Mapping coal water-filled zones using multi-radiation source transient electromagnetic pseudo-seismic Born approximation imaging and apparent resistivity imaging in Gansu, China

The coal water-filled zones have become a growing safety hazard, so effective detection techniques and accurate interpretation methods are of great concern. In this paper, we adopt multi-radiation source transient electromagnetic method (TEM) in the data collection, and employ joint imaging method in the data interpretation. A single-radiation source can only be coupled with the geological body from one side, making holographic photography problematic, but multi-radiation source can suppress random noise, improve the signal-to-noise ratio, and reduce the volume effect. Typically, the apparent resistivity method can reflect the electrical distribution characteristics, while the pseudo-seismic imaging method (PSI) can quickly locate the position and shape of the geological structure, so the two imaging methods can be combined. Therefore, firstly using multi-window time-sweep wavefield inverse transformation technology converts the TEM data into the multi-resolution pseudo-wave, then utilizing the joint interpretation method obtains the underground electrical distribution characteristics, the location of the water-filled zones and stratum's continuous undulations. In this paper, through the calculation of the theoretical model, the results verify the effectiveness of the proposed method. Through processing the field data in Gansu, China, the results demonstrate that the joint interpretation method can map the coal water-filled zones and reflect the geological structures. •Detecting the Coal water-filled zones in Gansu, China.•Multi-radiation Source of TEM is adopted in the data acquisition.•Joint imaging method is used in the post processing.•Second-order Born approximation imaging method achieves pseudo-seismic imaging.