Anisotropic, joint 3D inversion of marine CSEM and MT data

Abstract

A 3D inversion approach is presented for marine controlled‐source electromagnetic (CSEM) and magnetotelluric (MT) data influenced by formation anisotropy. The algorithm is based on the Gauss‐Newton approach and finite‐difference modeling, and assumes traverse isotropy in the vertical direction (TIV). The synthetic example shows that inline CSEM data are essential to detect the resistive reservoirs, while addition of broadside data is needed to recover anisotropic structures. Although MT data alone are not suited for defining anisotropy, joint inversion CSEM and MT data can improve the resolution of anisotropic resistivity images that is attained by CSEM data, particularly when CSEM data are acquired with only the inline configuration.