New approach to 3D inversion of MCSEM and MMT data using multinary model transform

摘要

Marine controlled-source electromagnetic (MCSEM) surveys have become an important part of offshore hydrocarbon exploration. Magnetotelluric (MT) data are often also recorded by MCSEM receivers at almost no additional cost. In this paper we present a new approach to 3D inversion of MCSEM and MT data called multinary inversion. This method is based upon a transformation of the model parameters and their sensitivities from physical property space to a lithology-based space. In the case of marine EM problem, the multinary inversion exploits conductivity contrasts between different objects of the sea bottom, such as sediments and salt structures, or hydrocarbon and water-filled reservoirs. Our synthetic model study demonstrates that multinary inversion has potential application in the inversion of different types of marine EM data. For the models considered in the paper multinary approach provides better resolution than conventional inversion.