Lack of quality drinking water is a problem for the western part of the Novosibirsk Region (Russia), where the total mineralization of water varies from 1.5 to 3-4 g/L and sometimes higher. The search for near-surface aquifers with high-quality groundwater can be successfully carried out using electrical tomography. To understand the relationship between groundwater of different depths, the isotopic characteristics (δ18O and δD) of the waters of existing wells was studied. The groundwater studied is likely to have a common origin.

We processed data from geophysical survey archives of the 1950s acquired in intermontane basins in the Baikal rift, including a large collection of vertical electric soundings (VES) from the Barguzin basin, which remained only partly interpreted. The processing and reinterpretation became possible with the advanced computing facilities and software for forward modeling and inversion, and GIS tools. We estimated the electrical parameters and modeled the complex block structure of the uppermost basement and sediments beneath the Barguzin basin.

Electromagnetic soundings with controlled and natural sources (TEM and MT, respectively) integrated with IP and geochemical surveys have been tested for petroleum exploration in West Siberia. The TEM method, with loop sizes smaller than the depth to the target, provide high resolution, sufficient penetration depth, and data locality. The MT method sounds deeper earth and can place constraints on the Paleozoic basement structure and its electrical properties. The petroleum implications of IP and geochemical data are associated with secondary alteration (mineralization) of rocks over oil traps.

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The deep structure of the Kurai basin and its junction with the flanking mountains has been studied by controlled-source resistivity surveys (vertical electric sounding and transient electromagnetic methods). According to the data processing results, the basin is the deepest along its northern, southern, and eastern margins. The sedimentary fill comprises two resistivity units corresponding to two sequences deposited at different stages of the basin history. The lower, less resistive unit consists of Paleogene–Neogene lacustrine clay and the higher-resistivity upper unit represents coarser Quaternary deposits. In Paleogene–Neogene time, the basin formed by the left-lateral pull-apart mechanism. The earliest Quaternary strike-slip faulting in the setting of overall compression produced the Central Kurai basin within the northern Kurai basin, while the flanking ranges and fault blocks thrust upon the basin transforming it into a ramp. Thus, piedmont steps rose along the basin margins, and the marginal grabens became ramps and half-ramps.