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Magnetic Resonance Dowsing

Article · January 2000

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Magnetic Resonance Dowsing
BG

NUMIS
MB

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Peter B. Weichman, Eugene Lavely

Pieter Hoekstra, Mark Blohm
Blackhawk Geometrics
Michael H. Ritzwoller
Department of Physics, CU Boulder
1
 Outline
1. WHAT does NMR measure and HOW?
(a) Static eld and equilibrium magnetization
(b) Oscillating eld and spin precession
2. Geophysical Surface NMR
(a) The Earth's eld and the one part in ten-billion
problem
(b) Transmitter and receiver loop geometries
(c) A little history of the NUMIS instrument
3. The imaging equation
(a) Mathematical ingredients
(b) The co- and counter-rotating eld components
(c) A reciprocity theorem
(d) Ground conductivity, diusive retardation and
quadrature response
4. Noise sources and noise reduction
5. Relaxation and porosity
6. The inverse problem and subsurface water content
distribution
(a) Simulated problems in horizontally stratied ge-
ometries
(b) Some experimental data
7. Conclusions: where to go from here?
2
 What does NMR measure?
 Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) is uniquely sen-
sitive to the presence of free nuclear spins.
 \Free" means unpinned by local chemical or crystal
elds.
 A limited number of substances possess free spins,
e.g., Hydrogen nuclei (protons) in liquid water or
hydrocarbons.
 NMR then provides a method for quantitative de-
tection of these substances.
 Imaging is achieved if sensitivity varies in space, and
this variation can be adjusted and controlled.
 Can then in principle determine nN (r), the spatially
resolved nuclear spin density. Then, e.g.,
nH O(r) = 12 nN (r):
2

 This is the basis, e.g., for Magnetic Resonance

Imaging (MRI).
3
 How does NMR measure it?
E. M. Purcell, 1952 Nobel Prize in Physics
NMR signal / MN , bulk nuclear magnetization of the
sample in static eld B0.
Static dipole eld generated by MN too small to be mea-
sured directly (e.g, via magnetometer). Nuclear mag-
netizations are  mN =me = 1836 times smaller than
electronic magnetizations.
However, if MN is tipped away from B0, it will precess
at the Larmor frequency !L = B0 (gyromagnetic ratio
= 4:258kHz/G for protons).
Precession will generate an ac magnetic eld whose time
derivative generates a measurable ac voltage in a nearby
receiver loop (Faraday Law). Maximal signal is obtained
at 90 tilt.
Tipping of MN is
(a) (b) achieved via the co-
B0 B0
rotating component
BT of an ac eld
+
BT of frequency !L.
ωL M N Moment rotates about
θT = ωT t BT at rate !T =
+
jB+T j in precessing
.
.
MN frame.
+
BT 4
 Some Geophysically Relevant Numbers
Polarization of a distribution of free spins in a static
magnetic eld: MN (r) = N (r)B0, where the local static
nuclear susceptibility is given by,
2 h2S (S + 1)
N (r) = nN (r) 3k T :
B
In convenient units:
MN (r) = 1:70  10,10MNsat BB0 Troom nN (r)
e T 2nH O
2

For noninvasive measurements from the Earth's sur-

face, one must use Be since it is impossible to create an
articial large, uniform static eld tens of meters into
the ground.
 nN (r) local nuclear spin number density
 nN (r)=2nH O local porosity/lling fraction
2

 MNsat saturated magnetization density of bulk water

 S = 21 proton spin
 T ' Troom  300K ambient temperature
 Be = 0:5G nominal Earth's eld

5
Polarization is equivalent to a net
 1.7 spins in ten-billion
 6 spins per cubic micron of bulk water
 10 moles of spins (' 90cc) per (100m)3 of bulk
water
aligning with the Earth's eld. BIG volumes are required
to have any hope of a geophysical application.
Amplitude of voltage signal
VN  !LMN BRR3

 !L ' 2(2100Hz) Larmor frequency

 R  50m Receiver loop radius
 BR / 1=R characteristic eld due to unit current in
receiver loop.
 Thus V / R2 increases strongly with sampling vol-
ume
One nds then V  1V at Troom for bulk water in Be.
Rock porosity will reduce this to 100nV range. Present
technology: Few nanoVolt sensitivity is standard. Envi-
ronmental noise will, however, be the key limitation.

6
 Experimental Geometry
0 iω Lt - iω t
Transmitter IT e- VR e L Receiver
loop loop
ΦR
BT Be

MN

Reiterate Basic Constraints

 Surface measurement ) Static eld must be Be 3
 Static eld Be ) Large sampling volume  (100m)
required
 Receiver loop radius RR ) Sampling volume / R3,
depth sensitivity / RR
 Transmitter loop radius RT ) MN (r) is tipped sig-
nicantly to depth / RT
 Water sensitivity at  50m depth ) RR; RT  50m
required as well!
 0:01< !T =! L  1 ) Transmitter loop current am-
plitude IT  300A
0
Happy window of intersection between
technological requirements to obtain measurable signal
and geophysical requirements for sensitivity to water at
relevant depths
7
 A Little History
Initial Idea: R. H. Varian, 1962, Ground liquid prospect-
ing method and apparatus, U.S. Patent 3,019,383.
First successful prototype: Scientists at the Institute for
Chemical Kinetics and Combustion, Novosibirsk, Russia,
1978. Led to eventual development of \Hydroscope"
instrument over the next ten years.
First commercial instrument: IRIS Instruments in France
imported Russian scientists and technology to develop
NUMIS. Instrument uses coincident transmitter and re-
ceiver loops. Leased by Blackhawk for evaluation in
Colorado and New Mexico.

8
 The Imaging Equation
Mathematical Ingredients:
I.Transmitter loop current ReIT0 e,i! t ) Transmitted
L

eld in the conducting ground BT (r; t).

Standard approximation: Horizontally stratied Earth
with piecewise constant conductivity, permeability.
Numerically ecient exact solutions to the diusion-
dominated Maxwell Equations
1 @ A + r   1 r  A = 4 j
D t  c S
B = r  A; D  4c 2
can be generated for circular horizontal transmitter loops.
Independent information on
Air the Geoelectric section is not
provided by the NMR sig-
σ1 µ1 nal, but must be provided by
a complementary measure-
σ2 µ2 ment (e.g., TDEM or FDEM
σ3 µ3 sounding).
σ4 µ4
.. 9
.
II.Co-rotating part B+T (r; t) of transmitter eld ) Pre-
cessing in-plane magnetization MN?(r; t) / sin[ jB+T (r)jt]
phase lag ζT relative to
plane transmitter current: e- i (ωLt - ζT)
⊥ B0 ^ ρ-T
bT ρT+
= +

In general, projection of B?T of BT into plane orthogonal

to B0 is elliptically polarized, with semi-major axis b^T
8 + T
B ?(r; t) = B+(r; t) + B, (r; t)
T T
>
>
< T
B (r; t) rotates clockwise at !L
jB+(r; t)j  +
: BT (r; t) rotates
T T
> , counter clockwise at !L
>
jBT (r; t)j  ,T
,

Diusive propagation ) time lag di  LD 2

) Phase lag T (r) between transmitter current and co-

rotating eld:
IT (t) = IT0 cos(!Lt) ) B+T (r; t) / cos[!Lt , T (r)]

10
 Conductor (σ = 0.05 S/m)
|BT+| |BT-|
z (m)

-50 -50

0.302308 0.302308
-100 -100
-100 -50 0 50 100 -100 -50 0 50 100

Insulator (σ = 0.001 S/m)

|BT+| |BT-|
z (m)

-50 -50

0.299895 0.299895
-100 -100
-100 -50 0 50 100 -100 -50 0 50 100
x (m) x (m)

-11.0 -6.0 -5.5 -5.0 -4.5 -4.0 -3.5 -3.0 -2.5 -2.0 -1.5 -1.0 -0.5 0.0
log10(normalized magnetic induction)

East-West oriented vertical slice of co-rotating and counter-

rotating components of the eld generated by a circu-
lar transmitter loop for insulating and conducting half-
spaces. Asymmetry is due to the fact that Be has been
tilted 25 north from the vertical.


11
 Conductor (σ = 0.05 S/m)
z = -10 m z = -25 m z = -50 m z = -75 m
100 100 100 100

50 50 50 50
y (m)

0 0 0 0

-50 -50 -50 -50

3.19839E-02 1.18037E-02 3.99139E-03 1.53399E-03
-100 -100 -100 -100
-100 -50 0 50 100 -100 -50 0 50 100 -100 -50 0 50 100 -100 -50 0 50 100
Insulator (σ = 0.001 S/m)
100 100 100 100

50 50 50 50
y (m)

0 0 0 0

-50 -50 -50 -50

3.15379E-02 1.22914E-02 4.76163E-03 2.18281E-03
-100 -100 -100 -100
-100 -50 0 50 100 -100 -50 0 50 100 -100 -50 0 50 100 -100 -50 0 50 100
x (m) x (m) x (m) x (m)

0.00 0.08 0.16 0.24 0.32 0.40 0.48 0.56 0.64 0.72 0.80 0.88 0.96 1.00
normalized magnetic induction (|BT+|)

Same as previous slide, but now horizontal slices of

the co-rotating and counter-rotating components of the
transmitted eld at various depths.

12
 Conductor (σ = 0.05 S/m)

-50
z (m)

-100

-150
-150 -100 -50 0 50 100 150
x (m)

-180 -140 -110 -80 -60 -40 -20 20 40 60 80 110 140 180
2ζT (degrees)

East-West oriented vertical slice showing the diusive

phase delay T (r) between the co-rotating eld at depth
in a conducting half-space, and the transmitter loop
current at the surface. The central white line shows
where the phase delay is 180 . The phase delay vanishes
identically for an insulating half-space.

13
 Conductor (σ = 0.05 S/m)
z = -10 m z = -25 m
100 100

50 50
y (m)

0 0

-50 -50

-100 -100
-100 -50 0 50 100 -100 -50 0 50 100
z = -50 m z = -75 m
100 100

50 50
y (m)

0 0

-50 -50

-100 -100
-100 -50 0 50 100 -100 -50 0 50 100
x (m) x (m)

-180 -140 -110 -80 -60 -40 -20 20 40 60 80 110 140 180
2ζT (degrees)

Same as previous slide, but now horizontal slices of the

diusive phase delay for various depths in a conducting
half-space. The phase delay vanishes identically for an
insulating half-space.

14
III.Precessing magnetization ) Nuclear magnetic eld
BN (r; t).
(a) (b)
B0 B0

ωL MN

θT = ωT t
.
.
MN
+
BT

Maxwell Equations
1 @ A + r   1 r  A  = 4 r  M
D t N  N N

MN (r; t) = M(0)
N (r) cos[T (r; t)]
+ [M(0)
N (r)  BT (r; t)] sin[T (r; t)]
+

BN = r  AN ; D  4c 2

Propagation of nuclear eld back to receiver loop intro-

duces a second phase lag.

15
 Conductor (σ = 0.05 S/m)

-20
-40
z (m)

-60
-80
-100
-100 -80 -60 -40 -20 0 20 40 60 80 100
Insulator (σ = 0.001 S/m)

-20
-40
z (m)

-60
-80
-100
-100 -80 -60 -40 -20 0 20 40 60 80 100
x (m)

0 30 60 90 120 150 180 210 240 270 300 330 345 360
tipping angle (degrees)

An East-West vertical slice of the tipping angle for an

insulating and a conducting 4half-space for a relatively
large pulse moment q = 10 A-ms, which then places
the lowest 90 tilt region about 70m below the surface.

16
 Conductor (σ = 0.05 S/m)
z = -10 m z = -25 m z = -50 m z = -75 m
100 100 100 100

50 50 50 50
y (m)

0 0 0 0

-50 -50 -50 -50

-100 -100 -100 -100

-100 -50 0 50 100 -100 -50 0 50 100 -100 -50 0 50 100 -100 -50 0 50 100
Insulator (σ = 0.001 S/m)
100 100 100 100

50 50 50 50
y (m)

0 0 0 0

-50 -50 -50 -50

-100 -100 -100 -100

-100 -50 0 50 100 -100 -50 0 50 100 -100 -50 0 50 100 -100 -50 0 50 100
x (m) x (m) x (m) x (m)

0 30 60 90 120 150 180 210 240 270 300 330 345 360
tipping angle (degrees)

Same as previous slide, but now horizontal slices of the

tipping angle at various depths.

17
IV. VR(t) = , 1c ddt Faraday Law of Induction: Time
R

varying ux through receiver loop ) Receiver loop volt-

age with nuclear contribution
Z
NR (t) = B (r; t)
n^d
N
R

Receiver Loop
ΣR
ΦR(t)
CR
MN (rr,t)

BN ( r ,t)

Computation of BN (r; t), and integration over receiver

loop area R is inconvenient. Better to use the follow-
ing:

19
 Reciprocity Theorem
One may rewrite
Z
NR (t) = AN (r; t)
dl; CR = receiver loop contour
ZCR
= d3rAN (r; t)
JR(r)
JR(r) , unit current in receiver loop
Reciprocity theorem now allows the following inter-
change:
Z Z1
NR (t) = d3r dt0jN (r; t , t0)
AR(r; t0)
 0
1 @ A + r  1 r  A  = 4 J (r)(t):
D t R  R
c
jN = cr  MN ; BR = r  AR
Memory function AR(r; t) is the EM response of the
medium to an instantaneous receiver loop unit current
pulse. It fully encodes the receiver loop geometry and
subsurface conductivity structure.
Finally:
Z
VRN (t) = , d3rBR(r; t0)
@tMN (r; t , t0)

20
 Final Imaging Equation
Incorporating ingredients I, II, III, IV and blending well,
one obtains for the amplitude and phase of the NMR
receiver voltage
Z
V (q; x0) = d3rK (q; x0; r)nN (r)
2 2!LS (S + 1)B0 h i
K (q; x0; r) = , sin q T (r) R (r)
+ ,
h 3kB T i
i[ (r)+ (r)] ^ ^ ^ ^
e T R
bR(r)
bT (r) + iB0
bR(r)  bT (r)
q = IT0 p \pulse moment00
x0 = apparatus horizontal position
R (r); b^R(r); R(r) = elliptical decomposition of BR

For coincident transmitter and receiver loops:

2 2 !LS (S + 1)B0 h i
K (q; x0; r) = , 3kB T e2 T
T (r) sin qT (r)
i (r) , +

21
 real kernel (insulator σ = 0.001 S/m)

z (m)

0.194810
-50
-100 -50 0 50 100
real kernel (conductor σ = 0.05 S/m)
z (m)

0.246180
-50
-100 -50 0 50 100
imaginary kernel (conductor σ = 0.05 S/m)
z (m)

-50

6.50787E-03
-100
-100 -50 0 50 100
x (m)

-1.00 -0.40 -0.20 -0.10 -0.05 -0.02 -0.01 0.01 0.02 0.05 0.10 0.20 0.40 1.00
normalized kernel value

An East-West vertical slice of the three-dimensional imag-

ing kernel for conducting and nonconducting half-spaces.
The imaginary part vanishes identically for the insulat-
ing case. The pulse moment has been chosen to be
q = 10 A-ms.
4

22
 Conductor (σ = 0.05 S/m)
z = -10 m z = -25 m z = -50 m z = -75 m
100 100 100 100

50 50 50 50
y (m)

0 0 0 0

-50 -50 -50 -50

3.15351E-02 9.96411E-03 1.91199E-03 7.24941E-04

-100 -100 -100 -100
-100 -50 0 50 100 -100 -50 0 50 100 -100 -50 0 50 100 -100 -50 0 50 100

Insulator (σ = 0.001 S/m)

100 100 100 100

50 50 50 50
y (m)

0 0 0 0

-50 -50 -50 -50

2.97558E-02 1.21473E-02 4.20147E-03 2.01012E-03

-100 -100 -100 -100
-100 -50 0 50 100 -100 -50 0 50 100 -100 -50 0 50 100 -100 -50 0 50 100
x (m) x (m) x (m) x (m)

-1.00 -0.40 -0.20 -0.10 -0.05 -0.02 -0.01 0.01 0.02 0.05 0.10 0.20 0.40 1.00
normalized real kernel value

Same as previous slide, but now horizontal slices of the

real part of the imaging kernel at various depths for
conducting and insulating half-spaces.

23
 Conductor (σ = 0.05 S/m)
z = -10 m z = -25 m
100 100

50 50
y (m)

0 0

-50 -50

5.44353E-03 5.86560E-03
-100 -100
-100 -50 0 50 100 -100 -50 0 50 100

z = -50 m z = -75 m
100 100

50 50
y (m)

0 0

-50 -50

2.85475E-03 1.20778E-03
-100 -100
-100 -50 0 50 100 -100 -50 0 50 100
x (m) x (m)

-1.00 -0.40 -0.20 -0.10 -0.05 -0.02 -0.01 0.01 0.02 0.05 0.10 0.20 0.40 1.00
normalized imaginary kernel value
Same as previous slide, but now horizontal slices of the
imaginary part of the imaging kernel at various depths
for conducting half-space. The imaginary part vanishes
identically for an insulating half-space.
24
Comments and Observations
 For nonconducting subsurface: \Adiabatic Limit"
+ ,
{ T = T linear polarization
{ R  0 no time lag|c neglected here
{ NMR Kernel reduces to form used in all previous
studies
 Finite ground conductivity ) Finite diusive time
lag ) Finite transmitter current{receiver voltage
phase lag ) Complex NMR voltage \Quadrature
Response"
 Measured quadrature response , Signicant ground
conductivity response , Failure of adiabatic limit
 Quantitative estimates: adiabatic limit requires,
2 L 2  L   L 2  1
m 
!Ld = 2 = 22 1kHz 100m  1
s dc
across measurement region L.
 Time lag between dierent points is small compared
to Larmor period if exploration depth L  EM skin
depth s at frequency !L
One nds s ' 70m for dc = 10
m, decreasing as
soil conductivity increases.

25
Conductivity also increases strongly with water content
due to dissolved minerals.

26
 Noise Main
Issues
sources of noise are
\cultural".
i0 ,ν Consider a power line, con-
r sisting of parallel wires car-
rying zero total current:
  = 60Hz frequency
d0 l  wire separation d0 = 1m
 individual wire current
i0 = 100A.
Consider a receiver loop,
 with linear size l = 100m
 at a distance r = 10km away.
Generated 60Hz voltage amplitude is then
 2=4r2 ' 600nV circular loop
 i d l
VR  0i0d0l3=4r3 ' 6nV
0 0 0
gure-eight loop
Due to ux cancellation between lobes, gure-eight re-
ceiver loop noise is a factor l=r = 10 smaller than that
, 2
for a circular receiver loop.
Lower limit on distance r depends on powerline current,
required signal resolution, required frequency bandwidth,
etc., but typically one requires r >several km ) Strong
geographical limitations on use of present instrument.
27
 Relaxation and Porosity

In fact, the NMR signal contains more than just infor-

mation about the water distribution.
NMR signal relaxation time T2 contains information about
the subsurface physical and chemical environment.

28
Magnetic impurities in the porous rock dominate relax-
ation, leading to dephasing and spin ips.
1 = S
2
T 2 V

 \Surface relaxivity" 2 / impurity concentration and

magnetic reactivity
 S=V surface-to-volume ratio of pores (larger for
small pores)
 Kozeny equation for \Hydraulic permeability":
k / 3(S=V ),2;  = porosity:

Of fundamental interest for oil extraction and toxic

spill remediation
Practically, due to 30ms instrumental delay time, water
in very ne pores, or in highly magnetic soils, is sim-
ply invisible. This, together with cultural noise, is the
strongest limitation on use of the present instrument.

29
 The Inverse Problem
Inferring water distribution from NMR signal
Recall Z
V (q; x0) = d3rK (q; x0; r)nN (r):

To obtain full three-D nN (r), need three experimental

degrees of freedom.
Presently, apparatus is too bulky for convenient varia-
tion of horizontal position x0. Instead, approximate wa-
ter distribution0 as horizontally stratied, and vary pulse
moment q = IT p only
Z
V (q) = dzK (q; z)nN (z)
Z
K (q; z)  dxdyK (q; x0; x; y; z):

This is \simple" one-dimensional, linear, matrix inverse

problem.
Unfortunately, due to rapid decay of the sensitivity with
depth, the problem is very poorly conditioned, and var-
ious regularization techniques, based on physically mo-
tivated prior constraints, must be employed.
30
 real kernels

depth (m)

10

100
q = 1000 q = 5000 q = 10,000 q = 15,000
-2 -1 0 -1 0 -1 0 -1 0

imaginary kernels
q = 1000 q = 5000 q = 10,000 q = 15,000
depth (m)

10

100

-2 -1 0 -1 0 -1 0 -1 0
kernel value

σ = 0.001 S/m σ = 0.01 S/m σ = 0.02 S/m σ = 0.05 S/m σ = 0.1 S/m

Real and imaginary parts of the horizontally integrated,

eectively one-dimensional kernels for various pulse mo-
ments and various half-space resistivities in the range
10
m  dc  1000
m. Notice that the imaginary part
appears to focus on a well dened depth range that
increases with increasing q, whereas the real part has
a more oscillatory structure. At depth, insulating and
conducting real kernels are opposite in sign due to the
phase delay eect.
31
 1500

NMR response (nV)

10 - 20 m
1000

500

-500
0 5000
NMR response (nV)

1500
30 - 45 m
1000

500

-500
0 5000
NMR response (nV)

1500
60 - 80 m
1000

500

-500
0 5000
pulse moment q
real data for conductor
imaginary data for conductor
real data for effective insulator

Synthetic forward data, V (q) for conducting, dc = 20

m,
and insulating half spaces, in which a single layer of bulk
water is present at varying depths shown in each panel.
32
 1

0.1
singular values

0.01
real and imaginary data with
conductive kernels
real data with conductive kernels

real data with insulative kernels

0.001
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
ranked singular value index

Normalized singular values, =max, of the discretized

one-dimensional kernel K (q; z) for insulating and con-
ducting cases of the previous slide.
The existence of very small normalized singular values
indicates a poorly conditioned inversion problem. The
important point here is that the stability is signicantly
better, by more than an order of magnitude, if both
real and imaginary parts of the kernel are used simulta-
neously in the inversion.
33
 0
-20
10 - 20 m

depth (m)
-40
-60
-80
-100
0 0.5 1
0
30 - 45 m
-20
depth (m)

-40
-60
-80
-100
0 0.5 1
0
60 - 80 m
-20
depth (m)

-40
-60
-80
-100
0 0.5 1
water density
real and imaginary data with
conductive kernels
real data with conductive kernels
real data with insulative kernels

Synthetic inversions of the previously shown synthetic

forward data for the conducting half-space.
Inversions are performed using (a) both real and imag-
inary parts of the data, (b) only the real part of the
data, and (c) the real part of the data using the in-
correct insulating kernel. The latter yields ever more
spurious results as the depth increases.
34
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