Cerro Gordo MT survey, July 18 2012

Magnetotelluric investigation of the Cerro Gordo area, Southern Bolivia

Martyn Unsworth1, Faustino Ticona2, Matthew Comeau1

1:University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

2: Universidad Mayor San Andres, La Paz, Bolivia

July 18 2012

1. Introduction

Magnetotelluric exploration is a powerful tool for imaging subsurface structure through

measurements of subsurface electrical resistivity. The method uses naturally occurring
electromagnetic fields that originate in global lightning activity, and from the interactions of the
magnetosphere with the solar wind. Over the last 50 years the magnetotelluric method it has
been applied in mineral exploration, hydrogeology, geothermal exploration and tectonic studies
(Chave and Jones, 2012). It is particularly effective in mineral exploration, owing to the contrast
in electrical resistivity that is observed between crystalline rocks and many sulfide and oxide
minerals.

2. Magnetotelluric data collection at Cerro Gordo

A magnetotelluric (MT) survey was undertaken in Southern Bolivia in November 2011 to

investigate the southern continuation of the major crustal lineament in Southern Bolivia that
hosts the San Cristobal silver deposit. From November 18-20 2012, magnetotelluric data were
recorded at 8 stations on an approximately east-west profile, located to the west of the village
of Cerro Gordo (Figure 1). Magnetotelluric time-series data were recorded with four Phoenix
Geophysics V5-2000 systems that were owned by the University of Alberta and Carleton
University. Magnetic field data was recorded at four stations, and electric fields were recorded
at all stations. Typical recording times averaged 18 hours per station. MT data were recorded in
geomagnetic co-ordinates with the x-axis pointing to magnetic north and the y-axis pointing
east. The time-series data were processed using the SSMT software package provided by
Phoenix Geophysics. This gave estimates of apparent resistivity, phase and tipper in the
frequency domain. The data were mathematically rotated to geographic co-ordinates, and are
shown in Figure 2 for all 8 stations.

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 Cerro Gordo MT survey, July 18 2012

1463N20 67.43206° W 21.48280° S 3950 m

1465N19 67.42255° W 21.48663° S 3930 m
1465N20 67.41472° W 21.48336° S 3930 m
1463N19 67.40913° W 21.48543° S 3930 m
1495N19 67.39940° W 21.48666° S 3940 m
1493N19 67.38628° W 21.48900° S 3920 m
1493N20 67.37623° W 21.49162° S 3910 m
1495N20 67.36665° W 21.49344° S 3900 m

Table 1 : Station names , locations and elevations for the Cerro Gordo MT survey.

Figure 1 : Google earth map showing Cerro Gordo MT station layout. Solid circles show MT
stations where electric and magnetic data were recorded. Open circles show MT stations where
only electric fields were recorded.

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 Cerro Gordo MT survey, July 18 2012

1463N20 1465N19

1465N20 1463N19

Figure 2 : Apparent resistivity curves, phase curves and induction vectors for the Cerro Gordo
MT stations in geographic co-ordinates. Red curves denotes xy data calculated from electric
field oriented north-south and magnetic field oriented east west. Blue curves denotes yx data
calculated from electric field oriented east-west and magnetic field oriented north-south.

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 Cerro Gordo MT survey, July 18 2012

1495N19 1493N19

1493N20 1495N20

Figure 2 : Continued.

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3. Dimensionality and directionality analysis

Before applying further magnetotelluric data analysis, it is important to understand if a 2–D or
3-D approach is needed. The dimensionality of the Cerro Gordo MT data was investigated
through a range approaches. The tensor decomposition method of Groom and Bailey (1989) is
widely used and the results shown below were obtained using the algorithm developed by
McNeice and Jones (2001) to consider multiple stations and multiple frequencies. The tensor
decomposition method assumes that (a) the impedance data are due to a 2-D resistivity model
and (b) distorted by galvanic effects (frequency independent).

Figure 3 : Strike directions computed for Cerro Gordo MT data for frequency band 10 –
0.001 Hz (periods 0.1 – 1000 s) using tensor decomposition. The red and blue lines
indicate the two possible strike directions for each MT station, since there is an inherent
90° ambiguity in this type of analysis. Data show a well-defined strike direction of N45°E
or N135°E. Comparison with regional geology is needed to overcome this ambiguity.

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 Cerro Gordo MT survey, July 18 2012

Figure 4: The r.m.s. misfit of the tensor decomposition for the Cerro Gordo MT profile. The low
values of misfit (less than 2) indicated that the assumptions made in tensor decomposition are
valid at the majority of stations and periods.

The results show that there is a well defined strike direction of N45° or N135°E over this period
band. Additional information is needed to determine which if these two directions is the
correct choice. The N45°E direction corresponds well with the regional geology and the
direction of the western edge of the basin east of Cerro Gordo. Therefore N45°E was chosen as
the strike direction. The low values of the r.m.s. misfit tell us that the assumption of a 2-D
resistivity structure is valid. Similar results were obtained using the phase tensor approach of
Caldwell et al., (2006) to study the dimensionality.

Data were then rotated to a N45°E co-ordinate system for all subsequent data analysis. Note
that a profile with direction N135°E was used, with the MT stations projected onto this transect
(Figure 5). The data in the rotated co-ordinate system are shown in Figure 6 in pseudosection
format. Magnetotelluric signals penetrate to greater depths in the Earth as the frequency
decreases. Thus by plotting period on the vertical scale, an impression of the depth variation
can be obtained.

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 Cerro Gordo MT survey, July 18 2012

Figure 5 : MT profile that was chosen to be orthogonal to the computed strike direction. The
stations were projected onto this profile for data analysis.

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 Cerro Gordo MT survey, July 18 2012

Figure 6 : Pseudo-sections of Cerro Gordo MT data in a N45°E co-ordinate system. (a) TM mode
(b) TE mode and (c) Tipper data. The tipper is the ratio of vertical to horizontal magnetic fields.
Note that triangles show station locations and that tipper data was only recorded at three of
these stations. Plotting period on the vertical scale gives an impression of how the structure
varies with depth, since longer periods penetrate deeper into the Earth.

4. 2-D inversion of the Cerro Gordo magnetotelluric data

The data were then edited to exclude bad data points in the Winglink software package.
2-D inversions were implemented of the 3 data components using the non-linear
conjugate gradient inversion of Rodi and Mackie (2001). These three data components
are:

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(a) The transverse magnetic (TM) mode with electric current flow along the profile
(b) The transverse electric (TE) mode with electric current flow parallel to the strike
direction
(c) The vertical magnetic field transfer function (Tipper) that is part of the TE mode. This
quantity is the complex ratio of vertical and horizontal magnetic field components.

Individual inversions of these data components are shown in Figures 7, 8 and 9 respectively,
along with the fit of the inversion response to the measured data.

The TM inversion shown in Figure 7 used τ = 3 gave a satisfactory fit to the measured TM data
with root-mean-square (r.m.s.) misfit = 1.654. The pseudosections in Figure 7 illustrate the
good fit between the measured data and the response of the inversion model.

A higher r.m.s. misfit was obtained for the TE inversion that is shown in Figure 8 with an r.m.s.
misfit =3.32. The inclusion of static shifts reduced this to an r.m.s. misfit =3.317. The relatively
high r.m.s. misfit may indicate some 3-D induction effects.

The tipper vertical magnetic field data inversion was also successful in achieving a low r.m.s.
misfit as shown in Figure 9. Since vertical magnetic field data was only collected at three
stations the model is very smooth.

A range of joint inversions were then implemented to see which of the three data components
were mutually consistent and could be jointly inverted. As expected, the problems with the TE
mode meant that any inversion including these data was not able to achieve an r.m.s. less than
3. Thus the joint TM+HZ inversion was taken as giving the most complete image of subsurface
resistivity, as shown in Figure 10. A range of inversions were implemented using a series of τ
values to generate a trade-off L-curve, as shown in Figure 11. This confirmed the choice of tau =
3 as giving a compromise between fitting the model to an acceptable degree and generating a
realistic (not too rough) resistivity model.

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Figure 7 : (a) TM mode inversion model of Cerro Gordo profile obtained with the following
parameters. Rotation angle = 45°; frequency band = 300 – 0.0003 Hz; model = 96 x 128 cells;
regularization parameter, τ =3; apparent resistivity error floor = 5 %; phase error floor = 5%;
starting model = 100 ohm-m halfspace; static shifts not calculated; model = smoothest (1). (b)
Fit of measured data to inversion model response.

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Figure 8 : (a) TE mode inversion model obtained with the following parameters. Rotation angle
= 45°; frequency band = 300 – 0.0003 Hz; model = 96 x 128 cells; regularization parameter, τ
=3; apparent resistivity error floor = 10 %; phase error floor = 10%; starting model = 100 ohm-m
halfspace; static shifts not calculated ; model = smoothest (1). (b) Fit of measured data to
inversion model response.

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Figure 9 : (a) Tipper inversion model obtained with the following parameters. Rotation angle =
45°; frequency band = 300 – 0.0003 Hz; model = 96 x 128 cells; regularization parameter, τ =3;
error floor = 0.05 ; starting model = 100 ohm-m halfspace; model = smoothest (1). (b) Fit of
measured data to inversion model response.

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Figure 10 : (a) Resistivity model obtained by joint inversion of TM and Hz data (b) fit of data to
inversion model response. Inversion model obtained with the following parameters. Rotation
angle = 45°; frequency band = 300 – 0.0003 Hz; model = 96 x 128 cells; regularization
parameter, τ =3; apparent resistivity error floor = 10 %; phase error floor = 5%; starting model =
100 ohm-m halfspace; static shifts not calculated; model = smoothest (1).

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Figure 11 : Trade-off curve obtained by varying the regularization parameter, τ. When τ is large
(τ = 100) the model is smooth (roughness is low) and the r.m.s. misfit is relatively high. When
tau is small (τ = 0.01), the resistivity model is much rougher and a better fit is obtained (lower
r.m.s. misfit). The value of τ = 3 represents a compromise between these competing
requirements.

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5. Interpretation of resistivity model

The preferred inversion model is shown in more detail in Figure 12. Along most of the profile, a
shallow layer is observed with a resistivity of 10-30 Ωm and thickness of about 1 km. This is
likely a surface layer of weather material and unconsolidated sedimentary material. This is
underlain by more resistive material with resistivity exceeding 300 Ωm that is basement rock.

A dipping zone of low resistivity is observed at the east end of the profile. This is coincident
with the eastern edge of the elevated topography in the survey area, and could represent a
basement feature such as a zone of mineralization, a fault zone, or perhaps an aquifer.
Additional MT data are needed to the east to investigate if this feature is required by the data.

Figure 12 : Preferred resistivity model for the Cerro Gordo MT profile.

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6. References

Caldwell, T.G., H. M. Bibby, and C. Brown, The magnetotelluric phase

tensor, Geophys. J. Int, 158, 457-469, 2004
Chave, A.D. and A. G. Jones (eds), The Magnetotelluric Method:
Theory and Practice , Cambridge University Press, 552 pp, 2012.

Groom, R. W. and R. C. Bailey, Decomposition of magnetotelluric

impedance tensors in the presence of local three-dimensional
galvanic distortion, Journal of Geophysical , 94, 1913-1925, 1989.
McNeice, G. M. and A. G. Jones, Multisite, multifrequency tensor
decomposition of magnetotelluric data, Geophysics, 66, 158-173,
2001.
Rodi, W. and R. L. Mackie, Nonlinear conjugate gradients algorithm
for 2-D magnetotelluric inversion, Geophysics, 66, 174-187, 2001.

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