Two‐Dimensional Simulation of Magnetotelluric Anisotropy and Case Analysis

Abstract

AbstractAfter more than half century development, remarkable achievements have been made in the study of earth's interior electrical structure by using the magnetotelluric (MT) method. The majority of these research results are based on the electrical isotropic assumption. However, the electrical anisotropy phenomenon is prevalent in the earth interior, and the presence of such anisotropy in the crust and upper mantle is an important link factor among geoelectric models, underground structure and tectonic models. In this paper, the tensor conductivity is first introduced by starting from the Maxwell equations, then we deduce a set of partial differential equations with respect to Ex and Hx according to the characteristic of two‐dimensional electrical anisotropic structure. By using the partial differential equations, the appropriate solutions of Ex and Hx are solved, and other field components are obtained on the basis of Ex and Hx. In order to recognize the characteristics of electromagnetic propagation under common and special geological conditions, the influence on the measured MT data is studied by the forward simulation on ordinary and special two‐dimension anisotropic electrical structure, which lays theoretical foundation for the subsequent processing and interpretation of MT data. Finally, the electrical anisotropy theory is introduced into processing and interpretation of MT data based on the results in the paper, and the widespread existence of electrical anisotropy is illuminated, and the exactness of this theory and practicability of the algorithm are verified by means of the two‐dimension forward fitting interpretation on the MT data from Xinjiang. This work would provide theoretical basis and technical guidance for analyzing and explaining the electrical anisotropy in MT data and help opens approaches for processing of measured MT data.