Bauxite plays a crucial role in metallic and non-metallic industry. The surface-exposed salento-type bauxite deposits have been largely exploited and developed. With the increasing demand of these resources, it is important but very challenging to explore the potential bauxite deposits in the deep earth. In this paper, based on new developments in transient electromagnetic (TEM) technologies, we conducted explorations of the sedimentary bauxite in Dengli-Tianyanggumei and Dajia mining areas in western Guangxi province. To achieve a fast and high-resolution inversion, we adopt an array-based observation strategy for large-scale 3-D TEM and collect EM data inside and outside the transmitting loop. Compared to traditional TEM surveys, the observation strategy can quickly acquire the data for large-scale surveys and improve the data acquisition efficiency by more than 25 times. We then use a 3-D inversion algorithm to estimate the underground conductivity structure and analyze the distribution of the sedimentary bauxite. To do that, we discretize the undulating surface and transmitter-receiver locations with unstructured grids and employ the finite-element and quasi-Newton methods to achieve high-resolution imaging of subsurface electrical structures. Since the observation strategy greatly reduces the number of transmitters, the efficiency of 3-D EM inversions can be significantly improved. Experiments over two mining areas show that our inversions can clearly recover the underground resistivities. The inferred burial depth and spatial distribution of the sedimentary bauxite are in agreement with the drilling data. By combining ERT results and geological data, we illustrate the impact of faults on the spatial distribution of potential sedimentary bauxite deposits.
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