Inversion of 3D Magnetotelluric Data for Geothermal Exploration at Quang Binh Province, Vietnam

Summary Magnetotelluric (MT) method utilizes natural source from solar wind, thus its investigation depth can vary from a few hundred meters to kilometers or deeper depending on period measurement. MT is usually one of the main geophysical methods to explore deep structures, particularly conductive objects such as faults or geothermal reservoirs. MT inversion can result a conductivity model that may image fault zones or geothermal reservoirs. The MT 2D inversion likely produces distorted images because of 3D effects. Hence, the object can be imaged more robust by using 3D inversion. We applied 3D MT inversion to a dataset acquired in Quang Binh province, Vietnam for geothermal exploration. The dataset measured in nearly thirty stations is processed and exported to the impedance tensor format. We have investigated that the inverted conductivity distribution could provide three-dimensional vision of the fault system in this area.