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The transient electromagnetic (TEM) method is a non-invasive geophysical tool well-suited for subsurface imaging in cold and polar regions, where common targets are associated with strong contrasts in electrical resistivity. By imaging the electrical properties of the subsurface, the TEM methods can discriminate between geological units such as frozen ground (permafrost), fresh/saline groundwater systems, and bedrock/glacier ice. In this study, we compare TEM data acquired with ground-based and airborne TEM systems. We demonstrate the mapping capabilities of these two approaches in high latitude polar environments with datasets from Taylor Glacier, Lake Vanda, and Canada Glacier in the McMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica. The results show a high consistency between the airborne and ground-based TEM data, both with a high resolution and a deep penetration depth down to hundreds of meters due to the resistive background material, which makes both approaches capable of mapping hydrological systems and identifying the base of glaciers. The airborne TEM approach offers an unmatched spatial data coverage in difficult terrain and a far improved lateral resolution compared to the static ground-based system. The ground-based TEM system offers the possibility for using larger transmitter coils and longer stacking times and therefore has potential for reaching deeper penetration depths. The ground-based TEM approach is hence a valuable tool that can provide consistent imaging results while also being far more accessible in terms of cost and field logistics compared to an airborne TEM campaign.

The development of multichannel instrumentation was a significant step forward for surface nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). Multichannel instruments allow data to be recorded on multiple receivers simultaneously, thus facilitating the exploitation of Wiener filtering techniques that provide significant signal-to-noise increases and allow two- and three-dimensional images of the subsurface properties to be produced. When working in challenging environments (e.g. forested/brushy terrain), difficult noise conditions, or when using complicated survey designs it can become quite cumbersome to deploy multiple coils, which often require substantial lengths of cable to be deployed. As such, it would be advantageous if the dimensions of typical receive coils could be greatly reduced from the current standards (~25–100 m). The use of small receive coils would lead to more rapid survey deployment and may advance the utility of methods requiring multiple receivers. The objectives of this work are two-fold. The first aims to quantify limits on the feasible dimensions of small receive coils in surface NMR, aiming to provide an estimate of the minimum effective area of a functional surface NMR receiver. The second aims to demonstrate that the use of multiple additional small receive coils (when used in conjunction with the standard large coincident transmit/receive coil) can help to improve the resolution of estimated water content and relaxation time depth profiles. Synthetic results are presented to quantify lower effective area limits and to demonstrate potential resolution improvements provided by small receivers. The feasibility of a small receiver (400 m2 and 200 m2) is demonstrated in a field setting.

We implemented an edge-based finite element time domain (FETD) modeling algorithm for simulating controlled-source electromagnetic (CSEM) data. The modeling domain is discretized using unstructured tetrahedral mesh and we consider a finite difference discretization of time using the backward Euler method which is unconditionally stable. We solve the diffusion equation for the electric field with a total field formulation. The finite element system of equation is solved using the direct method. The solutions of electric field, at different time, can be obtained using the effective time stepping method with trivial computation cost once the matrix is factorized. We try to keep the same time step size for a fixed number of steps using an adaptive time step doubling (ATSD) method. The finite element modeling domain is also truncated using a semi-adaptive method. We proposed a new boundary condition based on approximating the total field on the modeling boundary using the primary field corresponding to a layered background model. We validate our algorithm using several synthetic model studies.

Leaching of organic and inorganic contamination from landfills is a serious environmental problem as surface water and aquifers are affected. In order to assess these risks and investigate the migration of leachate from the landfill, 2D and large scale 3D electrical resistivity tomography were used at a heavily contaminated landfill in Grindsted, Denmark. The inverted 2D profiles describe both the variations along the groundwater flow as well as the plume extension across the flow directions. The 3D inversion model shows the variability in the low resistivity anomaly pattern corresponding to differences in the ionic strength of the landfill leachate. Chemical data from boreholes agree well with the observations indicating a leachate plume which gradually sinks and increases in size while migrating from the landfill in the groundwater flow direction. Overall results show that the resistivity method has been very successful in delineating the landfill leachate plume and that good correlation exists between the resistivity model and leachate ionic strength.

Surface nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) data are sensitive to key hydrogeological parameters including water content and pore size. The measured data are modelled as a complex sinusoidal exponential decay where the phase is a function of the physics of the experiment and instrumental factors, parameters that are difficult to decouple. When inverting surface NMR data, practitioners typically account for these phases either by considering only the amplitudes of the complex signals, thus eliminating the influence of the phase, or by iteratively rotating the complex data during inversion so the data phase matches the theoretical phase generated during forward modelling. Each of these approaches assumes the user has an accurate forward model; if not, the data will be incorrectly rotated and forced to fit an erroneous forward model. Additionally, this rotation will artificially reduce the total data misfit, thus masking the effect of the erroneous forward model. We demonstrate the pitfalls of using inverse methods that correct for the phase by inverting synthetic data with three types of deliberate modelling errors that may occur during a surface NMR experiment: errors in the offset between the Larmor and transmit frequencies, errors in the subsurface resistivity model, and errors in the relative positioning of a separated transmitter-receiver coil pair. The inverted water content profiles show that the modelling errors can introduce inversion artifacts. However, the amplitude inversions and complex inversions with iterative phase correction frequently produce χ2 misfit values close to unity, showing that these inverse methods will fail to “raise the alarm” when an incorrect forward model is implemented.

Combined resistivity and time-domain direct current induced polarization (DCIP) measurements are traditionally carried out with a 50\% duty cycle current waveform, taking the resistivity measurements during the on-time and the IP measurements during the off-time. One drawback with this method is that only half of the acquisition time is available for resistivity and IP measurements, respectively. In this paper, this limitation is solved by using a current injection with 100\% duty cycle and also taking the IP measurements in the on-time. With numerical modelling of current waveforms with 50\% and 100\% duty cycles we show that the waveforms have comparable sensitivity for the spectral Cole–Cole parameters and that signal level is increased up to a factor of 2 if the 100\% duty cycle waveform is used. The inversion of field data acquired with both waveforms confirms the modelling results and shows that it is possible to retrieve similar inversion models with either of the waveforms when inverting for the spectral Cole–Cole parameters with the waveform of the injected current included in the forward computations. Consequently, our results show that on-time measurements of IP can reduce the acquisition time by up to 50\% and increase the signal-to-noise ratio by up to 100\% almost without information loss. Our findings can contribute and have a large impact for DCIP surveys in general and especially for surveys where time and reliable data quality are important factors. Specifically, the findings are of value for DCIP surveys conducted in urban areas where anthropogenic noise is an issue and the heterogeneous subsurface demands time-consuming 3D acquisitions. (Less)

We present a concept that combines lithological information from boreholes with resistivity information from geophysical data to produce an accumulated clay thickness (ACT) estimate as a proxy for assessing the vulnerability of the groundwater to contamination from nitrate. The groundwater's vulnerability to nitrate is strongly dependent on the hydraulic conductivity and the thickness of the protective layers. Low permeable clays in the overburden offer good protection to underlying aquifers by increasing the transit time. This means that the accumulated clay thickness is a good indicator for aquifer vulnerability to nitrate. In geophysically derived resistivity models clays are characterized by low electrical resistivity, but non-unique clay–sand resistivity transition prevents direct mapping of resistivity models to clay thickness. Within the ACT concept, a translator model linking the resistivity to the accumulated clay thickness is calibrated by borehole information, ensuring consistency between the resistivity and the borehole data. An accumulated clay thickness map of the aquifer overburden (e.g., top 30 m) is then calculated, based on the calibrated translator model and geophysically derived resistivity models. We demonstrate the concept on a large-scale nitrate vulnerability assessment survey in Denmark. The concept successfully delineates the clay-dominated areas that play a key role in the assessment of the aquifer's vulnerability to nitrate pollution.

article i nfo Contamination of groundwater by leaking CO2 is a potential risk of carbon sequestration. With the help of a field experiment in western Denmark, we investigate to what extent surface electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) can detect and image dissolved CO2 in a shallow aquifer. For this purpose, we injected CO2 at a depth of 5 and 10 m and monitored its migration using 320 electrodes on a 126 m × 25 m surface grid. A fully automated acquisition system continuously collected data and uploaded it into an online database. The large amount of data allows for time-series analysis using geostatistical techniques for noise estimation and data interpolation to compensate for intermittent instrument failure. We estimate a time-dependent noise level for each ERT configuration, taking data variation and measurement frequency into account. A baseline inversion reveals the geology at the site consisting of aeolian and glacial sands near the surface and marine sands below 10 m depth. 3-D time-lapse ERT inversions clearly image the dissolved CO2 plume with de- creased electrical resistivity values. We can image the geochemical changes induced by the dissolved CO2 until the end of the acquisition, 120 days after the injection start. During these 120 days, the CO2 migrates about 25 m in the expected groundwater flow direction. Water electrical conductivity (EC) sampling using small screens in 29 wells allows for very good verification of the ERT results. Water EC and ERT results generally agree very well, with the water sampling showing some fine-scale variations that cannot be resolved by the ERT. The ERT images have their strength in outlining the plume's shape in three dimensions and in being able to image the plume outside the well field. These results highlight the potential for imaging dissolved CO2 using non-intrusive surface electrical resistivity tomography.

Helicopter borne time domain EM systems historically measure only the Z-component of the secondary field, whereas fixed wing systems often measure all field components. For the latter systems the X-component is often used to map discrete conductors, whereas it finds little use in the mapping of layered settings. Measuring the horizontal X-component with an offset loop helicopter system probes the earth with a complementary sensitivity function that is very different from that of the Z-component, and could potentially be used for improving resolution of layered structures in one dimensional modeling. This area is largely unexplored in terms of quantitative results in the literature, since measuring and inverting X-component data from a helicopter system is not straightforward: The signal strength is low, the noise level is high, the signal is very sensitive to the instrument pitch and the sensitivity function also has a complex lateral behavior. The basis of our study is a state of the art inversion scheme, using a local 1D forward model description, in combination with experiences gathered from extending the SkyTEM system to measure the X component. By means of a 1D sensitivity analysis we motivate that in principle resolution of layered structures can be improved by including an X-component signal in a 1D inversion, given the prerequisite that a low-pass filter of suitably low cut-off frequency can be employed. In presenting our practical experiences with modifying the SkyTEM system we discuss why this prerequisite unfortunately can be very difficult to fulfill in practice. Having discussed instrumental limitations we show what can be obtained in practice using actual field data. Here, we demonstrate how the issue of high sensitivity towards instrument pitch can be overcome by including the pitch angle as an inversion parameter and how joint inversion of the Z- and X-components produces virtually the same model result as for the Z-component alone. We conclude that adding helicopter system X-component to a 1D inversion can be used to facilitate higher confidence in the layered result, as the requirements for fitting the data into a 1D model envelope becomes more stringent and the model result thus less prone to misinterpretation.

International audience; We develop a technique allowing 3D gridding of large sets of 1D resistivity models obtained after inversion of extensive airborne EM surveys. The method is based on the assumption of a layered-earth model. 2D kriging is used for interpolation of geophysical model parameters and their corresponding uncertainties. The 3D grid is created from the interpolated data, its structure accurately follows the geophysical model, providing a lightweight file for a good rendering. Propagation of errors is tracked through the quantification of uncertainties from both inversion and interpolation procedures. The 3D grid is exported to a portable standard, which allows flexible visualization and volumetric computations, and improves interpretation. The method is validated and illustrated by a case-study on Santa Cruz Island, in the Galapagos Archipelago.

Airborne electromagnetic methods (AEM) are used extensively in groundwater investigations, often in combination with high-resolution seismic data. Despite the frequent use of this mapping strategy, only a few cases are found in the literature. In this study, comparisons and interpretations were made based on AEM (SkyTEM) and high-resolution seismic data from an area covering 10 km 2 in the western part of Denmark. As support for the interpretations, an exploration well was drilled to provide lithological and logging information in the form of resistivity and vertical seismic profiling. Based on the resistivity log, synthetic SkyTEM responses were calculated with a varying number of gate-times in order to illustrate the effect of the noise-level. At the exploration well geophysical data were compared to the lithological log; in general there is good agreement. The same tendency was recognised when SkyTEM results from the area were superposed onto seismic sections. Comprehensive geological knowledge is necessary in order to introduce layer boundaries from one method interactively in the data handling of the other. However, in cases where resistivity transitions are positively correlated to reflections, SkyTEM data supports the interpretation of weak reflections, and can also support the correlation of reflections both internally and between seismic lines. Besides contributing lithological information, the AEM survey provides gross three-dimensional structural information, whereas seismic data contributes with more detailed structural information in two dimensions.

The transient electromagnetic (TEM) method has been used extensively for hydrogeophysical exploration in Denmark for the past decade. Innovative instrumentation combined with multi-dimensional modelling and interpretational insights based on experience gained through numerous case studies have proven to be a successful strategy. In the case study reported here, the combination revealed an unknown and unexpected buried valley complex. Drill hole data were in good agreement with estimates of both the bearings and depths of valleys defined by the TEM surveys. The Pulled Array Transient Electromagnetic (PATEM) system was built to provide high data density for increased lateral resolution. A High moment Transient Electromagnetic (HiTEM) system was developed for delineation of aquifers to depths up to 300 m. Because both of these systems provide high data density, data quality can be assessed as part of the interpretational strategy. When acquiring TEM measurements in areas as densely populated as the Danish countryside, precautions must be taken to minimize coupling between the TEM system and man-made conductors. Modelling the slope of the flanks of buried valleys has challenged the adequacy of the one-dimensional (1-D) assumption for inversion of TEM data. The study shows that for a valley structure in a low-resistive layer, the 1-D assumption is sufficient to track the presence of rather steep slopes. For a valley structure in a high-resistive layer, however, the insensitivity of the TEM method to resistors makes it difficult to determine a slope with a 1-D inversion, and only the overall structure is defined.

Buried Quaternary valleys in Denmark are complex structures filled with various deposits consisting primarily of glacio-lacustrine clay, till and meltwater sand, and gravel. The valleys are important geophysical targets, because they often contain significant volumes of groundwater used for public water supply. About 700 km of buried valley structures have been imaged in the western part of Denmark by the transient electromagnetic (TEM) method. The ability to map the valleys depends primarily on valley geometry, infill architecture and the resistivity of the fill sediments as well as the substratum. One-dimensional (1-D) inversion models of the TEM soundings have been used to construct contour maps of 20 m average resistivities and depth to a good conductor, which provide images for geological interpretation. Images of buried valley morphology, fill properties, infill architecture, such as cut-and-fill structures, valley distribution and valley generations, are characterized for case studies from Hornsyld, Holstebro and the Vonsild/Agtrup areas of Denmark.