Computer Assisted Interpretation of Multi-channel Airborne Electromagnetic Measurements

This paper was published in Geophysics, 38, No. 6, December, 1973. This paper appeared as Research in Applied Geophysics as Report No. 3, Geophysics Laboratory, University of Toronto.Recent improvements of the INPUT airborne electromagnetic system have made possible a more quantitative approach to interpretation. The necessary interpretational aids can be obtained in two ways: either by correlating the system and ground EM measurements, or by devising computational or analog quantitative models. Both approaches have been explored. In the former, the system decay rate can be correlated with the apparent conductivity‐thickness (σt) estimated by ground surveys. In the latter, four quantitative models were investigated, vertical half‐plane, vertical ribbon, dipping half‐plane, and homogeneous half‐space. Nomograms have been constructed which make it possible to determine σt, conductor depth, and dip for sheet‐like conductors, and conductivity for a homogeneous half‐space. Field examples show that this procedure can be used satisfactorily in the routine interpretation of records obtained by this system