Journal of Applied Geophysics 106 (2014) 2336

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Journal of Applied Geophysics

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jappgeo

Theoretical assessment of 3-D magnetotelluric method for oil and gas

exploration: Synthetic examples
Kun Zhang a,, Wenbo Wei b, Qingtian Lu a, Hao Dong b, Yanqing Li c
a
Institute of Mineral Resources Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, MLR Key Laboratory of Metallogeny and Mineral Assessment, Beijing 100037, China
b
School of Geophysics and Information Technology, China University of Geosciences, Beijing, PR China
c
Geophysical R&D institute of China Oileld Service Limited, Tanggu, Tianjin 300451, China

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: In petroleum explorations, seismic reection technique has been almost always the preferred method for its high
Received 23 July 2013 exploration depth and resolution. However, with the development of three dimensional (3D) inversion and in-
Accepted 4 April 2014 terpretation schemes, much potential has been shown in MT method dealing with complex geological structures
Available online 18 April 2014
as in oil and gas exploration. In this study, synthetic geophysical models of petroleum reservoir structures are
modeled and utilized to demonstrate that feasibility of 3-D MT technique for hydrocarbon exploration. A series
Keywords:
Magnetotelliric
of typical reservoir structure models are constructed and used to generate synthetic MT and seismic data to
3-D inversion test the capabilities of 2-D/3-D MT and 2-D seismic inversion techniques. According to the inversion comparison,
Oil exploration in addition to correctly retrieve the original forward model, the 3-D MT method also has some advantages over
Synthetic example the reective seismology method, which suffered from the lack of reection wave and multiple wave problems.
With the presented 3-D high resolution MT inversion method, MT techniques should be employed as one of the
rst choices for petroleum explorations.
2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
In petroleum explorations, the magnetotelluric (MT) technique is
often used as a complement method to the primary technique of reec-
tive seismology method (From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia). With
the diffusive nature of electromagnetic (EM) wave propagation, the
vertical resolution of EM exploration methods usually cannot match
those of reective seismology in cases such as distinguishing deep stra-
ta. Therefore MT is often employed as a backup method where seismic
reection method performs poorly in complex terrain and geological
conditions (Constable et al., 1998; Sun et al., 2003), for example, in
situations where carbonate outcrops produce strong reections that
interfere with accurate seismic detection.
The MT method, however, possesses several important advantages
over other methods: it is unaffected by high-resistivity layers, capable
of great exploration depth and low-cost (Chen and Wang, 1990; Wei,
2002). It is also more environment-friendly because of its light-weight
equipment and reduced hazards comparing to seismic reection
methods (e.g. no drills, no explosives). In most cases, MT data are
collected along 2-D proles across geoelectrical strikes with 2-D
assumptions that the layers and bodies underground extend unlimited-
ly in strike direction. In some instances, accurate interpretation of 3-D
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: zhangkun1010@163.com (K. Zhang).
geology can be achieved by careful application of 2-D modeling and in-
version (Wannamaker et al., 1984). But, in other cases, 2-D inversion
may not get reasonable models, especially in a complex geological
environment. Besides the different physical response parameters, the
vertical resolution of 2-D MT may be not as good as seismic reection
methods. However, 3-D MT modeling does not require the 2-D under-
ground assumption nor need approximate calculations like strike
rotation. Theoretically, 3-D methods can model any 3-D geological
body, although might be restricted by the algorithms of forward model-
ing in reality. And the location and uniform limitation (grids and sites)
in 2-D method (Avdeev et al., 2000; Chen and Zhao, 2009) rarely ap-
peared in 3-D (the method used in this paper), because each site corre-
sponds to each grid that contained it which means the relative position
of the site in the grid is not critical and the relative size of the grids will
not inuence the inversion results (Zhang, 2013).
A number of 3-D MT inversion methods have been proposed, includ-
ing rapid relaxation inversion (Smith and Booker, 1991; Tan et al.,
2003), conjugate gradient inversion (Mackie and Madden, 1993; Lin,
2011), quasi-linear approximate inversion (Zhdanov et al., 2000),
Bayesian statistical inversion (Spichak, 1995) and nonlinear conjugate
gradient (NLCG) inversion (Newman and Alumbaugh, 2000; Mackie
et al., 2001; Zhang et al., 2013). Although each of these methods has
its own advantages and disadvantages (see comparisons by Zhang
et al., 2013), we consider the NLCG method to be the ideal 3-D MT inver-
sion method with the advantage of high resolution, efciency and
precision. There are many applications of crust and ore exploration

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jappgeo.2014.04.003
0926-9851/ 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
24 K. Zhang et al. / Journal of Applied Geophysics 106 (2014) 2336

(Gasperokova et al., 2011), Gulf of Mexico exploration for demonstrat-

ing the capability of imaging a sea-bottom resistivity structure
(Zhdanov et al., 2011), Krysuvik exploration in SW Iceland for under-
standing the electrical structure of the high temperature areas (Hersir
et al., 2013), Central California eld exploration for studying the electri-
cal conductivity structure of the San Andreas Fault (Tietze and Ritter,
2013) and so on. After effective results and interpretations are obtained
from 3-D MT inversion models, the advantages of 3-D inversion are
manifested on large real-world data set and resolution of complex
structure (Tietze and Ritter, 2013) and so on (Newman et al., 2005;
Xiao et al., 2010).
MT sounding can reect the underground electrical interfaces where
conductivity differences exist. An oil reservoir usually requires an
impermeable cover, connected reservoir and impermeable base, so the
gas, oil or water in reservoir is difcult to escape. The electrical differ-
ence between cover and reservoir is usually great and can be easily
Fig. 1. Typical oil-bearing structure model. detected by MT method. In the case of an anticline fold oil trap, which
is a strong manifestation, electrical difference between the anticline
and background rock can also be great and can be distinguished by
Table 1 MT method. Although there are some successful examples of oil and
Petrophysical properties of materials in oil-bearing structures. gas exploration using MT including the Ashili region (Wu, 2012) and
Property Resistivity, Density, S-wave velocity P-wave velocity Gui Depression (Xia et al., 2012) in China, and some areas of Russia
( m) (103 kg/m3) VS (m/s) VP (m/s) (Berdichevsky et al., 2010) and Japan (Khalil and Ushijima, 2003), MT
Shale 101000 2.02.50 7802300 13303970 is still not the usual method in the hydrocarbon exploration. And only
Limestone 1010 000 2.3 14503500 25006000 2-D inversion methods are used in those interpretations. So in our
Oil 10 000 2.93 1400 2600 opinion, the applications of 3-D MT in petroleum exploration are not
Gas 100 000 000 0.70.8 1400 2350
well-informed.
Groundwater 1100 11.02 1450 2700
Utilizing the 3-D MT inversion code presented by Zhang (2012) and
(Wang, 1988; Wang et al., 1988; Batzle and Wang, 1992; Chave and Jones, 2012; and some Zhang et al. (2013), our primary goal of this study is to demonstrate the
data available from http://wenku.baidu.com/view/2bff294ccf84b9d528ea7aea.html and
http://www.docin.com/p-52175997.html
value of 3-D MT technique in oil and gas exploration. A series of 3-D
models of typical reservoir structures are constructed and used to gen-
erate synthetic data of MT and seismic reection method. Both 2-D and
using 3-D MT survey and inversion, including Coso eld exploration for 3-D modeling and inversion were carried out with the synthetic data,
large geothermal reservoirs (Newman et al., 2005), Xinjiang eld AMT along with 2-D reective seismology inversions to demonstrate the va-
exploration for study the electrical structure of Cu-Ni mining (Xiao lidity of those methods in oil and gas exploration. The result comparison
et al., 2010), Iceland eld exploration for understanding the complex shows that the 3-D method has a better resolution and accuracy then
geothermal systems of the Hengill and Kraa volcanic complexes the 2-D MT method. Accurate 3-D MT inversion may also compensate

Fig. 2. Synthetic geophysical model (a): 3-D model; (b): central section of 3-D model as 2-D model. 1: shale; 2: limestone; 3: gas; 4: oil; 5: groundwater.
 K. Zhang et al. / Journal of Applied Geophysics 106 (2014) 2336 25

Table 2 interval, and can be formed by deposition, faults and folds. So oil and
Synthetic material properties used in model. gas must be collected in the trap with permeable and porous rocks
Property Resistivity, Density, S-wave velocity P-wave velocity (Tissot et al., 2003). And they typically occur in the core unit of an anti-
( m) (103 kg/m3) VS (m/s) VP (m/s) cline where, along with groundwater, they collect in pores and ssures
Shale 30 2.0 1500 2000 in permeable reservoir rock, which is overlain by impermeable rocks
Limestone 100 2.3 2000 3500 (e.g., shale or limestone). Such a representative geological model is
Oil 10 000 2.93 1400 2600 shown in Fig. 1 (Sun et al., 2011). And the petrophysical properties of
Gas 100 000 000 0.8 1400 2350
the components are listed in Table 1.
Groundwater 10 1.01 1450 2700
The geophysical model (Fig. 2) consists of ve layers (from top
downwards): shale, limestone, gas, oil, groundwater and limestone
overlying a basement rock. The material properties to be used in the
model are extracted from Table 1, and are shown in Table 2.
for seismic waveform errors such as multiple waves and waveform In 3-D models, identify the horizontal directions as x and y, and ver-
distortions generated by undulating interfaces. tical direction as z. But in 2-D models, only x and z directions exist. The
length of the central section along the y-axis is 55 km (along the y-axis,
2. Model of typical oil-bearing structure and synthetic data we only use 1065 km section from the synthetic model), and the depth
of z direction is 10 km (along the z-axis, we only use 010 km section
Some sedimentary rocks contained oil and gas deformed due to the from the synthetic model). The layers are arranged as a symmetrical
enormous pressure, then oil owed into anticline and formed rich anticline; the bottom depths of layers 15 at the highest (i.e., central,
region named oil-bearing structure on petroleum geology. Typically, or core) point are respectively 1800, 3200, 3600, 4400 and 4800 m,
gas is at the top of the anticline due to the minimum density, and oil and the bottom depths of layers 1, 2, 4 and 5 at the lowest point on ei-
is in the middle covering the water (Sun et al., 2011). ther side are respectively 2400, 3200, 4000, 4800 and 6100 m (the gas
Typical reservoir construction usually contains two elements: layer, layer 3, does not extend to the sides of the structure). The layers
reservoir and trap. And the electrical impedance variation caused by re- of gas, oil and groundwater (layers 35) are thinner than the other stra-
sistivity differences is the basic to distinguish the layers, in other words, ta. The layer representing groundwater, layer 5, is thicker at the sides
(3-D) MT exploration can reect every reservoir and trap layer theoret- than at the core. In the x-axis of 3-D model, the structure is not the
ically because their physical parameter (resistivity) is different (Batzle same as y. Although layer 3 only exist in the center in 3-D model,
and Wang, 1992; Chave and Jones, 2012). Reservoir, porosity and layer 4 and 5 are thinning from center to both sides of x-axis and
permeability are the keys that oil and gas need interconnected voids the transverse range reduces at y-axis. The resistivity of layer 15
in permeable rocks. Trap can gather the oil and gas for a certain time is 30 m, 100 m, 100000000 m, 10000 m and 10 m.

Fig. 3. 2-D forwarding model responses for central prole, showing apparent resistivity and impedance phases for TE (xy polarization, left) and TM (yx polarization) modes.
26 K. Zhang et al. / Journal of Applied Geophysics 106 (2014) 2336
3. MT response of synthetic model
Utilizing the above synthetic material properties, the 2-D and 3-D
impedance, apparent resistivity and impedance phase responses are
determined by forward calculation.
3.1. 2-D forwarding
A 2-D nite element forwarding program (Zhang et al., 2008) is used
to compute responses in the electric eld parallel polarization (TE) and
magnetic eld parallel polarization (TM) modes for the prole at 12
sites and for 12 periods in the range 0.011000 s. Noise is not specical-
ly included in the synthetic data. The boundary extents are assumed to
be 200 km horizontally and 100 km vertically. The background resistiv-
ity is set at 100 m.
In Fig. 3 the 2-D forwarding results are different for the TE and TM
modes. In TM mode, high resistivity anomalies are reected more strong-
ly (apparent resistivity N 90 m; phase b 42). Based on the synthet-
ic model, the groundwater layer below and around the gas and oil layers
is shown as middle-low apparent resistivity (3050 m) at middle
frequency around the center high apparent resistivity, and the apparent
resistivity reaction is stronger in TM mode, and phase is stronger in TE
Fig. 4. 3-D forward modeling responses (apparent resistivity and impedance phase).
mode. In addition, there is a low-resistivity band (b30 m) in the
apparent resistivity sections at frequencies around 10 Hz.
3.2. 3-D forwarding
For the 3-D model, the 3-D staggered-grid nite difference
forwarding program of Zhang (2012) is used to compute the impedance
tensor responses generated at 144 sites and 12 periods in the range
0.011000 s. The boundaries and background resistivity are set as
above for 2-D forwarding.
Fig. 4 shows sections of the apparent resistivity and impedance
phase of XY and YX modes. About three abnormal parts are in the
sounding sections, low apparent resistivity and high phase part in
high frequency, middle apparent resistivity and middle phase part in
middle frequency, high apparent resistivity and low phase part in low
frequency.
3.3. Comparison and analysis of 2-D and 3-D responses
The pseudo-sections in Fig. 5 show the 2-D and 3-D apparent resis-
tivity and phase section of the model (Fig. 2-b). Although 2-D and 3-D
responses are accurate enough, the low resistivity layer which exists
 K. Zhang et al. / Journal of Applied Geophysics 106 (2014) 2336 27

Fig. 5. Comparison of pseudo-sections for 3-D (left) and 2-D model results.

in the 2-D forwarding but not in 3-D forwarding and the synthetic
model shows that 3-D responses are more faithful to the model. The
apparent resistivity is b30 m for the low-resistivity anomaly, and
N95 m for the high-resistivity anomaly which reaction is stronger
than 2-D. And the phase responses are similar.
4.1. The used MT inversion methods
For the inversion method, we used the non-linear conjugate gradi-
ent (NLCG) method described by Rodi and Mackie (2001) for 2-D inver-
sion, and our NLCG code from Zhang (2012, 2013) for 3-D inversion.
The objection function and its gradient can be expressed as:

4. Inversion of typical MT synthetic modeling response X 2 T T

d F m= m W Wm 1
Our goal in this paper is to demonstrate the applicability of the 3-D
MT technique to oil and gas exploration, taking into account accuracy
and resolution issues in both 2-D and 3-D inversions. We apply 2-D X
d =m 2Re dF m=  F=m
inversion to the central prole using apparent resistivity and phase
data, and 3-D inversion to 3-D model using complex impedance tensor.
And only 3-D forward modeling data are used in both of 2-D and 3-D where is the object function; d is the collected data (apparent re-
inversions. A discussion of the advantages of 3-D inversion follows. sistivity and phase; impedance); is data error; F(m) is forwarding

Fig. 6. Comparison between 2-D sounding for synthetic and inversion model.
28 K. Zhang et al. / Journal of Applied Geophysics 106 (2014) 2336

factor; is a regularization factor; m is model; and W is the model In this 3-D algorithm, the preconditioning method (detail) of the
covariance matrix. NLCG optimization method is improved:
The search length and direction can be expressed as follows: h i1
T
C l i; j; k l i; j; kI W W
p0 C 0 0 =m0
1 4
pk C k k =mk k pk1 ; k 1; 2; i; j; k X  obs 
2
k =mk T C k k =mk k1 =mk1 = Z Z mi; j; k
k
k1 =mk1 T C k1 k1 =mk1 2
mk;l mk k;l pk ; l 0; 1; 2; C is a preconditioning factor, is a non-independent coefcient to
 T
k;l =mk;l pk cell (i,j,k). C approximates the Hessian matrix, thus avoiding four
k;l1 k;l ; pseudo-forwarding calculations in each iteration, as a parameter matrix
e p
pTk H k;l k related with the current resistivity model and data error and it is used to
compute p, and .
Where p is the search direction, is the search length, C is a precon- For NLCG 3-D inversion, we make four changes to improve the
ditioning factor, l is the line search number, and H is a quadratic function efciency and practicality of the previous algorithm (Zhang, 2012):
of the object function. the preconditioning method is improved using a parameter matrix

Fig. 7. 3-D sounding comparison of synthetic and inversion model (central prole).
 K. Zhang et al. / Journal of Applied Geophysics 106 (2014) 2336 29

Fig. 8. MT inversion model results. Synthetic model 1: shale; 2: limestone; 3: gas; 4: oil; 5: groundwater.

Fig. 9. Comparison of synthetic and inversion soundings at 1.33 Hz.

30 K. Zhang et al. / Journal of Applied Geophysics 106 (2014) 2336

Fig. 10. Comparison of yz cross-sections (a): synthetic model; (b): inversion model.

related to the current resistivity model and data error as the precondi-
tioning factor to approximate the Hessian matrix, the OPENMP parallel
API is utilized to establish an efcient parallel inversion structure based
on frequency which means the data are distributed frequency-wise to
different CPU threads in one computer using shared memory (general
PC is enough for the 3-D inversion, and recommendation conguration
is 6 cores and 16 GB memory for large-scale computing), a lower
number of forward and pseudo-forward iterations is used to reduce
the computation time, positioning storage is used to store sparse matri-
ces to save memory, the terrain is added into the inversion algorithm.
For approximately 200 survey sites and 12 periods, the compute time
is less than 20 s per iteration per period, and less than 30 min for the
whole inversion process, so the inversion algorithm and code are fast
and low-loss.
For the 2-D and 3-D inversion parameters, all inversions are
commenced from a 100 m homogeneous half-space with the
same grid setting in center prole, and the regulation factor is 1, and
error oor is 10%, and gradient method is used in preconditioning
process in inversion. Data errors are assumed to be 10%, as used for in-
version. The grid set is 32 (horizontal) * 38 (vertical) for 2-D inversion,
and 32 (x) * 32 (y) * 38 (z) for 3-D.
4.2. Comparison and analysis of center cross-sectional results of MT
4.2.1. Fitting degree of 2-D MT inversion
Plotted results of the 2-D TE and TM joint inversion of the central
prole are shown in Fig. 6, showing the two sounding modes of the
synthetic and inversion responses. The normalized root mean square

Fig. 11. Slices through 3-D inversion model for same data as Fig. 10.
 K. Zhang et al. / Journal of Applied Geophysics 106 (2014) 2336
(RMS) mist is 0.24, so the sounding of the synthetic and inversion
models is very similar, and only small differences in the phase value
are found (synthetic data: 45 to 35; inversion sounding: 44
to 36).
4.2.2. Fitting degree of 3-D MT inversion (central prole)
Fig. 7 shows that inversion model sounding is very similar to the
synthetic data, with differences of 35 m and 42 in the synthetic
sounding sections and 40 m and 43 in the inversion occurring
only at the sides of the y-x pseudo-section for the TM mode.
4.2.3. Comparison and analysis of 2-D and 3-D MT inversion cross-section
Taking the location, depth and lateral extent of the model strata
shown in Fig. 2 as benchmark values, Fig. 8 shows the electrical struc-
ture of the central prole. In the 2-D inversion prole, the resistivity
of the shale is 2940 m, with a thin electrical transition band
inuenced by the underlying high-resistivity limestone and oil layers.
The resistivity of the limestone is 32107 m, with a thick electrical
transition band inuenced by the low-resistivity shale and groundwater
layers. The oil and gas layer of resistivity 40120 m contained a thick
electrical transition band at both sides, inuenced by groundwater
having a resistivity of 3280 m; the performance characteristic of
this electrical transition is inuenced by the presence of the underlying
limestone.
The numbers 15 represent the stratum of shale, limestone, gas, oil,
water in the synthetic model. Compared with the layers 15, the gas
layer 3 and oil layer 4 cannot be distinguished in 2-D and 3-D inversion
result sections with the top depth of 3200 m and 3600 m, but the top
Fig. 12. Comparison between 3-D MT inversion and 2-D waveform forwarding for central section of synthetic model (a): MT inversion model; (b): Seismic forwarding model. Synthetic
model 1: shale; 2: limestone; 3: gas; 4: oil; 5: groundwater.
31
boundary of layer 2 is reected clearly with the depth of 18002400 m.
The boundary of layers 4 and 5 and limestone below layer 5 of 3-D result
is more clear and accurate than 2-D.
In the prole of the 3-D inversion model (vertical and horizontal
scales adjusted to be consistent with the 2-D prole, for easier compar-
ison), the resistivity of the shale is 2940 m, contained within a
single thick electrical transition band; the resistivity of the limestone
is 50100 m, contained within a single thick electrical transition
band; the resistivity of the oil and gas layer is 40135 m, contained
within a single thick electrical transition band on each side; and the
resistivity of the groundwater is 4063 m; the performance charac-
teristic of this electrical transition is inuenced by the presence of the
underlying limestone.
For the inversion results, the resistivity of every layer cannot reach to
the value in the synthetic model, because the reection of inversion
result is gather effect of the objection and the around rock and layers,
so a transition band usually exists in the inversion results. From the
comparison of synthetic, 2-D and 3-D inversion models, the resistivity
of background limestone is 100 m (blue) in the synthetic model;
it is lower (green) in the 2-D inversion model and the range becomes
small; the resistivity and range are more accurate in 3-D model without
the inuence of water layer. The oil and gas layers are not distinguished
both in 2-D and 3-D inversion models, but the electrical difference of the
interface of oil and water, water and bottom limestone is clearer in 3-D
model, and the anticlinal form of main layers is displayed, such as the
range of top layer 1 and bottom high resistivity layers. So the 3-D
inversion results show a high degree of reduction in difference on the
synthetic model.
32 K. Zhang et al. / Journal of Applied Geophysics 106 (2014) 2336

Fig. 13. Extended model 1 with thick oil layer. Materials are: #1 shale; #2 limestone; #3 oil.

4.3. Sounding comparison and analysis of 3-D inversion
Fig. 9 shows the plotted results of the 3-D inversion for the real and
imaginary parts of the Zxx, Zxy, Zyx and Zyy response components of the
synthetic and inversions, at a frequency of 1.33 Hz. The normalized
RMS mist is 0.19, so the soundings of the synthetic and inversion
model are very similar, and only small differences exist in the Zxx and
Zyy components due to the errors, which are of the same order of mag-
nitude as the errors in Zxy and Zyx. In addition, the absolute magnitudes
of the errors are much low.
Fig. 10 shows four superposed yz cross-sections on the x-axis of the
synthetic and inversion models. From top to bottom, the stratum layers
are shale, limestone, gas, oil, water and limestone in the synthetic model
(Fig. 10-a). Compared with the synthetic model, the gas layer and
oil layer cannot be distinguished with the top depth of 3200 m and
3600 m, but the top boundary of limestone layer is reected clearly.
The boundary of water layer and limestone below it is clear.
Fig. 11 shows this information in different views from different
perspectives. For the whole 3-D model, the inversion model is very sim-
ilar to the synthetic model, and the shape, lateral extent and depth of
every layer are reected clearly and accurately with the exception of
the limestone-oil and oilgas interfaces, which differed considerably.
Because the horizontal and vertical extent of the oil and gas in the res-
ervoir are relatively small (maximum width 60 km, maximum height
1 km, average thickness b 600 m) and the depth of the top of the oil
and gas is 5 km below the surface, the data anomalies are weak and
difcult to interpret accurately. However, it does not affect the interpre-
tation of the high resistivity layers. So 3-D inversion has the potential
to nd the best possible representation of the electrical conductivity
structure of the subsurface (Hubert, 2012).
5. Comparison of MT and seismic results
We use 2-D high-order nite difference method (Tesseral software,
Tesseral Technologies Inc) to do the forward modeling of seismic
wave. The comparative feasibilities of oil and gas exploration using
the MT and seismic methods are illustrated in Fig. 12, which shows
the 3-D inversion results of MT and 2-D seismic forwarding waveform.
Four accurate electrical layers are reected in the MT section. The
seismic waveform reects the interfaces of every layer overall, but the
relative positions of the interface of the two-way travel time vary, and
the interface between limestone and oil at the sides of the section is
not reected. In addition, the interface of oil and groundwater appears
longitudinally discontinuous, and multiple waves are clearly seen.
Although signal-processing techniques are available for removing
multiple wave signals, it is nevertheless difcult and may signicantly
affect subsequent interpretation. The longitudinal faults can only be
processed by the depth prestack method if the absolute velocity

Fig. 14. Extended model 2 with thick water layer. Materials are: #1 shale; #2 limestone; #3 oil; #4 groundwater.
 K. Zhang et al. / Journal of Applied Geophysics 106 (2014) 2336 33

Fig. 15. Extended model 3 with complex layer. Materials are: #1 shale; #2 limestone; #4 groundwater; #5 complex layer.

structure is known precisely. Therefore, use of the seismic reection
method alone to interpret oil and gas prospects may not necessarily
give the true picture.
Although 3-D MT does not give a sufciently precise vertical resolu-
tion, its superior horizontal resolution helps to delineate the location
and extent of the objective layer. Thus, from the results of this study,
we consider that the MT exploration method should be used in oil and
gas prospecting.
6. Extensions
6.1. Additional typical oil-bearing structure
Based on the 3-D MT inversion resolution results, three additional,
more comprehensive geophysical models (Models 1, 2, 3 in Figs. 13,
14, 15) are used to assess the validity and importance of the 3-D MT
method for oil exploration.
Model 1 (Fig. 13) consists of shale (layer 1; 30 m; bottom
depth 8001200 m), limestone (layer 2; 100 m; bottom depth
14001800 m) and an oil layer (layer 3; 10 000 m; 50 km wide
along x-axis and become narrow on both sides; bottom depth
22002600 m and 400600 m thick). Model 2 (Fig. 14) contains the
above shale (layer 1; 30 m; bottom depth 18002200 m), limestone
(layer 2; 100 m; bottom depth 32004000 m) and oil (layer 3;
10 000 m; 20 km wide along x-axis; bottom depth 3600 m and
400 m thick), plus groundwater (layer 4; 10 m; bottom depth
52006000 m and 16002000 m thick and become narrow on
both sides of x-axis). Model 3 (Fig. 15) contains shale as model 2,
plus oil-bearing limestone (layer 5; 1000 m; bottom depth
4400 m and 26003000 m thick; 50 km wide along x-axis and become
narrow on both sides) and groundwater (layer 4; 10 m; bottom
depth 52006000 m and 4001200 m thick and become narrow on
both sides of x-axis).
Figs. 1618 show the 2-D and 3-D inversion models of the central
prole. The numbers 15 represent the stratum of shale, limestone,
oil, water and complex layer in the synthetic models shown in
Figs. 1315. The 3-D inversion accurately reects the electrical proper-
ties and the thickness and lateral extent of main layers, including the

Fig. 16. Dimensions of extended MT inversion Model 1. Materials are: #1 shale; #2 limestone; #3 oil.
34 K. Zhang et al. / Journal of Applied Geophysics 106 (2014) 2336

Fig. 17. Dimensions of extended MT inversion Model 2. Materials are: #1 shale; #2 limestone; #3 oil; #4 groundwater.

bottom shale boundary depth 18002200 m in model 2 and 3 with re-
sistivity values of 2530 m; the bottom limestone boundary depth
18002200 m in model 1 and about 3000 m in model 2; the bottom
oil boundary depth 22003000 m in model 1 (200400 m); the bot-
tom water boundary depth 52005800 m in model 2 (1020 m) and
about 44006000 in model 3 (4050 m); the bottom oil-bearing
limestone boundary depth about 4400 m in model 3 (100220 m).
Fig. 19(ac) shows the 3-D inversion resistivity for the yz sections
in Models 1, 2 and 3. The sections accurately reect the differences of
stratums in electrical properties which contain shale, limestone, oil,
groundwater, oil-bearing limestone. The electrical structure of inversion
models is consistent with the synthetic model in strata thickness
and extended range, except the oil layer in Model 1 (Fig. 19a) because
the electrical layer cannot be distinguished with the top depth of
16001800 m and bottom depth of 22002600 m. Comparisons
between the 2-D and 3-D inversion models indicate that the 3-D MT
results are closer to the synthetic model than 2-D with analyzing both
location and magnitudes of different media because of the data
information (2-D inversion only use Zxy and Zyx, but 3-D use all the
components) and the basic theory of the inversion algorithms (2-D
inversion based on a lot of theoretical hypothesis and 2-D theory, but
3-D has relatively few assumptions), and the resolution of the 3-D MT
results is adequate for oil and gas exploration.
6.2. Vertically fractured oil-bearing structure
To emphasize the role of 3-D MT, we design the extended vertical
fracture model shown in Fig. 20. This model also contains an anticlinal
structure.
Fig. 20(a) and (b) show the same fundamental electrical structure as
Fig. 20(c) and (d). Fig. 20(d) clearly show the shape of the arc and ver-
tical interface, but the waveform structure only reected the interface of
the horizontal layers, as shown in Fig. 20(e). The vertical fracture cannot
be seen in Fig. 20(e), but the possibility of a fault is suggested. Thus we
cannot determine whether it may represent a fault trap or not using
only the seismic waveform method. As 3-D inversion can be used to

Fig. 18. Dimensions of extended MT inversion Model 3. Materials are: #1 shale; #2 limestone; #4 groundwater; #5 complex layer.
 K. Zhang et al. / Journal of Applied Geophysics 106 (2014) 2336 35

Fig. 19. Resistivity results for extended model 13.

interpret large real-world and has advantages over 2-D approaches in 7. Conclusions
complex subsurface situations (Tietze and Ritter, 2013), and can reect
the information what other exploration methods cannot, we consider In this paper we have assessed the new 3-D MT technique and the
that 3-D MT can play an important role in oil exploration. resolution of inversion method with synthetic models for oil and gas

Fig. 20. Comparison of 3-D MT and 2-D seismic waveform. 1: shale (VS = 1500 m/s; VP = 2000 m/s); 2 and 4: limestone (VS = 2000 m/s; VP = 3500 m/s); 3: oil (VS = 1400 m/s;
VP = 2600 m/s).
36 K. Zhang et al. / Journal of Applied Geophysics 106 (2014) 2336
exploration. Five 2-D and 3-D geophysical synthetic models of typical
reservoir structure are developed, in which realistic physical and electri-
cal properties are assigned for shale, (oil-bearing) limestone, gas, oil and
groundwater layers.
By contrast 2-D and 3-D MT forward modeling and inversion and
2-D seismic wave modeling, we get the following conclusions:
(1) The comparison of 2-D and 3-D MT forward modeling using
synthetic models reveals that 3-D responses have better perfor-
mance in the details of apparent resistivity and phase value and
other aspects.
(2) The comparison of 2-D and 3-D MT inversion methods using syn-
thetic data reveals that the 3-D inversion models are closer to the
synthetic models. Through the four examples of MT inversion
using synthetic data of anticline models, 3-D inversion results
have advantages in the details (specically in every middle-low
resistivity and main high resistivity layer) of the position and
resistivity of the structures. But it should be noted that the high
resistivity layer in middle-high resistivity background is difcult
to be resolved in both 2-D and 3-D MT inversion method.
(3) The comparison of the 3-D MT and 2-D seismic results using syn-
thetic data of anticline and fracture (vertical interface) models
reveals that 3-D MT can make up for the deciency of the seismic
results such as the fake sync-phase axis and multiple waves. In
reective seismology result, phenomenon of dislocation in one
layer often appeared in time-axis, and multiple wave problems
are also serious. The vertical interface cannot be reected in the
seismic result either. On the other hand, 3-D MT inversion results
can reveal both of horizontal and vertical electrical interfaces
without the fake abnormally in seismic result.
So we suggest the 3-D MT inversion technique has more advantages
than previous non-seismic methods, comparing with 2-D MT and seis-
mic reection methods. The 3-D MT inversion method has important
potential for oil exploration and should be utilized more frequently.
Real eld data for oil exploration will be tested in further researches.
Acknowledgments
This work is supported by Magnetotelluric static shift mechanism
analysis and correction methods study K1318, the National Natural
Science Foundation of China under Grant 40930418, and 3-D inversion
of gravity and magnetic constrained by sparse prior information
41104061.
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