갯벌 지역의 하부퇴적층에 대한 AMT 탐사의 적용 가능성 평가

Abstract

The marine seismic prospecting using a research vessel in the shallow sea near the coastal area has certain limits according to the water depth and survey environment. Also, for the electrical resistivity survey at seashore area, one may need a specially designed high-voltage source to penetrate the very conductive surface layer. Therefore, we have conducted a feasibility study on the application of magnetotelluric method (MT), a passive geophysical method, on investigating of shallow marine environment geology. Our study involves both theoretical modeling and field survey at the tidal flat area which represent the very shallow marine environment. We have applied the audio-frequency magnetotelluric (AMT) method to the intertidal deposits of Gunhung Bay, west coast of Korea, and analysed the field data both qualitatively and quantitatively to investigate the morphology and sedimentary stratigraphy of the tidal flat. The inversion of AMT data well reveals the upper sedimentary layer of Holocene intertidal sediments having a range of 13-20 m thickness and the erosional patterns at the unconformable contact boundary. However, the AMT inversion results tend to overestimate the depth of basement (30-50 m) when compared with the seismic section (27-33 m). Since MT responses are not significantly sensitive to the resistivity of middle layer or the depth of basement, the AMT inversion result for basement may have to be adjusted using the comparison with other geophysical information like seismic section or logging data if possible. But, the AMT method can be an effective alternative choice for investigating the seashore area to get important basic informations such as the depositional environment of the tidal flat, sea-water intrusion and the basement structure near the sea shore.