Instructions for Running PrepVLF and Inv2DVLF

2-D Inversion of VLF-EM single frequency programs

Version-1.0

Fernando A. Monteiro Santos

Centro de Geofsica da Universidade de Lisboa

May 2006

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Im glad to allow anyone to use the inversion of VLF-EM data program (INV2DVLF) for free,
provided usage is only for academic purposes. If you are interested in commercial use, please
contact me to make appropriate arrangements. The users should agree with some (and almost
trivial) "Conditions of Use". Although there is no charge for using this code, I ask the users to
properly cite their usage of the code in any resulting publications (paper or academic thesis),
and that they keep me informed of any resulting publications, bugs or problems encountered,
etc. The list of users and publications will be used to support my research work.

Please, contact me

Fernando A. Monteiro Santos

Centro de Geofsica da Universidade de Lisboa
1749-016 Lisboa, Portugal
fasantos@fc.ul.pt
Fax: +351 217500977
www.cgul.ul.pt

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The VLF-EM method
A review of the VLF theoretical basics, as well as of its geological and hydrogeological
applications can be found in McNeill and Labson (1991). The sources for the VLF
measurement are fixed transmitters used for communication that represent vertical
electric dipoles. The radio signals are transmitted either as ground waves or wave
guided by the solid earth and the conducting ionosphere. At sites far from the source,
the primary electromagnetic field resembles a vertical plane wave with the electrical
field nearly vertical, and the magnetic field horizontal. According to the electromagnetic
theory, conductive bodies beneath the surface become the source of a secondary field
(with vertical and horizontal components), which is shifted in phase relatively to the
primary one.

Assuming a 2-D conductivity distribution (Figure 1), with strike in the x-direction and
the y-direction as the measuring profile direction, the VLF-EM instruments measure
only the vertical (Hz) and the horizontal (Hy) component of the magnetic field. At each
measurement site it is possible to define a scalar tipper B given by Hz = B Hy. The
tipper is a complex quantity originated by the time lag between horizontal and vertical
components of the magnetic fields due to the electromagnetic induction phenomena.
The tipper quantity does not exist over a homogeneous earth (or over a layered earth).
Over a 2-D earth the tipper varies along the measuring profile showing the strongest
variations in the vicinity of resistivity contrasts. The real and imaginary (or in-phase and
quadrature, respectively) components of the tipper in the case of the VLF-EM method
are usually expressed as percentage.

Figure 1. VLF-EM electromagnetic field.

Inversion of VLF-EM data

Inv2DVLF is a program for 2-D regularised inversion of VLF-EM data, which was
developed based on a forward solution using the finite-element method. The objective
of the inversion is to obtain a subsurface distribution of the electrical resistivity, which
generates a response that fits the field data within the limits of data errors. The input
data are the real and imaginary components of the tipper. The smoothness-constrained
least-squares method has been widely used in 2-D and 3-D inversions of
magnetotelluric, electromagnetic and geoelectrical data sets (see, e.g., DeGroot-Hedlin
and Constable, 1990; Sasaki 1989, 1994, 2001 and Loke and Barker 1996) and will not
be discussed here.

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Input Parameters
The forward modelling of Inv2DVLF program is based upon the Finite-Element (FE)
method and the inversion algorithm is based upon the regularization method. Therefore,
a graded spacing in both vertical and horizontal directions should be used for the FE
calculations and a block-division of the area of interest should be specified (Figure 2).

Xc1 Xc9 Xc17 Xc22

Zc1

X AIR
Zc4

Zc6
1 2 3
Z
4 5 6 Earth
Zc10

7 8 9
Zc14

Figure 2. FE mesh (black lines) and earth-model blocks (yellow lines). This mesh has Nx = 22 and Nz =
14, NLair = 3. The red line is the earth surface (zc4 = zair = 0). The earth model has 9 blocks (NBx = 3,
NBz = 3). The first level of blocks includes the blocks 1, 2 and 3. The second level of blocks contains
blocks 4, 5 and 6,,etc. The first block starts at (xc1,zc4) and finish at (xc9,zc6). The second block starts
at (xc9,zc4) and finish at (xc17,zc6),etc.

The Inv2DVLF program runs over an input file generated by the program PrepVLF.
The inputs for this program are:
- coordinates of the Finite-Element mesh and of the earth-model blocks limits (file
coord.txt, in the example files);
- data file, containing the location of the measuring sites and the measured real
and imaginary tipper parts (file obTeor-2B.txt);
- topography at the measuring sites (file topo.txt).

The inputs for Inv2DVLF are:

- number of iterations (usually between 20 and 30);
- the Lagrange parameter (usually 0.03, but it depends on the problem);
- the name of the OutPut file (where all the information will be recorded).

Note: if the number of iterations is =0, the program only calculate the forward
modelling.

Output Parameters
The output of PrepVLF is the temporary file INPUT-VLF.tmp which contains all the
information necessary for the inversion performed by Inv2DVLF.
Inv2DVLF generates several files:
- the OutPut file (containing all the information of the inversion process, final
model and input data and model responses, OutTeor-2B.txt);

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 - FMODEL-vlf.dat . This file contains the final model;
- FDATAR-vlf.dat . This file contains the input data and model response, as well
as, the misfit at each site;
- FEMESH.txt. This file contains the coordinates of all nodes of the FE mesh.
This file can be used to check the mesh;
- SENSIV-vlf.dat . This file contains the sensitivity of the final model.
- Results.tmp .This file contains all the models achieved during the inversion
process.

Note: All the files (FMODEL-vlf, FDATAR-vlf, SENSIV-vlf, FEMESH.txt, etc.) and
results are overwritten each time the program runs.

Instructions for Running

- construct the coordinates and block definition file;
- construct the data file;
- construct the topography file;
- run the program PrepVLF to built the INPUT-VLF.tmp file.
- run the Inv2DVLF program for the inversion furnishing the maximum number
of iterations, the Lagrane parameter and the name of the OutPut file.
- use the files FMODEL-vlf.dat and FDATAR-vlf.dat to construct graphical
outputs.

Note: As the programs dont have any protection for running errors, it is advised to run
them in a DOS windows.

Coordinates File Format

Nx,Nz,NLAir (number of coordinates in x, z directions and number of air layers)

xc1,xc2,..,xcNx (coordinates in the X direction in meters)
zc1, zc2,..,zcNz (coordinates in the Z direction in meters, including the air layers)

NBx,NBz,r0 (number of blocks in x and z directions and initial resistivity)

x1, x2, x3. (X coordinates of the earth model-blocks)
zair, z1, z2. (Z coordinates of the earth model-blocks).

Note: The 1st block starts at x1 and finish at x2, the 2nd bloc starts at x2 and finish at
x3,, etc. The blocks on the first level of blocks start at zair and finish at z1, the 2nd
level of blocks starts at z1 and finish at z2,,etc (see Figure 2).

Example
97 33 8
-500 -300 -200 -100 -50 -20 -16 -14 -12 -10 -8 -6 -4 -2
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34 36 38 40 42 44 46 48
50 52 54 56 58 60 62 64 66 68 70 72 74 76 78 80 82 84 86 88 90 92 94
96 98 100 102 104 106 108 110 112 114 116 118 120 122 124 126 128
130 132 134 136 138 140 142 144 146 148 150 152 156 186 236 336 446 646

-300 -100 -50 -30 -20 -10 -5 -2 0

2 5 10 15 20 25
30 35 40 50 60 70 80 100 110 120
150 180 200 250 300 350 400 450

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16 4 1300
-500 12 20 28 36 44 52 60 68 76 84 92 100 108 116 124 646
0 50 110 250 450
Data file format

Name (Name of the profile)

Np (number of measured sites along the profile)
Freq (Frequency in Hz)
Np
Xsite,TReal, TImag (coordinate of the measuring site, tipper-Real, tipper-Imag)

Example
Teor-2B
18
20000
18
.00 -6.0985 .4097
8.00 -7.3258 .2566
16.00 -8.6284 -.0389
24.00 -10.0025 -.5143
32.00 -11.4079 -1.2151
40.00 -12.1943 -1.6719
48.00 -7.5435 2.3892
56.00 -3.1880 6.0569
64.00 -3.7747 5.0556
72.00 -3.8962 3.8751
80.00 -2.9581 2.9334
88.00 -.9460 2.2141
96.00 1.8375 1.6819
104.00 4.7203 1.2485
112.00 7.0321 .8265
120.00 8.4848 .3952
128.00 9.1305 -.0155
136.00 9.1497 -.3669

Topography file format

zT1, zT2, zTNp (topography level at each site)

Note: To set the topography level, a reference level (which will be assumed as 0.0 m)
should be selected. According to the reference system the levels above the reference
level (hills) will be negative and the valleys will be positive.

Example

0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.50 2.0 3.0 5.0 4.0 3.0 2.0 0.0 -1.0 -2.0 -3.0 -3.0

Note: The FE mesh for problems with topography should be carefully constructed. The
topography option was not fully tested so, some troubles can appear.

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OutPut file format

nit,alamp,rmsa,rms (iteration, Lagrange parameter, rms at (nit-1) iteration and rms of

present iteration).

n iterations,final rms (number of iterations and final rms)

mesh
n of blocks,envir. r0 (number of blocks of the model and initial resistivity)
nci, ncf, nli, nlf, r (identification of each block and its calculated resistivity in the FE)
mesh)
FINAL MODEL
xm, zm, r (coordinates x and z of the central point of each block and its calculated
resistivity)
weights
nBz (number of blocks in Z direction)
nBx,we (number of blocks in X direction, weight)

Measured and calculated data (Tipper)

Xs,Zs,TRob,TIob,TRc,TIc,dR,dIm (X coordinate of the site, Z level (topo), Real Tipper-
measured, Imag Tipper-measured, Real Tipper-calculated, Imag Tipper-calculated,
relative difference between Real Tipper measure and calculated (%), relative difference
between Real Tipper measure and calculated (%)).

global misfit % (global misfit between data and final model response).

Example

nit,alamp,rmsa,rms 0 2.9999999E-02 1000.000 0.5183278

.......
n iterations,final rms 30 4.6701845E-02
mesh
n of blocks,envir. r0 64 1300.000
1 21 21 25 2019.676
..
77 97 1 11 611.3801
FINAL MODEL
-244.00 -7.50 2019.68
16.00 -7.50 1481.31
.
120.00 -275.00 1057.37
385.00 -275.00 611.38

weights
4
16 0.8000000
16 0.8400000
16 0.8819999
16 0.9260998

Measured and calculated data (Tipper)

Xs,Zs,TRob,TIob,TRc,TIc,dR,dIm

frequency 20000.00 (frequency in Hz)

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 0.00 0.00 -6.0985 0.4097 -6.9713 0.8865 14.31 116.38
..
128.00 0.00 9.1305 -0.0155 9.5493 -0.1797 4.59 1059.20
136.00 0.00 9.1497 -0.3669 10.5037 -0.8069 14.80 119.94

global misfit % 52.47572

Note: The parts filled in yellow and green are the content of the files FMODEL-vlf.dat
and FDATAR-vlf.dat, respectively.

Examples

A model, containing two conductive bodies with resistivity of 300 and 50 ohm-m in a
host half-space of 1000 ohm-m, was used to generate the synthetic data at a frequency
of 20 kHz (Figure A-1a) and b)).

The real component of the synthetic data was filtered using the Fraser and the Karous-
Hjelt filters. The results are shown in Figure A-1a) and c), respectively. The peaks in the
Fraser profile show a correct location of the anomalous zones along the profile. The
current density pseudosection, obtained by applying to the data the Karous-Hjelt filters,
displays a zone with high-density values that corresponds to the relatively deep 50 ohm-
m zone. The presence of the very shallow and more resistive anomaly is almost
undetectable in the pseudosection.

Two inversions with different initial half-space resistivity were performed in order to
study the influence of this parameter in the final result and to show the importance of
the a priori information. No random errors have been introduced in the synthetic data,
but a nominal error of 2% was assumed for the inversion. Figure A-1d) shows the
model calculated using a half-space of 700 ohm-m to start the inversion. A rms misfit of
0.9 % was achieved after 15 iterations. The response of this model is compared with the
data in Figure A-1a (solid and dashed lines). The two anomalous zones are quite well
resolved in this model. Figure A-1e) shows the model obtained using a 1300 ohm-m
half-space to start the inversion. In this case the shallow anomalous zone is not so well
resolved. Conversely, the size of the deepest anomaly is better resolved than in the
previous inversion. These two inversion results show the importance of accurate a
priori information on the background average resistivity of the surveyed area. This
information can be gathered using resistivity methods, like vertical electrical soundings
or dipole-dipole arrays. The results show that useful models can be obtained, inverting
single frequency VLF-EM data, when an adequate value for the background resistivity
is available.

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Figure A1 (from Monteiro Santos et al. 2006). Synthetic VLF-EM data (solid symbols), Fraser filtered
data (open circles). Black solid and dashed lines represent the responses of the model shown in d). b) 2-D
resistivity model used to generate the synthetic data (values in ohm-m). c) Current density pseudo-section
calculated using Karous-Hjelt filters. d) and e) 2-D resistivity models obtained by inversion of the
synthetic data and using a homogeneous 700 ohm-m (d) and 1300 ohm-m (e) half-space as initial model.
Outlines of the model used in synthetic data generation are represented by dashed lines.

Figure A2- shows the results when the 50 ohm-m body is deeper. This is the example
constructed with the example files. Figure A3 shows the sensitivity of the model
presented in Figure A2. The sensitivity of the model (jth parameter- block resistivity) is
calculated as:

100 Nob Ti
Sj =
N ob i =1 p j

Where Nob is the number of measures (T) and p is the parameter.

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 40

20
Real

0 Im

-20

0 40 80 120 160
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120 130 140 150 160
0

-10

A ohm-m
-20

-30 4000

3000
-40
2500
-50
B 2000
-60
1500
-70 1000

-80 700

500
-90
300
-100
200
-110
100

-120 50

-130 0

-140

0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160

Figure A2. Data (symbols), model responses (lines) and resistivity model obtained from the inversion
assuming a 1300 ohm-m environment.

Sensivity
0
0.0004
-20
0
-0.0004
-40 -0.0008
-0.0012
-60 -0.0016
-0.002
-80 -0.0024
-0.0028
-100
-0.0032
-120
-0.0036
-0.004
-140 -0.0044
-0.0048
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160
-0.0052

Figure A3. Sensitivity of the model showed in Figure A2.

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References and useful bibliography

Beamish, D., 1994. Two-dimensional, regularised inversion of VLF data. Journal of

Applied Geophysics, 32, 357-374.

Beamish, D., 2000. Quantitative 2D VLF data interpretation. Journal of Applied

Geophysics, 45, 33-47.

Benson, A.K., Payne, K.L. and Stubben, M.A., 1997. Mapping groundwater
contamination using dc resistivity and VLF geophysical method-Acase study.
Geophysics, 62 (1), 80-86.

Bernard, J. and Valla, P., 1991. Groundwater exploration in fissured media with
electrical and VLF method. Geoexploration 27, 81-91.

Bosh, F.P., and Mller, I., 2001. Continuous gradient VLF measurements: a new
possibility for high resolution mapping of karst structures. First Break, 19, 343-350.

Chouteau, M., Zhang, P. and Chapellier, D., 1996. Computation of apparent resistivity
profiles from VLF-EM data using linear filtering. Geophysical Prospecting, 44, 215-
232.

DeGroot-Hedlin C. and Constable S.C., 1990. Occams inversion to generate smooth,

two-dimensional models from magnetotelluric data. Geophysics, 55, 1613-1624.

Fraser, D.C., 1969. Contouring of VLF-EM data. Geophysics, 34, 958-967.

Kaikkonen, P. and Sharma, S.P., 1998. 2-D nonlinear joint inversion of VLF and VLF-
R data using simulated annealing. Journal of Applied Geophysics 39, 155-176.

Karous, M. and Hjelt, S.E., 1983. Linear filtering of VLF dip-angle measurements.
Geophysical Prospecting, 31, 782-794.

Loke, M. H. and Barker, R. D., 1996. Rapid least-squares inversion of apparent

resistivity pseudosections by a quasi-Newton method. Geophysical Prospecting, 44,
131-152.

McNeill, J.D. and Labson, V.F., 1991. Geological mapping using VLF radio fields, in
Nabighian, M.N., Ed., Electromagnetic methods in applied geophysics II: Soc. Exp.
Geophys., 521-640.

Monteiro Santos, F.A., Antnio Mateus, Jorge Figueiras, Mrio A. Gonalves, 2006.
Mapping groundwater contamination around a landfill facility using the VLF-EM
method a case study. Journal of Applied Geophysics (in press).

Oskooi, B., and Pedersen, L.B., 2005. Comparison between VLF and RMT methods. A
combined tool for mapping conductivity changes in the sedimentary cover. Journal of
Applied Geophysics, 57, 227-241.

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Palacky, G.J., 1988. Resistivity characteristics of geologic targets. In: Electromagnetic
Methods in Applied Geophysics, V. 1, SEG, Tulsa, OK, 106-121.

Pedersen, L.B., Bastani, M., Dynesius, L., 2005. Ground water exploration using
combined controlled source and RadioMagnetoTelluric techniques. Geophysics, 70, G8-
G15.

Pirttijrvi, M., 2004. Karous-Hjelt and Fraser filtering of VLF measurements. Manual
of the KHFFILT program.

Sasaki Y., 1989. Two-dimensional joint inversion of magnetotelluric and dipole-dipole

resistivity data. Geophysics, 54, 254-262.

Sasaki Y., 1994. 3-D resistivity inversion using the finite element method. Geophysics,
59, 11, 1839-1848.

Sasaki Y., 2001. Full 3-D inversion of electromagnetic data on PC. Journal of Applied
Geophysics, 46, 45-54.

Sharma, S.P. and Baranwal, V.C., 2005. Delineation of groundwater-bearing fracture

zones in a hard rock area integrating very low frequency electromagnetic and resistivity
data. Journal of Applied Geophysics 57, 155-166.

Sharma, S.P., and Kaikkonen, P., 1998. Two-dimensional non-linear inversion of VLF-
R data using simulated annealing. Geophysical Journal International, 133, 649-668.

Stiefelhagen, W., and Mller, I., 1997. Radio Frequency Electromagnetics (RF-EM)-
extended VLF applied to hydrogeology. 59th EAGE Conference & Technical
Exhibition, Geneva, Switzerland,May 26-30, 1997. Extended abstract, F-46.

Tabbagh, A., Benderitter, Y., Andrieux, P., Decriaud, J.P. and Guerin, R., 1991. VLF
resistivity mapping and verticalisation of the electric field. Geophysical Prospecting, 39,
1083-1097.

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