Fitting superparamagnetic and distributed Cole-Cole parameters to airborne electromagnetic data: A case history from Quebec

Abstract

Our aim was to confirm the ability of polarizable and superparamagnetic (SPM) thin sheets in the near surface to improve the model fit of airborne electromagnetic data. Our method was to fit induced polarization (IP) effects with Cole-Cole complex conductivity and fit SPM effects with Chikazumi complex permeability. Surficial conductors were assumed to be the source of the conductivity and IP effects. In this case history from Lac Brûlé, Quebec over an anorthosite intrusion, small to large IP effects were found to be essential to fit most of the observed data. In some areas, it was also possible to separate SPM effects from IP effects in the data. Most IP effects in this unusually polarizable area were adequately fit with a distributed decay characterized with a frequency dependence of [Formula: see text], but some required a sharper response characterized by [Formula: see text]. In general, fitted IP time constants were anticorrelated with fitted frequency dependence, with short time constants fitted to the larger [Formula: see text] values and vice versa. SPM effects were detected in a small but significant fraction of the data, and appear to be spatially related to static magnetic anomalies. The SPM in this case is presumably related to fine-grained rock magnetism, rather than the more common case of weathering products.