• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.61-68
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• 2010

A magnetotelluric (MT) survey has been performed to delineate deeply extended fracture systems at the geothermal field in Seokmo Island, Korea. To assist interpretation of the MT data, geological surveying and well logging of existing wells were also performed. The surface geology of the island shows Cretaceous and Jurassic granite in the north and Precambrian schist in the south. The geothermal regime has been found along the boundary between the schist and Cretaceous granite. Because of the deep circulation along the fracture system, geothermal gradient of the target area exceeds $45^{\circ}C/km$, which is much higher than the average geothermal gradient in Korea. 2D and 3D inversions of MT data clearly showed a very conductive anomaly, which is interpreted as a fracture system bearing saline water that extends at least down to 1.5 km depth and is inclined eastwards. After drilling down to the depth of 1280 m, more than 4000 tons/day of geothermal water overflowed with temperature higher than $70^{\circ}C$. This water showed very similar chemical composition and temperature to those from another existing well, so that they can be considered to have the same origin; i.e. from the same fracture system. A new geothermal project for combined heat and power generation was launched in 2009 in Seokmo Island, based on the survey. Additional geophysical investigations including MT surveys to cover a wider area, seismic reflection surveys, borehole surveys, and well logging of more than 20 existing boreholes will be conducted.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.184-196
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• 2008

We perform MT soundings in Bendigo, the northern part of Victoria, Australia, to investigate the deep subsurface geologic structure. The primary purpose of this survey is to figure out whether the discontinuity such as faults extends northward. The time series of MT signal were measured over 11 days at 71 measurement stations together with at remote reference, which help enhance the quality of impedance estimation and its interpretation. The impedances are estimated by robust processing using remote reference technique and then inverted with 2D MT 2D inversion. We can see that known faults are clearly imaged in MT 2D inversion. Comparing resistivity images from MT 2D inversion with interpreted boundary from reflection seismic exploration, two interpretations match well each other.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.223-231
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• 2015

Self-potential (SP) is sensitive to groundwater flow and there are many causes to generate SP. Among many mechanisms of SP, pore-fluid flow in porous media can generate potential without any external current source, which is referred to as electrokinetic potential or streaming potential. When calculating SP responses on the surface due to geothermal fluid within an engineered geothermal system (EGS) reservoir, SP anomaly is usually considered to be generated by fluid injection or production within the reservoir. However, SP anomaly can also result from geothermal water fluid within EGS reservoirs experiencing temperature changes between injection and production wells. For more precise simulation of SP responses, we developed an algorithm being able to take account of SP anomalies produced by not only water injection and production but also the fluid of geothermal water, based on three-dimensional finite-element-method employing tetrahedron elements; the developed algorithm can simulate electrical potential responses by both point source and volume source. After verifying the developed algorithm, we assumed a simple geothermal reservoir model and analyzed SP responses caused by geothermal water injection and production. We are going to further analyze SP responses for geothermal water in the presence of water production and injection, considering temperature distribution and geothermal water flow in the following research.

• 한국지구물리탐사학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2003.11a
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• pp.390-397
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• 2003

A three-dimensional (3D) inversion technique has been developed for interpretation of magnetotelluric (MT) data. The inversion method is based on the linearized least-squares (Gauss-Newton) method with smoothness regularization. In addition to the underground 3D resistivity distribution, static shifts are also treated as unknown parameters in the inversion. The forward modeling is by the staggered-grid finite difference method. A Bayesian criterion ABle is applied to search the optimum trade-off among the minimization of the data misfit, model roughness and static shifts. The method has been applied to several MT datasets obtained at geothermal fields in Japan and other Asian countries. In this paper, two examples will be discussed: one is the data at the Ogiri geothermal area, southwestern Japan, and the other is at the Pohang low-enthalpy geothermal field, southeastern Korea. The inversion of the Ogiri data has been performed stably, resulting in a good fitting between the observed and computed apparent resistivities and phases. The recovered 3D resistivity structure is generally similar to the two-dimensional (2D) inversion models, although the deeper portion of the 3D model seems to be more realistic than that of the 2D model. The 3D model is also in a good agreement with the geological model of the geothermal reservoirs. 3D interpretation of the Pohang MT data is still preliminary. Although the fitting to the observed data is very good, the preliminary 3D model is not reliable enough because the station coverage is not sufficient for a 3D inversion.

• 한국지구물리탐사학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2007.06a
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• pp.257-260
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• 2007

Two-dimensional (2D) interpretation of MT and AMT data observed in 2004 in Jeju Island is made using two inversion schemes developed by Uchida (1993) and Lee et al. (2002). These interpretations show that the subsurface of Jeju consists of roughly three layers. Reconstructed images along lines E and W reveal that the conductive layer beneath the topmost resistive layer of lava plateau can be a sediment layer. The geoelectrical structure along line E is more complex than that along line W, especially near Mt. Halla. The Uchida’s (1993) scheme gives reasonable images, but much more time-consuming than that of Lee et al. (2002).

• 한국지구물리탐사학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2007.06a
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• pp.261-266
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• 2007

An efficient three-dimensional (3D) inversion of magnetotelluric (MT) data can be carried out by using approximate sensitivities or avoiding the calculation of a full sensitivity matrix. In this paper, we propose approximate sensitivities for efficient 3D MT inversion based on the Gauss-Newton method and test and compare four kinds of sensitivities. Applying the four sensitivities to both synthetic and field data shows that the effects of sensitivities are highly dependent on data and thus applying various combinations of sensitivities is recommended for efficient inversion and good images.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.275-284
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• 2007

For precise interpretation of magnetotelluric (MT) data distorted by irregular surface terrain, topography effects are investigated by computing apparent resistivities, phases, tippers and induction vectors for a three-dimensional (3D) hill-and-valley model. To compute MT responses for the 3D surface topography model, we use a 3D MT modeling algorithm based on an edge finite-element method which is free from vector parasites. Distortions on the apparent resistivity and phase are mainly caused by distorted currents that flow along surface topography. The distribution of tipper amplitudes over both hill and valley are the same, while the tipper points toward the center of hill and the base of the valley. The real part of induction vector also points in the same direction as that of tipper, while the imaginary part in the opposite direction.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.85-92
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• 2008

Magnetotelluric (MT) methods are widely applied as an effective exploration technique to geothermal surveys. Two-dimensional (2-D) analysis is frequently used to investigate a complicated subsurface structure in a geothermal region. A 2-D finite-element method (FEM) is usually applied to the MT analysis, but we must pay attention to the accuracy of so-called auxiliary fields. Rodi (1976) proposed an algorithm of improving the accuracy of auxiliary fields, and named it as the MOM method. Because it introduces zeros into the diagonal elements of coefficient matrix of the FEM total equation, a pivoting procedure applied to the symmetrical band matrix makes the numerical solution far less efficient. The MOM method was devised mainly for the inversion analysis, in which partial derivatives of both electric and magnetic fields with respect to model parameters are required. In the case of forward modeling, however, we do not have to resort to the MOM method; there is no need of modifying the coefficient matrix, and the auxiliary fields can be elicited from the regular FEM solution. The computational efficiency of the MOM method, however, can be greatly improved through a sophisticated rearrangement of the total equation.

• 한국지구물리탐사학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2003.11a
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• pp.470-475
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• 2003

KIGAM (Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources) launched a new project to develop the low-enthalpy geothermal water in the area showing high geothermal anomaly, north of Pohang city, for large-scale space heating from KORP (Korea Research Council of Public Science & Technology) funding. Surface geologic and geophysical surveys including Landsat TM image analysis, gravity, magnetic, Magnetotelluric (MT) and controlled-source audio-frequency MT (CSAMT) and self-potential (SP) methods have been conducted and the possible fracture zone was found that would serve as deeply connected geothermal water conduit. By the end of 2003, two test wells of 1 km depth will be drilled and various kinds of borehole survey along with additional MT measurements and sample analysis will follow and then the detailed subsurface condition is to be characterized. Next step would be drilling the production well of 2 km depth and all further steps remain to be determined depending upon the results of the test well studies.

• 한국지구물리탐사학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2007.06a
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• pp.273-278
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• 2007

2-D MT surveys at the Century mine in Australia have been performed with very far remote reference in Esashi, Japan as well as Gregory Downs, which are roughly 6400 km and 80 km apart from the field site, respectively. Long period pulsations observed in this survey generally showed dominant $H_x$ polarization than $H_y$; $H_x$ component is more than 3 times stronger than $H_y$ component. Polarity reversal in magnetic field pointing east ($H_y$ component) has also been observed in long period pulsations, while $H_x$ component remain coherent between the hemispheres. Though $H_x$ component shows relatively good coherency than $H_y$ component between the hemispheres at frequencies lower than 0.01 Hz, it seems rather too far to be used as a remote reference for ordinary MT frequency band.