A comparison of loop time-domain electromagnetic and short-offset transient electromagnetic methods for mapping water-enriched zones - A case history in Shaanxi, China

Increases in the mining depth of coal pose a significant challenge to the conventional loop source time-domain electromagnetic (TEM) method that requires significant enlargement of the loop size and transmitting current to realize the deeper sounding results required. As an alternative, TEM devices based on a grounded wire source are generally used to solve detections deeper than several hundred meters. To map the water-enriched zones buried underneath approximately 1000 m at a coal mine in Shaanxi, China, loop TEM and short-offset transient electromagnetic (SOTEM) measurements were conducted. We carried out 1D forward modeling and inversion constrained by drilling informa-tion, and the results reveal that the resolution capability of loop TEM and SOTEM is almost the same in detecting a conductive layer in the absence of any noise. However, for a given noise level and decay time, the SOTEM method provides a deeper investigation than loop TEM without compromising sensitivity. The field examples validated the synthetic results. The loop TEM with dimensions of 800 × 800 m realized a maximum depth of 1000 m, whereas the reliable detection depth of 1500 m was achieved by using a 723 m long grounded wire source using the SOTEM method. Moreover, the labor required is significantly reduced, and the efficiency is dramatically raised using the SOTEM method. Our results predict that the SOTEMmethod should play a more important role in deep hydrogeophysical investigations.