Integrated electromagnetic data investigation of a Mesozoic CO2 storage target reservoir-cap-rock succession, Svalbard

Abstract Recently acquired time-domain electromagnetic (TEM) and magnetotelluric (MT) data sets are utilized in the first electromagnetic (EM) characterization of a geological CO 2 storage target site in Adventdalen, Arctic Norway. Combining the two EM data sets enabled to resolve the electrical resistivity structure of the target site better than either of the methods alone. 2D inverting the MT data in the audio period interval (0.003–1 s) with supporting input derived from the TEM data (0.01–10 ms) provided a geologically meaningful resistivity model that included information not previously evident from existing seismic and borehole data. The ca. 1.8 × 1 km 2D resistivity model displays a laterally constrained highly conductive anomaly (ca. 10 Ω m) at about 400–500 m depth, where reflectors of a parallel seismic section are concealed and core samples indicate a highly fractured decollement zone formed during Paleogene compression. The base of the permafrost is imaged at ca. 200 m depth. Synthetic inversion tests, however, suggest that this may be exaggerated by tens of meters, due to a thin conductive layer present approximately between 10 and 25 m depth. The resistivity model does not give indication for a fluid pathway we can connect to leakage, in line with water injection and leak-off tests in the reservoir and cap-rock, both of which indicate a sealing shale-dominated cap-rock separating an over-pressured compartment above the sealing shale from a severely under-pressured reservoir interval. The results we present indicate the advantage of integrating EM exploration techniques in a CO 2 reservoir-cap-rock study to obtain a more complete picture.