Resistivity inversion of transversely isotropic media

Authors: ERTAN PEKŞEN, TÜRKER YAS

Abstract: In this paper, we have suggested a finite difference algorithm for resistivity forward and inverse modeling with electrically anisotropic media in applied geophysics. Electrical anisotropy affects the surface measurement in a fashion that may make interpretation erroneous. This means that the resistivity section obtained by an inversion method that does not incorporate electrical anisotropy gives the wrong subsurface structure. We used a classical multielectrode dataset of a profile for estimating not only horizontal but vertical resistivity as well. Thus, the electrical anisotropy can be calculated. Finally, the finite difference mesh can be corrected by using the estimated anisotropic coefficient. The result of the developed algorithm was verified with a 2-layered analytic solution. Furthermore, the present method was also tested on a field dataset.

Keywords: Electrical resistance tomography, electrical anisotropy, 2D resistivity modeling, 2D resistivity inversion, direct resistivity method, transversely isotropic media

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