Three-dimensional magnetotelluric modelling of the Lalor volcanogenic massive-sulfide deposit, Manitoba

Abstract

Unconstrained magnetotelluric inversion commonly produces insufficient inherent resolution to image ore-system fluid pathways that were structurally thinned during post-emplacement tectonic activity. To improve the resolution in these complex environments, we synthesized the 3-D magnetotelluric (MT) response for geologically realistic models using a finite-element-based forward-modelling tool with unstructured meshes and applied it to the Lalor volcanogenic massive-sulfide deposit in the Snow Lake mining camp, Manitoba. This new tool is based on mapping interpolated or simulated resistivity values from wireline logs onto unstructured tetrahedral meshes to reflect, with the help of 3-D models obtained from lithostratigraphic and lithofacies drillhole logs, the complexity of the host-rock geological structure. The resulting stochastic model provides a more realistic representation of the heterogeneous spatial distribution of the electric resistivity values around the massive, stringer, and disseminated sulfide ore zones. Both models were combined into one seamless tetrahedral mesh of the resistivity field. To capture the complex resistivity distribution in the geophysical forward model, a finite-element code was developed. Comparative analyses of the forward models with MT data acquired at the Earth's surface show a reasonable agreement that explains the regional variations associated with the host rock geological structure and detects the local anomalies associated with the MT response of the ore zones.