TTI inversion of marine CSEM data

Abstract

We present a 3D inversion algorithm for marine CSEM data which takes the electrical anisotropy of steeply-dipping sedimentary rock formations into account. This anisotropy can have a significant impact on CSEM data, and we show that failure to take it into account may lead to imaging artifacts, which complicates the interpretation of the resistivity image. We apply our algorithm to both synthetic data and a field data set acquired over the Perdido fold belt in the Gulf of Mexico, and compare the results from VTI and TTI inversions.