Marine controlled source electromagnetic (CSEM) data have been collected to investigate methane seep sites and associated gas hydrate deposits at Opouawe Bank on the southern tip of the Hikurangi Margin, New Zealand. The bank is located in about 1000 m water depth within the gas hydrate stability field. The seep sites are characterized by active venting and typical methane seep fauna accompanied with patchy carbonate outcrops at the seafloor. Below the seeps, gas migration pathways reach from below the bottom‐simulating reflector (at around 380 m sediment depth) toward the seafloor, indicating free gas transport into the shallow hydrate stability field. The CSEM data have been acquired with a seafloor‐towed, electric multi‐dipole system measuring the inline component of the electric field. CSEM data from three profiles have been analyzed by using 1‐D and 2‐D inversion techniques. High‐resolution 2‐D and 3‐D multichannel seismic data have been collected in the same area. The electrical resistivity models show several zones of highly anomalous resistivities (>50 Ωm) which correlate with high amplitude reflections located on top of narrow vertical gas conduits, indicating the coexistence of free gas and gas hydrates within the hydrate stability zone. Away from the seeps the CSEM models show normal background resistivities between ~1 and 2 Ωm. Archie's law has been applied to estimate gas/gas hydrate saturations below the seeps. At intermediate depths between 50 and 200 m below seafloor, saturations are between 40 and 80% and gas hydrate may be the dominating pore filling constituent. At shallow depths from 10 m to the seafloor, free gas dominates as seismic data and gas plumes suggest.

Most active marine electromagnetic surveys use an array of transmitting and receiving electric dipoles located on the sea-floor. There are many reports of successful detections of buried resistors with these arrays. Nevertheless, the concept has a significant drawback: Large offsets between the transmitter and receiver with respect to the target depth are needed. A logical alternative is the use of a vertical electric-dipole transmitter in a borehole deeper than the target, combined with receivers located at the seafloor. Because current must pass through the target, even data recorded at short offsets with respect to target depth should be sensitive to the target. We derived the equations for the electric and magnetic field components produced by the vertical electric dipole in a 1D layered medium. The equations are used to model the fields for resistive layers. An eigenparameter analysisis applied to the different field components, and the resolution is compared with the standard seafloor inline array. The analyses show that data for the downhole transmitter are more sensitive to the resistance between the source and the receiver than the sea-floor array. However, model geometry such as depth to the target is resolved less easily. The resolution of the model geometry is improved significantly when a long bipole transmitter is used, extended from below the target layer to a level above it. We carried out 3D modeling for the downhole transmitter through the use of a finite-difference algorithm. Results indicate that these data are very sensitive to lateral changes within the target layer. Differences between electric fields simulated at the seafloor for 3D models and a reference model show a correlation to lateral resistivity differences. This finding suggests that the array is suitable for mapping and monitoring resistivity anomalies outward from the borehole.

Based on the time‐domain integral equation, we derive expressions for the effect of an anomalous body close to the receiver or close to the transmitter on transient electromagnetic measurements. Similar to magnetotellurics, the distortion of electric fields at late times can be described by a constant distortion tensor relating the secondary electric field to the primary field components that would be obtained in the absence of the body. The distortion of a single electric field transient is a static shift only for particular configurations over a layered half‐space. In the general case, the perturbation is time dependent because the direction of the total electric field vector varies with time. The theory nicely explains spatial variations in electric field transients measured during a high‐redundancy long‐offset transient electromagnetics (LOTEM) survey over an underground gas storage site. An inversion example with synthetic data illustrates how distortion can be corrected. The elements of the distortion tensor are determined simultaneously with the model parameters. Ambiguity is reduced by a regularization of the distortion parameters. In the example, the background model is recovered well, even for the difficult case where only one transmitter is used. The distortion of the magnetic field time derivatives caused by bodies close to the receiver is proportional to the time derivative of the primary electric step response. The distortion is generally not limited to early times and cannot be neglected in general. Transmitter overprint effects resulting in static shifts of vertical magnetic field time derivatives may also be understood from the theory.

S U M M A R YThree long-offset transient electromagnetic (LOTEM) surveys were carried out at the active volcano Merapi in Central Java (Indonesia) during the years 1998, 2000 and 2001. The measurements focused on the general resistivity structure of the volcanic edifice at depths of 0.5-2 km and the further investigation of a southside anomaly. The measurements were insufficient for a full 3-D inversion scheme, which could enable the imaging of finely discretized resistivity distributions. Therefore, a stable, damped least-squares joint-inversion approach is used to optimize 3-D models with a limited number of parameters. The models feature the realistic simulation of topography, a layered background structure, and additional coarse 3-D blocks representing conductivity anomalies. 28 LOTEM transients, comprising both horizontal and vertical components of the magnetic induction time derivative, were analysed. In view of the few unknowns, we were able to achieve reasonable data fits. The inversion results indicate an upwelling conductor below the summit, suggesting hydrothermal activity in the central volcanic complex. A shallow conductor due to a magma-filled chamber, at depths down to 1 km below the summit, suggested by earlier seismic studies, is not indicated by the inversion results. In conjunction with an anomalous-density model, derived from a recent gravity study, our inversion results provide information about the southern geological structure resulting from a major sector collapse during the Middle Merapi period, approximately 14 000 to 2200 yr BP. The density model allows to assess a porosity range and thus an estimated vertical salinity profile to explain the high conductivities on a larger scale, extending beyond the foothills of the volcano.

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