3-D magnetotelluric inversion including topography using deformed hexahedral edge finite elements and direct solvers parallelized on SMP computers - Part I: Forward problem and parameter Jacobians

Abstract

We have developed an algorithm, which we call HexMT, for 3-D simulation and inversion of magnetotelluric (MT) responses using deformable hexahedral finite elements that permit incorporation of topography. Direct solvers parallelized on symmetric multiprocessor (SMP), single-chassis workstations with large RAM are used throughout, including the forward solution, parameter Jacobians and model parameter update. In Part I, the forward simulator and Jacobian calculations are presented. We use first-order edge elements to represent the secondary electric field (E), yielding accuracy O(h) for E and its curl (magnetic field). For very low frequencies or small material admittivities, the E-field requires divergence correction. With the help of Hodge decomposition, the correction may be applied in one step after the forward solution is calculated. This allows accurate E-field solutions in dielectric air. The system matrix factorization and source vector solutions are computed using the MKL PARDISO library, which shows good scalability through 24 processor cores. The factorized matrix is used to calculate the forward response as well as the Jacobians of electromagnetic (EM) field and MT responses using the reciprocity theorem. Comparison with other codes demonstrates accuracy of our forward calculations.We consider a popular conductive/resistive double brick structure, several synthetic topographic models and the natural topography of Mount Erebus in Antarctica. In particular, the ability of finite elements to represent smooth topographic slopes permits accurate simulation of refraction of EM waves normal to the slopes at high frequencies. Run-time tests of the parallelized algorithm indicate that for meshes as large as 176 × 176 × 70 elements, MT forward responses and Jacobians can be calculated in ~1.5 hr per frequency. Together with an efficient inversion parameter step described in Part II, MT inversion problems of 200-300 stations are computable with total run times of several days on such workstations.