatives of response to each of the parameters.
Significant change from this approach is the use
of an approximate generalized inverse instead of
the direct inverse, for stability. This is obtained
through the Marquardt method 18) or by a
modified Marquardt approach using singular
value decomposition (SVD) as in Mustopa and
Sutarno19) and Akman and Sutarno 20). The
generalized inverse also provides direct means of
estimating probable error bounds (or confidence
limit) on the resulting parameters, using
observed data variances and the structure of the
parameter space. Mustopa and Sutarno 21)
incorporated a robust procedure to the
generalized inverse in the MT robust inversion
scheme and more recently, Sutarno and
Nurhasan30) also apply that robust scheme to the
CSAMT inversion problem. Figure 3 shows an
example of robust inversion results in
comparation to the conventional non robust.
Inversion to 2D models has also been
developed for the MT data, usually utilizing the
same principles and often the same code as for
1D. Sutarno22) combines the SVD code developed
Figure 3. A comparation of inversion results for
synthetic CSAMT data with single outlier
contamination, by two different inversion
schemes (after Sutarno and Nurhasan, in press):
robust and non robust.
5. Case Histories
Results from surveys having a wide
variety of objectives have been published in
recent years. Predictable, many excellent sets of
results have not appeared because of commercial
considerations. Those which are published tend
to come from research and/or governmental
group. Some significant regional MT results are
those of Young and Repasky 23), Maidens and
Paulson24), Young and Lucas 25), Sutarno and
Vozoff26), and Christopherson 27). Many brief case
histories appearing in the extended abstract of
the annual SEG meeting have never been
published, and the SEG reprints volume on MT 28)
includes a section of case histories. Figure 4
shows an example of MT results from northern
Michigan 23).
On reading these it is clear that
important results can be obtained in surveys,
even with less than ideal data quality. This is
particularly noticeable in the Audio MT (AMT)
examples where the equipment has tended to be
fairly primitive but measurements have been
rapid. What has been lacking in the quality has
been made up by the quantity of data. However,
this philosophy is not recommended since one
might very well end up with a large quantity of
useless data. The quality of MT data has been
uniformly better, but of course data collection is

4
much slower. The advent of newer robust
methods has considerably solved the
problem 15,16).

6. Conclusions
In summary it can be concluded that the
MT method is theoretically sound. Lot of
parameters of measurement that are used in MT
lead to more definite interpretation than other
EM methods. The data can be interpreted with
sufficient accuracy to be useful.
The method is economically
advantageous in preliminary investigations
where it can be used to guide subsequent
geophysical and geological work. In addition, the
method is also applicable to problem where Figure 4. Analysis and interpretation of MT data
seismic reflection is ineffective. from northern Michigan (after Young and
Repasky, 1986); a) Apparent resistivity curves-
Whereas MT is now a useful technique b) Tipper magnitude and direction for 0.004 Hz;
with some unique application, there are c) Rotated impedance polar diagrams for 0.047
obviously important and difficult problems Hz; d) Pseudosections of apparent resistivity data
remaining to be solved. More work needs to be (left) and computation (right); e) Final 2D
done concerning the necessary improvements in resistivity model; f) Geology section interpreted
our ability to collect, process and interpret MT in from final 2D model.
complex 3D structural environments.

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