Semi-Airborne UAV-TEM System Data Inversion with S-Plane Method—Case Study over Lake Baikal

Abstract

The article presents the results of transient electromagnetic (TEM) prospecting surveys using an unmanned aerial system carried out at Lake Baikal, which is a unique geoelectrical setting where low-resistivity lacustrine sediments are located under a relatively isotropic water body. The task was to investigate the possibility of using a drone-based TEM survey to delineate the electrical stratigraphy of the subsurface at depths between 50 and 300 m, separated into layers and blocks. A new version of the SibGIS UAV-TEM unmanned system was used, significantly improved compared to the prototype previously described in the literature. The current switch providing bipolar current pulses connected to a grounded electrical line was the source of the electromagnetic field in the geological environment. The hexacopter carrying a measuring system consisting of 18-bit ADC and sensor—analog of 50 × 50 loop, was the receiving system. We measured survey data of 16 traverses over the Baikal going from the shore to the depths. Significant attention is being paid to a new approach to data inversion. For fast interpretation of the TEM data, we used the Sτ-method, which allows for tracing the change in the apparent longitudinal conductivity with depth. It is shown that thanks to the new sensor and current switch, the data quality has increased significantly; now, the UAV system can register sounding curves up to 1 ms. As a result, new data on the geological structure of the shelf zone of Lake Baikal were obtained. They had a good fundamental agreement with the predecessor data obtained from terrestrial measurements (from ice cover), allowing us to conclude that the UAV-TEM technology can already replace conventional ground-based electromagnetic surveys.