Interactive 3D forward modeling of total field surface and three-component borehole magnetic data for the Daye iron-ore deposit (Central China)

The ground magnetic response of deep ore bodies in the Daye iron-ore deposit is relatively weak, and sometimes concealed by the strong magnetic background of shallower sources. Apart from the low-quality ground magnetic data, another critical problem for reconstructing the deep skarn-type ore bodies is developing a versatile inversion scheme that can simultaneously resolve 3D sources with arbitrary shapes. In this case, we resort to interactive 3D forward modeling solution with the joint use of two data sets-total field surface and three-component borehole magnetic data. Joint inversion of the two data sets is expected to help resolve the ambiguity associated with either data set and greatly reduces the nonuniqueness of the magnetic inversion. Such nonuniqueness is especially severe when a 3-D distribution of magnetic susceptibility, instead of a simple body, is sought from the inversion.In this paper, we calculate the magnetic field on the surface and in the borehole caused by 3D arbitrarily-shaped bodies with the triple integral method. The complex 3D magnetic sources having arbitrary shapes are constructed with cross-sections, termination points and facets in our visualization technology. We specify, interactively and in a user-friendly environment, the outline of the sources in terms of geometric elements and their magnetic parameters. The method automatically fits the observations within a prescribed precision. If dissatisfied, the user can redefine the model parameters and proceed to a new inversion. The method's ability to interpret a complicated 3D geologic environment is demonstrated on synthetic models and real data profiles in the Daye iron-ore deposit in central China. The interactive forward modeling results in all tests demonstrate a good correlation of estimated magnetic sources with corresponding known geologic features.