Interpretation of magnetic resonance soundings in rocks with high electrical conductivity

Magnetic resonance sounding (MRS) is an electromagnetic method designed for groundwater investigations. MRS can be applied not only for studying fresh-water aquifers, but also in areas where intrusion of saline water is rendering the subsurface electrically conductive. In the presence of rocks with a high electrical-conductivity attenuation and a phase shift of the MRS signal may influence the efficiency of the MRS method. We investigated the performance of MRS for allowing us to propose a procedure for interpreting MRS data under these conditions. For numerical modeling, we considered a subsurface with a resistivity between 0.5 and 10 Ω m. The results show that the depth of investigation with MRS depends upon the electrical conductivity of groundwater and surrounding rocks, on the depth of the saline water layer, and on the amount of fresh water above the saline water. For interpreting MRS measurements, the electrical conductivity of the subsurface is routinely measured with an electrical or electromagnetic method. However, due to the equivalence problem, the result obtained with these methods may be not unique. Hence, we investigated the influence of the uncertainty in conductivity distribution provided by transient electromagnetic measurements (TEM) on MRS results. It was found that the uncertainty in TEM results has an insignificant effect on MRS.