Submit to Applied Sciences Review for Applied Sciences Propose a Special Issue

Journal Menu

Journal Browser

► Journal Browser

Integration of Methods in Applied Geophysics, Volume II

Special Issue Editors
Special Issue Information
Keywords
Published Papers

A special issue of Applied Sciences (ISSN 2076-3417). This special issue belongs to the section "Earth Sciences".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 October 2023) | Viewed by 7998

Share This Special Issue

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Domenico Patella

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

Faculty of Economics, Universitas Mercatorum, Piazza Mattei 10, 00186 Rome, Italy
Interests: applied geophysics; theoretical foundations; direct and inverse methods; applications to volcanology; archaeology; seismology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Prof. Dr. Paolo Mauriello

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

Department of Agricultural, Environmental and Food Sciences, University of Molise, Via De Sanctis, 86100 Campobasso, Italy
Interests: tomography in applied geophysics; applications to volcanology; archaeology and near-surface prospecting; development of prototypes of portable electromagnetic instruments
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Interpretation in geophysics is commonly carried out using a single geophysical dataset to obtain an image of a single geophysical parameter. Often, the information coming from the application of different geophysical methods in the same area is not unified in a framework capable of justifying the behavior of the individual physical parameters. In principle, only an effective integration of the different information can provide an unambiguous and self-constrained interpretative model. In this way, the effectiveness of individual geophysical methods can be enhanced to jointly determine the buried structures by their multiple physical properties. The formalization of this inverse problem therefore requires a joint representation and parametrization of the different media properties in the model. In practice, the question of how to correctly manage multiple data sets invokes the search for well-defined a priori relationships between them—that is, the definition of theoretical, or at least empirical but universal, relationships between the distinct physical parameters. This is an extraordinary and challenging problem due to the high variability of chemical and physical conditions within the Earth. It is worth underlining the great advantage that can be obtained, consisting of a high reduction of the ambiguities inherent in each single method when using a multimethodological strategy.

This Special Issue invites researchers in applied geophysics to provide contributions on: (1) innovative theoretical developments for the formalization of the joint inverse problem of different geophysical parameters as well as (2) case studies of integrated geophysics in different fields of application (e.g., volcanology, hydrogeology, geothermal resources, archaeology, engineering).

Prof. Dr. Domenico Patella
Prof. Dr. Paolo Mauriello
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Applied Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

applied geophysics
multimethodological geophysical approach
multiparametric inverse problem: theory and practice
integrated tomography imaging
integrated geophysical case-studies

Published Papers (7 papers)

Download All Papers

Order results

Result details

Show export options Show export options

Select all

Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

16 pages, 23535 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

Drone Magnetic and Time Domain Electromagnetic Exploration in Metamorphic Formations: Tool for the Identification of Strategic Sites for Aquifer Exploitation

by Javier Carrasco García, Pedro Carrasco García, Daniel Porras Sanchiz, Ignacio Martín Nieto, Cristina Sáez Blázquez and Pedro Huerta Hurtado

Appl. Sci. 2023, 13(19), 10949; https://doi.org/10.3390/app131910949 - 4 Oct 2023

Viewed by 931

Abstract

In the contemporary era, the exploitation of aquifers in the agricultural sector has become increasingly important. In response, researchers have directed their efforts towards the formulation of effective methodologies, with geophysical prospecting emerging as a fundamental tool in locating the best underground deposits. The magnetic prospecting technique can discriminate between different categories of rocks, which facilitates the localisation of geological contacts—an essential factor in determining the strategic location of boreholes, while electromagnetic time-domain prospecting helps in the definition of sedimentary strata. In particular, this process reveals the important influence of tertiary and metamorphic formations on the regional hydrogeological framework of the studied area. The variable yields recorded in the wells in the area that have yielded good results are a clear indication of the presence of aquifers. However, it is important to note that numerous wells have been drilled in this region that have yielded negligible or even zero flow rates. Prudent selection of the location and depth of boreholes is essential to ensure proper management of this resource. The use of drones equipped with magnetometers is essential to speed up the spatial mapping process. Empirical results corroborate the accurate classification of lithological units, thus facilitating the selection of sites for groundwater abstraction. These studies serve to validate initial hypotheses and profoundly enrich our understanding of the hydrogeological dynamics of the site, thus providing avenues for optimal and sustainable exploitation and future academic research. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Integration of Methods in Applied Geophysics, Volume II)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

26 pages, 13864 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Accuracy Assessment of Lithospheric Density Models

by Robert Tenzer and Wenjin Chen

Appl. Sci. 2023, 13(18), 10432; https://doi.org/10.3390/app131810432 - 18 Sep 2023

Viewed by 769

Abstract

The Earth’s synthetic gravitational and density models can be used to validate numerical procedures applied for global (or large-scale regional) gravimetric forward and inverse modeling. Since the Earth’s lithospheric structure is better constrained by tomographic surveys than a deep mantle, most existing 3D density models describe only a lithospheric density structure, while 1D density models are typically used to describe a deep mantle density structure below the lithosphere-asthenosphere boundary. The accuracy of currently available lithospheric density models is examined in this study. The error analysis is established to assess the accuracy of modeling the sub-lithospheric mantle geoid while focusing on the largest errors (according to our estimates) that are attributed to lithospheric thickness and lithospheric mantle density uncertainties. Since a forward modeling of the sub-lithospheric mantle geoid also comprises numerical procedures of adding and subtracting gravitational contributions of similar density structures, the error propagation is derived for actual rather than random errors (that are described by the Gauss’ error propagation law). Possible systematic errors then either lessen or sum up after applying particular corrections to a geoidal geometry that are attributed to individual lithospheric density structures (such as sediments) or density interfaces (such as a Moho density contrast). The analysis indicates that errors in modeling of the sub-lithospheric mantle geoid attributed to lithospheric thickness and lithospheric mantle density uncertainties could reach several hundreds of meters, particularly at locations with the largest lithospheric thickness under cratonic formations. This numerical finding is important for the calibration and further development of synthetic density models of which mass equals the Earth’s total mass (excluding the atmosphere). Consequently, the (long-to-medium wavelength) gravitational field generated by a synthetic density model should closely agree with the Earth’s gravitational field. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Integration of Methods in Applied Geophysics, Volume II)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

17 pages, 18367 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Three-Dimensional Joint Inversion of the Resistivity Method and Time-Domain-Induced Polarization Based on the Cross-Gradient Constraints

by Depeng Zhu, Handong Tan, Miao Peng and Tao Wang

Appl. Sci. 2023, 13(14), 8145; https://doi.org/10.3390/app13148145 - 13 Jul 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1034

Abstract

The resistivity method and time-domain-induced polarization (TDIP) are two branches of electric exploration that are used to solve problems in mineral exploration, hydrogeology and engineering geology. In recent years, integrating different physical parameters for joint inversion to improve the accuracy of inversion results has been extensively examined; however, three-dimensional joint inversion of the two methods above has not been realized. To further address this issue, in this research, we used the limited-memory BFGS (L-BFGS) method to develop a three-dimensional joint inversion algorithm of the resistivity method and TDIP based on the cross-gradient constraints. In the new algorithm, the resistivity method and TDIP inversion were iteratively updated alternately to ensure that the inversion results can simultaneously meet the two conditions of obtaining minimum data misfits and finding structural similarity. The three-dimensional synthetic dataset inversion results showed that the models obtained by joint inversion are more accurate in the recovery of both the boundaries and the values of the anomalies. Especially in the background of high noise, joint inversion has higher resolution for the target body. The joint inversion algorithm was also successfully applied to a groundwater detection practice in Beijing, China, in which the practicability of the algorithm was confirmed. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Integration of Methods in Applied Geophysics, Volume II)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

14 pages, 5018 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Deep TDEM Study for Structural and Mining Purposes: A Case Study of the Barbastro Saline-Evaporitic Formation, Spain

by Daniel Porras, Javier Carrasco, Pedro Carrasco and José Luis Herrero-Pacheco

Appl. Sci. 2023, 13(11), 6385; https://doi.org/10.3390/app13116385 - 23 May 2023

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1086

Abstract

The objective of this study was to obtain the deep subsurface structure of a saline-evaporitic formation affected by an anticlinal structure, defining the position and thickness for its future exploitation (potassium salts). To improve this knowledge, geophysical methods can be applied to establish detailed information on geological structures at depth. This work analyzes the results of a deep time domain electromagnetic (TDEM) survey acquired over the southern flank of the Barbastro-Balaguer Anticline present in the Ebro Basin in the vicinity of Graus (Huesca, Spain), that controls the geometry of the Barbastro saline-evaporitic formation, of interest from the mining point of view. A deep time domain electromagnetic system (TDEM) is used, providing a penetration capability down to 3.0 km depth. A parametric constrained inversion over a lithological known borehole (Monzón-1) is used to obtain a resistivity model and then applied to the rest of the survey points. The applied methodology contributes to improving the geological knowledge, revealing a new detailed geological structure of the Barbastro saline-evaporitic formation affected by the Barbastro-Balaguer Anticline. The survey shows that the Barbastro saline-evaporitic formation presents a structure with a ramp hanging wall and close to flat footwall, generally dipping to the SW, with a decreasing thickness from 1103 m to 601 m, in concordance with the previous accepted geological structural model. The new geophysical study provides essential data, allowing design and drilling optimization in future mining exploitations. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Integration of Methods in Applied Geophysics, Volume II)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

10 pages, 372 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Process of Reconstructing the Ancient Magnetic Field Direction: A New Approach to Paleomagnetic Data for a Better Estimate of Accuracy

by Andrey Khokhlov and Georgy Gvozdik

Appl. Sci. 2023, 13(8), 4717; https://doi.org/10.3390/app13084717 - 9 Apr 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 981

Abstract

Traditionally, the accuracy of paleomagnetic data obtained from samples of igneous rocks relies on the widely known method a95. We propose here a novel statistical method to estimate the ancient field direction using information from Zijderveld diagrams. We show a way to detect outliers in a sample of directions by constructing a confidence domain (convex, but complex in shape) on the direction sphere. Such a region statistically localizes the common direction of the ancient field over a given set of specimens from the lava flow. Often, even for a small sample, this confidence domain is much smaller than the confidence domain that the a95 method gives for the average direction over the sample. Improving the accuracy is obviously important for describing the evolution of the magnetic field. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Integration of Methods in Applied Geophysics, Volume II)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

18 pages, 7818 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Vertical Seismic-Profile Data Local Full-Waveform Inversion Based on Marchenko Redatuming

by Kai Li, Xuri Huang, Yezheng Hu, Xiaochun Chen, Kai Chen and Jing Tang

Appl. Sci. 2023, 13(7), 4165; https://doi.org/10.3390/app13074165 - 24 Mar 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1128

Abstract

Local full-waveform inversion (FWI) methods use redatumed seismic responses of virtual receivers within the subsurface to build the local objective function based on the convolution-type representation theorem. The Marchenko method is widely used to obtain the redatumed data. The method only requires a smoothed velocity model with correct kinematic characteristics of seismic responses for redatuming of the single-sided reflection data. However, the standard Marchenko method is insensitive to lateral propagation of the wavefield. By injecting the standard Marchenko redatumed wavefield along the boundary of the target, the local wavefield propagation modeling produces errors, which affects the accuracy of the local FWI. In this paper, a method to obtain more accurate Green’s functions is proposed by incorporating vertical seismic profile data (VSP) into the calculation process of the Marchenko source-receiver redatuming. This method allows one to obtain the accurate laterally propagating waveform, resulting in a significant improvement of lateral resolution. The proposed method is applied to a benchmark model dataset and compared with the local FWI based on standard Marchenko redatuming. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Integration of Methods in Applied Geophysics, Volume II)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

13 pages, 4181 KiB

Open AccessArticle

An Application of Elastic-Net Regularized Linear Inverse Problem in Seismic Data Inversion

by Ronghuo Dai, Cheng Yin and Da Peng

Appl. Sci. 2023, 13(3), 1525; https://doi.org/10.3390/app13031525 - 24 Jan 2023

Viewed by 1468

Abstract

In exploration geophysics, seismic impedance is a physical characteristic parameter of underground formations. It can mark rock characteristics and help stratigraphic analysis. Hence, seismic data inversion for impedance is a key technology in oil and gas reservoir prediction. To invert impedance from seismic data, one can perform reflectivity series inversion first. Then, under a simple exponential integration transformation, the inverted reflectivity series can give the final inverted impedance. The quality of the inverted reflectivity series directly affects the quality of impedance. Sparse-spike inversion is the most common method to obtain reflectivity series with high resolution. It adopts a sparse regularization to impose sparsity on the inverted reflectivity series. However, the high resolution of sparse-spike-like reflectivity series is obtained at the cost of sacrificing small reflectivity. This is the inherent problem of sparse regularization. In fact, the reflectivity series from the actual impedance well log is not strictly sparse. It contains not only the sparse major large reflectivity, but also small reflectivity between major reflectivity. That is to say, the large reflectivity is sparse, but the small reflectivity is dense. To combat this issue, we adopt elastic-net regularization to replace sparse regularization in seismic impedance inversion. The elastic net is a hybrid regularization that combines sparse regularization and dense regularization. The proposed inversion method was performed on a synthetic seismic trace, which is created from an actual well log. Then, a real seismic data profile was used to test the practice application. The inversion results showed that it provides an effective new alternative method to invert impedance. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Integration of Methods in Applied Geophysics, Volume II)

► Show Figures

Journal Menu

Journal Browser

Integration of Methods in Applied Geophysics, Volume II

Share This Special Issue

Special Issue Editors

Special Issue Information

Keywords

Published Papers (7 papers)

Research

Further Information

Guidelines

MDPI Initiatives

Follow MDPI