Two‐dimensional terrain correction in magnetotelluric surveys

Abstract

Field distortions caused by topography hamper the interpretation of magnetotelluric (MT) data. Topographic features that can be simulated by two‐dimensional models seriously affect the H-polarization results. A technique to reduce those effects in MT data uses a finite‐element program to compute correction coefficients. After correction, the resulting data can be interpreted as if they were obtained over a flat surface and depended only on the subsurface structure. The technique is applied to four examples representative of MT survey targets in high‐relief terrain. Results indicate that terrain correction removes the misleading topographic anomalies and improves the quality of subsurface interpretation in regions where the surface relief is two‐dimensional. The correction technique yields some geometrical distortion of the original subsurface structure, but the distortion is usually of small importance. In practice, telluric dipoles of realistic length do not smooth out topographic effects having wavelengths longer than the telluric dipole. A practical procedure derived from the proposed technique allows terrain correction when the relief is approximately two‐dimensional.