Forward modeling of geophysical electromagnetic methods using Comsol

Abstract

In geophysical electromagnetic methods, time-varying magnetic fields are measured at Earth's surface that are produced by electrical currents inside the Earth in order to constrain subsurface conductivity and geological structure. These methods are widely used for mineral exploration and environmental investigations, and are increasingly being used in hydrocarbon exploration as well. Forward modeling of exploration geophysics methods is useful for the purpose of survey planning, for understanding the method, especially for students, and as part of an iteration process in inverting measured data. Modeling electromagnetic methods remains an area of active research. In most geophysical methods, the electromagnetic frequency is sufficiently low that the wavelength of the radiation is much larger than the area of interest. As such, the quasi-static approximation is valid. Comsol Multiphysics' AC/DC module solves Maxwell's equations in the quasi-static approximation and in this contribution, we will show examples of its use in modeling magnetometric resistivity (MMR), very low frequency (VLF) techniques, as well as frequency and time-domain induction-based electromagnetic techniques. Solutions are compared with benchmarks from the literature.