Analysis of inter-domain coupling constraints for multi-physics joint inversion

Abstract

We illustrate and compare mathematical methods used to perform joint interpretation, or inversion, of multiple geophysical data for a common Earth model with linked properties. The joint inversion methodology is described from the point of view of a linearized inversion approach subject to various types of structure and rock-physics operators. Covariance matrixes are used to take care of data, model and constraints uncertainties in the inversion process. Demonstration of the effectiveness of the various approaches is performed by means of synthetic data from a complex near-surface model where the limitations of using one single geophysical method and the benefits deriving from the integration of multiple methods can be easily assessed. The combination of multiple operators, acting on the structure and property similarities of the parameter distributions through defined functions, provides the best reconstruction results and helps the convergence of the solution toward the global minima of the multimodal objective function.