High-resolution magnetotelluric imaging

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Project objective

The research project is on the high-resolution magnetotelluric (MT) imaging of complex geological structures. MT is increasingly used in many domains of earth sciences (environment, mining and oil industry; crustal and mantle studies) and 3-D interpretation of data is more and more required. For this project, I want to extend my experience in 3-D modeling acquired during my PhD thesis to high-resolution MT interpretation of dense arrays of data. During the project, I will learn the parallel computing and will use this knowledge to develop a modeling code derived from my original work. The parallelised 3-D modeling code will be applied to the interpretation of a new dense array of MT data acquired during the project. The chosen experiment site is in the north of the Isle of Skye. The structures in the Isle of Skye are typical of volcanic margins and constitute a good analog: Sedimentary basins were deformed by tectonic activity and covered by thick lava flows. These structures are a well-known problem in seismic prospecting since the lava flows reflect the seismic signals, masking the characteristics of the underlying sedimentary structures. The MT method is ideally suited to the imaging of the underlying structures since the MT sounding technique is highly sensitive to the electrically conductive underlying sediments. A model of the Isle of Skye area will allow a better understanding of the structural evolution of the volcanic margins, which interests the scientific community, but also industry because of the potential hydrocarbon reservoirs in such geological context.

Original text from CORDIS.

Participants

• UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH · EDINBURGHCoordinatorUnited Kingdom

Links

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