Pierre-Alexandre Reninger

Slopes of an airborne electromagnetic resistivity model interpolated jointly with borehole data for 3D geological modelling

ABSTRACT We investigate a novel way to introduce resistivity models deriving from airborne electromagnetic surveys into regional geological modelling. Standard geometrical geological modelling can be strengthened using geophysical data. Here, we propose to extract information contained in a resistivity model in the form of local slopes that constrain the modelling of geological interfaces. The proposed method is illustrated on an airborne electromagnetic survey conducted in the region of Courtenay in France. First, a resistivity contrast corresponding to the clay/chalk interface was interpreted confronting the electromagnetic soundings to boreholes. Slopes were then sampled on this geophysical model and jointly interpolated with the clay/chalk interface documented in boreholes using an implicit 3D potential‐field method. In order to evaluate this new joint geophysical–geological model, its accuracy was compared with that of both pure geological and pure geophysical models for various borehole configurations. The proposed joint modelling yields the most accurate clay/chalk interface whatever the number and location of boreholes taken into account for modelling and validation. Compared with standard geological modelling, the approach introduces in between boreholes geometrical information derived from geophysical results. Compared with conventional resistivity interpretation of the geophysical model, it reduces drift effects and honours the boreholes. The method therefore improves what is commonly obtained with geological or geophysical data separately, making it very attractive for robust 3D geological modelling of the subsurface.

Frame Effective Tilt Correction for HEM Data Acquired over Rugged Terrain

In a traditional HEM inversion scheme, the voltage data are usually normalized by the effective area of the system. This effective area depends on the tilt of the frame; the pitch and the roll of the frame are monitored during the survey with tilt-meters and used to calculate a correction term. However, using the measured tilt to calculate this term, it is assumed that the terrain is flat, which may lead to inaccuracies on the inversion results. Thus, though the correction term is generally small, it can prove important to accurately compute it in rugged terrain when high resolution is needed. The measured tilt has then to be corrected by the apparent slope of the ground in order to determine an effective tilt at each measurement location. In this work we compute the effective tilt and evaluate its contribution on inversion results. This was achieved on a recent survey conducted over La Reunion, which has a very rugged terrain. The inversion results obtained using the effective tilt were compared to the ones obtained with the measured tilt. Using the effective tilt in such environment has a clear effect in the inversion results, both on resistivity patterns and on the DOI.

3D Geological Modelling Improvement with Airborne Time Domain Electromagnetism

Standard geological modelling based on boreholes and geological maps can be strengthened using geophysical data. Constrains such as gravity, magnetic and seismic data have already been used. We propose a novel method combining boreholes and the resistivity model resulting from inversion of airborne time domain electromagnetic data. First, the “geophysical” top of the chalk has been identified in the resistivity model after a detailed cross-analysis of resistivities versus boreholes. Then, we jointly interpolated slopes extracted from this geophysical surface together with the top of the chalk in boreholes. Comparison of uncertainties between this model together with pure geological and geophysical models shows that the joint modelling yields the most accurate top of the chalk. A cross-section, intersecting five boreholes (two used as control boreholes) and displaying each of the three surfaces, highlights the usefulness to take into account “geophysical slopes” when modelling. The proposed joint modelling improves what is commonly obtained with geological or geophysical data. This makes the method very attractive for detailed 3D geological modelling.