Geophysical Investigation of Wuda Coal Mining Area, Inner Mongolia: Electromagnetics and Magnetics for Coal Fire Detection

As part of the Sino-German Coal Fire Research Initiative “Innovative Technologies for Exploration, Extinction, and Monitoring of Coal Fires in North China,” the China Aero Geophysical Survey and Remote Sensing Center for Land and Resources (AGRS), assisted by the German Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR), carried out in 2004 an airborne electromagnetic and magnetic survey of Wuda Coal Mining Area (Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, P.R. China). In the following year, ground geophysical surveys using transient electromagnetics (BGR) and magnetics (AGRS and Deutsche Montan Technologie GmbH, DMT) were conducted in selected parts of the area. The objective of these geophysical surveys was to detect and delineate coal fire areas through physical parameters obtained over burning and burned coal seams. The electromagnetic surveys served to reveal areas of high electrical conductivity, the magnetic surveys those with clearly pronounced magnetic field intensity.conferenc

Küstennahe Grundwassersysteme: Kartierung der Chloridverteilung aus Bohrdaten und Geophysik

Information on chloride (Cl) distribution in aquifers is essential for planning and management of coastal zone groundwater resources as well as for simulation and validation of density-driven groundwater models. We developed a method to derive chloride concentrations from borehole information and helicopter-borne electromagnetic (HEM) data for the coastal aquifer in the Elbe-Weser region where observed chloride and electrical conductivity data reveal that the horizontal distribution of salinity is not uniform and does not correlate with the coastline. The integrated approach uses HEM resistivity data, borehole petrography information, grain size analysis of borehole samples as well as observed chloride and electrical conductivity to estimate Cl distribution. The approch is not straightforward due to the complex nature of the geology where clay and silt are present. Possible errors and uncertainties involved at different steps of the method are discussed.Informationen zur Chloridverteilung im Grundwasserleiter sind für Planung und Management von Grundwasserressourcen in Küstengebieten sowie für die Simulation und Validierung von dichtegesteuerten Grundwassermodellen von wesentlicher Bedeutung. Es wurde eine Methode zur Ableitung der Chloridkonzentration aus Bohrungen und hubschrauber-elektromagnetischen Daten (HEM) entwickelt und für den Küstengrundwasserleiter des Elbe-Weser-Dreiecks eingesetzt. Die dort beobachteten Chloriddaten und elektrischen Leitfähigkeitsdaten zeigen eine ungleichmäßige horizontale Verteilung des Salzgehalts, die nicht mit der Küstenlinie korreliert. Der integrierte Ansatz verwendet HEM-Daten des spezifischen elektrischen Widerstands, Bohrloch-Petrographie-Informationen, Korngrößenanalysen von Bohrlochproben sowie beobachtete Chlorid- und elektrische Leitfähigkeitswerte, um die Chlorid-Verteilung abzuschätzen. Mögliche Fehler und Unsicherheiten bei den verschiedenen Schritten des Verfahrens werden diskutiert

Severity of current depression and remission status are associated with structural connectome alterations in major depressive disorder

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is associated to affected brain wiring. Little is known whether these changes are stable over time and hence might represent a biological predisposition, or whether these are state markers of current disease severity and recovery after a depressive episode. Human white matter network ("connectome") analysis via network science is a suitable tool to investigate the association between affected brain connectivity and MDD. This study examines structural connectome topology in 464 MDD patients (mean age: 36.6 years) and 432 healthy controls (35.6 years). MDD patients were stratified categorially by current disease status (acute vs. partial remission vs. full remission) based on DSM-IV criteria. Current symptom severity was assessed continuously via the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAMD). Connectome matrices were created via a combination of T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and tractography methods based on diffusion-weighted imaging. Global tract-based metrics were not found to show significant differences between disease status groups, suggesting conserved global brain connectivity in MDD. In contrast, reduced global fractional anisotropy (FA) was observed specifically in acute depressed patients compared to fully remitted patients and healthy controls. Within the MDD patients, FA in a subnetwork including frontal, temporal, insular, and parietal nodes was negatively associated with HAMD, an effect remaining when correcting for lifetime disease severity. Therefore, our findings provide new evidence of MDD to be associated with structural, yet dynamic, state-dependent connectome alterations, which covary with current disease severity and remission status after a depressive episode

Appraisal of a new 1D weighted joint inversion of ground based and helicopter-borne electromagnetic data

In order to couple spatial data from frequency-domain helicopter-borne electromagnetics with electromagnetic measurements from ground geophysics (transient electromagnetics and radiomagnetotellurics), a common 1D weighted joint inversion algorithm for helicopter-borne electromagnetics, transient electromagnetics and radiomagnetotellurics data has been developed. The depth of investigation of helicopter-borne electromagnetics data is rather limited compared to time-domain electromagnetics sounding methods on the ground. In order to improve the accuracy of model parameters of shallow depth as well as of greater depth, the helicopter-borne electromagnetics, transient electromagnetics, and radiomagnetotellurics measurements can be combined by using a joint inversion methodology. The 1D joint inversion algorithm is tested for synthetic data of helicopter-borne electromagnetics, transient electromagnetics and radiomagnetotellurics. The proposed concept of the joint inversion takes advantage of each method, thus providing the capability to resolve near surface (radiomagnetotellurics) and deeper electrical conductivity structures (transient electromagnetics) in combination with valuable spatial information (helicopter-borne electromagnetics). Furthermore, the joint inversion has been applied on the field data (helicopter-borne electromagnetics and transient electromagnetics) measured in the Cuxhaven area, Germany. In order to avoid the lessening of the resolution capacities of one data type, and thus balancing the use of inherent and ideally complementary information content, a parameter reweighting scheme that is based on the exploration depth ranges of the specific methods is proposed. A comparison of the conventional joint inversion algorithm, proposed by Jupp and Vozoff (), and of the newly developed algorithm is presented. The new algorithm employs the weighting on different model parameters differently. It is inferred from the synthetic and field data examples that the weighted joint inversion is more successful in explaining the subsurface than the classical joint inversion approach. In addition to this, the data fittings in weighted joint inversion are also improved

A comparison of 2D inversion of RMT and 1D weighted joint inversion of ground-based and helicopter-borne electromagnetic data

A Pleistocene buried valley, the Cuxhaven Valley, located in Northern Germany, is extensively studied by three different electromagnetic methods. In order to enhance the resolution of the very shallow subsurface structures, the radiomagnetotelluric (RMT) measurements were conducted on the buried valley in addition to the helicopterborne electromagnetic (HEM) and transient electromagnetic (TEM) data, which were available from the study area along the same profile. First, the RMT soundings are interpreted using the conventional 1D and 2D inversion algorithms. The RMT interpreted models inferred two-layer structure of the subsurface up to a depth of 30 m, which comprises a resistive layer at the top. Available lithological data is used for correlating the resistivity values derived from the 2D inversion of the RMT data with the subsurface formation. Subsequently, a 1D weighted joint inversion algorithm is utilized to interpret these three data sets jointly. The 2D interpreted models of RMT soundings are compared with the 1D weighted joint interpreted models of RMT, HEM, and TEM soundings

Comparison of manually and automatically derived fresh-saline groundwater boundaries from helicopter-borne EM data at the Jade Bay, Northern Germany

The Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR) conducted many airborne geophysical surveys in Northern Germany during the last decades. The coastal regions of Lower Saxony were investigated by frequency-domain helicopter-borne electromagnetics (HEM) to reveal the bulk resistivity of the subsurface (sediments and pore fluids). The State Authority for Mining, Energy and Geology (LBEG) is preparing a statewide “saltwater map” for Lower Saxony with a focus on the coastal aquifers influenced by seawater intrusion. For this purpose, the HEM resistivities are used in combination with groundwater data and a geological model to derive the lower fresh-water boundary. As appropriate depth values are manually picked from vertical resistivity sections, this procedure is time consuming. Therefore, we tested an alternative, which automatically derives the fresh-saline groundwater boundary directly from the HEM resistivity models. The ambiguity between brackish/saline water and clayey sediments as source for low resistivities can somewhat be reduced by the application of gradients instead of threshold values for searching an appropriate boundary. We compare results of both methods using a dataset from a coastal region at the Jade Bay

Airborne Electromagnetic and Radiometric Peat Thickness Mapping of a Bog in Northwest Germany (Ahlen-Falkenberger Moor)

Knowledge on peat volumes is essential to estimate carbon stocks accurately and to facilitate appropriate peatland management. This study used airborne electromagnetic and radiometric data to estimate the volume of a bog. Airborne methods provide an alternative to ground-based methods, which are labor intensive and unfeasible to capture large-scale (>10 km2) spatial information. An airborne geophysical survey conducted in 2004 covered large parts of the Ahlen-Falkenberger Moor, an Atlantic peat bog (39 km2) close to the German North Sea coast. The lateral extent of the bog was derived from low radiometric and elevated surface data. The vertical extent resulted from smooth resistivity models derived from 1D inversion of airborne electromagnetic data, in combination with a steepest gradient approach, which indicated the base of the less resistive peat. Relative peat thicknesses were also derived from decreasing radiation over peatlands. The scaling factor (µa = 0.28 m−1) required to transform the exposure rates (negative log-values) to thicknesses was calculated using the electromagnetic results as reference. The mean difference of combined airborne results and peat thicknesses of about 100 boreholes is very small (0.0 ± 1.1 m). Although locally some (5%) deviations (>2 m) from the borehole results do occur, the approach presented here enables fast peat volume mapping of large areas without an imperative necessity of borehole data

Geophysical investigation of a freshwater lens on the island of Langeoog, Germany – Insights from combined HEM, TEM and MRS data

A multi-method geophysical survey, including helicopter-borne electromagnetics (HEM), transient electromagnetics (TEM), and magnetic resonance sounding (MRS), was conducted to investigate a freshwater lens on the North Sea island of Langeoog, Germany. The HEM survey covers the entire island and gives an overview of the extent of three freshwater lenses that reach depths of up to 45 m. Ground-based TEM and MRS were conducted particularly on the managed western lens to verify the HEM results and to complement the lithological information from existing boreholes. The results of HEM and TEM are in good agreement. Salt- and freshwater-bearing sediments can, as expected, clearly be distinguished due to their individual resistivity ranges. In the resistivity data, a large transition zone between fresh- and saltwater with a thickness of up to 20 m is identified, the existence of which is verified by borehole logging and sampling. Regarding lithological characterisation of the subsurface, the MRS method provides more accurate and reliable results than HEM and TEM. Using a lithological index derived from MRS water content and relaxation time, thin aquitard structures as well as fine and coarse sand aquifers can be distinguished. Complementing the existing borehole data with the lithology information estimated from MRS, we generate a map showing the occurrence of aquitard structures, which significantly improves the hydrogeological model of the island. Moreover, we demonstrate that the estimates of groundwater conductivity in the sand aquifers from geophysical data are in agreement with the fluid conductivity measured in the boreholes

Comparison of manually and automatically derived fresh-saline groundwater boundaries from helicopter-borne EM data at the Jade Bay, Northern Germany

The Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR) conducted many airborne geophysical surveys in Northern Germany during the last decades. The coastal regions of Lower Saxony were investigated by frequency-domain helicopter-borne electromagnetics (HEM) to reveal the bulk resistivity of the subsurface (sediments and pore fluids). The State Authority for Mining, Energy and Geology (LBEG) is preparing a statewide “saltwater map” for Lower Saxony with a focus on the coastal aquifers influenced by seawater intrusion. For this purpose, the HEM resistivities are used in combination with groundwater data and a geological model to derive the lower fresh-water boundary. As appropriate depth values are manually picked from vertical resistivity sections, this procedure is time consuming. Therefore, we tested an alternative, which automatically derives the fresh-saline groundwater boundary directly from the HEM resistivity models. The ambiguity between brackish/saline water and clayey sediments as source for low resistivities can somewhat be reduced by the application of gradients instead of threshold values for searching an appropriate boundary. We compare results of both methods using a dataset from a coastal region at the Jade Bay