Two‐dimensional joint inversion of radiomagnetotelluric and direct current resistivity data

Abstract

ABSTRACT An algorithm for the two‐dimensional (2D) joint inversion of radiomagnetotelluric and direct current resistivity data was developed. This algorithm can be used for the 2D inversion of apparent resistivity data sets collected by multi‐electrode direct current resistivity systems for various classical electrode arrays (Wenner, Schlumberger, dipole‐diplole, pole‐dipole) and radiomagnetotelluric measurements jointly. We use a finite difference technique to solve the Helmoltz and Poisson equations for radiomagnetotelluric and direct current resistivity methods respectively. A regularized inversion with a smoothness constrained stabilizer was employed to invert both data sets. The radiomagnetotelluric method is not particularly sensitive when attempting to resolve near‐surface resistivity blocks because it uses a limited range of frequencies. On the other hand, the direct current resistivity method can resolve these near‐surface blocks with relatively greater accuracy. Initially, individual and joint inversions of synthetic radiomagnetotelluric and direct current resistivity data were compared and we demonstrated that the joint inversion result based on this synthetic data simulates the real model more accurately than the inversion results of each individual method. The developed 2D joint inversion algorithm was also applied on a field data set observed across an active fault located close to the city of Kerpen in Germany. The location and depth of this fault were successfully determined by the 2D joint inversion of the radiomagnetotelluric and direct current resistivity data. This inversion result from the field data further validated the synthetic data inversion results.