1D and 2D Cole-Cole-inversion of time-domain induced-polarization data

A new method for the 2D inversion of induced polarization (IP) data in the time domain has been developed. The entire IP transients were observed and inverted into 2D Cole-Cole earth models, including resistivity, chargeability, relaxation time and the frequency constant. Firstly, a modified 1D time-domain electromagnetic algorithm was used to calculate the response of a layered polarizable ground. The transient signals were then inverted using the Marquardt method to derive the Cole-Cole parameters of each layer. However, model calculations showed that the EM effects could be neglected for the time range (>1 ms) and for the transmitter–receiver distances (<50 m) used in this study. Therefore, the induction effects were not considered for the solution of the 2D inverse problem and a DC solution was applied. An approximative forward algorithm was introduced in order to calculate the IP transients directly in the time domain and in order to speed up the inverse procedure. The approximation is highly accurate, and this is demonstrated by comparing the approximations with their exact solutions up to 3D. The inverse algorithm presented consists of two steps. The transient voltages of an array data set were inverted separately into a two-dimensional resistivity model for each time channel. The time-dependent resistivity of each cell was then interpreted as the response of a homogeneous half-space. In the 2D inversion algorithm, a 3D DC algorithm was used as a forward operator. The method only requires a standard 2D DC inversion and a homogenous half-space Cole-Cole inversion. The developed algorithm has been successfully applied to synthetic data sets and to a field data set obtained from a waste site situated close to Düren in Germany.