A Gentle Introduction to EM for Geophysical Applications | Blended course

Although in the search for hydrocarbons seismic plays the dominant role, complementary data can be very useful. A clear example is that seismic can clearly determine reservoir geometries based on acoustic impedance changes but is less sensitive to the pore-fluids. Electromagnetic measurements, such as Controlled Source EM (CSEM) measures resistivity directly and hence can discriminate between brine and hydrocarbon fill. But how about the poorer resolution of EM compared with seismic you might ask (correctly)! Indeed, that is the case, but if you think of combining the two independent sources of information, then seismic will give the structure (container) which then can be used as a constraint for the inversion of EM. Another application (MT) is in the realm of determining the shape of allochthone salt bodies below which hydrocarbons can be present. Numerous applications can be mentioned in relation to shallow seismic. An obvious one is the use of Ground Penetrating Radar for investigating archaeological sites or determining the depth to upwelling deep salt-water due to severe pumping of fresh water for irrigation. EM methods are also extensively used for determining the extend of underground pollution.

In this course the theory behind electromagnetism will be “gently” introduced without going into the mathematics. The main emphasis is on applying it in exercises to better understand what contribution EM can make to answering geophysical questions.

This course is a blended course. It is lead remotely by the instructor that has daily direct interactions with the trainees for several hours. Trainees are self-learning for the rest of the day by doing exercises and going through the course material.  

The course consists of presentations, videos, and exercises. The presentations, also made available in pdf, are animated power point shows. The videos are either related to the exercises or general, some related to professional societies. In the exercises the methods discussed in the presentations are applied using computer programs. The solutions are discussed. Also, the course contains quizzes which are meant to reinforce the learning. Each quiz consists of multiple-choice questions.