DATA ACQUISITION AND PROCESSING

Shalivahan
Fundamental to valid interpretation is

Precise and accurate determination of

impedance

Before discussing interpretation and modelling of the

MT data with special reference to Singhbhum Craton

Let us examine the data acquisition procedure and

the processing to improve S/N ratio of the MT signals
 MT FIELD SETUP
Hx Ex

Hy
a > 10 m
b > 15 m
Ey b c > 20 m
S P V5 Ey

a Co mm un icat io n 2 5 cm
c Cab le Bur ied I r on
10 0-1 50 m Cor e Coil
Hz Ex Bu r ied
a
V5 Tellur ic
2 0 cm Elect r od e

Bent on ite

2 0 cm
 • Globally/Standard RR MT data A+B; C+D

A B C D

Problem?
How remote can be the far remote reference site
for magnetotelluric measurements?

 Solution: A site was fixed/stationary other is mobile

A+B; A+C; A+D

A B C D
 ` LOCATION
MAP
(007 ~40 Km)

MT SITES
(016 ~80 Km)

(021 ~115 Km)

(038 ~215 Km)

Only the RR site at 215 km is sufficiently far enough
that the RR processing results in smooth MT transfer
functions over the entire frequency range including
the dead band (10 Hz - 0.1 Hz)

 MINIMUM DISTANCE ~215 Km

(Shalivahan and Bhattacharya, JGR, 2002)

TIME LAPSE /4D MT

Processing E=ZH+M M is random errors

This Equation is appropriate when Noise

restricted to the output E while the input H is
observed without error.

• To estimate Z from OUTLIERS (noise on input)

(10,12, 54, 11, 12)

• OUTLIERS:
»Point Defects
»Local Non-Stationarity
Local Non-Stationarity
 Data Processing
L
S wi | r i | 2
i=1

Eobservedi= (ZxxHxi + Zxy Hyi)

Residual (ri)=Epredictedi- Eobservedi

Weights

• Coherency Weighted Estimates

• Rho-var
• Robust Estimate
• CWE:

DOWNWEIGHTS EVENTS FOR

– LOW coherence between the Ex and Hy,

• Rho-Var:

DOWNWEIGHTS EVENTS FOR

– HIGH coherence between the Hx and Hy,

 ROBUST

wi = 1 if |ri| ≤ 1.5
1.5/|ri| if |ri| > 1.5
RR+LS+CWE
RR+Rho-Var+LS

RR+Robust
• DISTORTED ESTIMATES of Impedance with

LS+SS,
LS+CWE+RR,
LS+Rho-Var+RR

• Cause: OUTLIERS
 Robust down weights Outliers

It may actually down weight or throw

away the data with the best S/N
ratio exacerbating the problem.

Robust Fails where S/N Low (Dead Band)

SOLUTION?
 Solution

• Hybrid (CWE+Robust): CWE S/N

• Hybrid (Rho-var +Robust):

Rho-var S/N
 RR+CWE+ROBUST

RR+Rho-Var+Robust
• CWE+Robust DISTORTED

High Coherency Hx and Hy

• Rho-var+Robust DISTORTED

Low Coherency Ex and Hy

 Extra Hybrid: RR+CWE+Rho-Var+Robust

SOLUTION: RR+HYBRID SCHEME

(Shalivahan et al., 2006, JGR)