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Magnetotellurics

Part of Electromagnetic Methods: Deep EM Extension

Magnetotellurics uses natural electromagnetic fields, from lightning activity and solar-wind interactions, as a free source for deep sounding. Measuring orthogonal electric and magnetic field components yields apparent resistivity and phase as functions of period, and longer periods probe deeper.

Learning Objectives

Undergraduate Core: By the end of this module, you will be able to:

  • Explain how natural electric and magnetic fields form the MT impedance.
  • Calculate apparent resistivity from impedance magnitude and interpret phase qualitatively.
  • Relate period to approximate depth sensitivity without treating it as a hard boundary.
  • Distinguish MT, geomagnetic sounding, marine CSEM, and TEM source–receiver concepts.
Graduate Extension

Evaluate dimensionality, tensor impedance, static shift, distortion, and regularization in 1D versus multidimensional MT inversion.

Practice this module Teach with active-learning slides

Interactive Lecture

Demo

  • ⚡ 1D MT Sounding Curve Explorer

    Build a layered-earth model and watch the apparent-resistivity and phase curves respond across the period range.

Data and Notebooks