Journal of Applied Geophysics 49 (2002) 33 46

www.elsevier.com/locate/jappgeo

Magnetotelluric studies of the Caldas Novas

geothermal reservoir, Brazil
Patricia Pastana de Lugao a,*, Emanuele Francesco LaTerra b,
Berthold Kriegshauser c,1, Sergio L. Fontes b,2
a
Landmark Graphics-Brazil Av. Presidente Wilson, 231/2502, Rio de Janeiro, RJ 20030-021, Brazil
Observatorio Nacional/CNPq, Rua General Jose Cristino, 77, 20921-400 Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil
c
Baker Hughes do Brazil Baker Atlas Rua Dezenove de Fevereiro 30/3 andar Botafogo, Rio de Janeiro, RJ 20080-030, Brazil
b

Received 25 January 2000; accepted 7 August 2000

Abstract
A magnetotelluric (MT) survey was conducted on the Caldas Novas geothermal reservoir located in the state of Goias, Central
Brazil. The region of Caldas Novas is a popular tourist spot because of the occurrence of hot water springs. The purpose of the
first MT survey in this area is to provide more information on the geoelectrical structure of this important geothermal reservoir.
The MT method is a frequency domain technique that utilizes naturally occurring magnetic and electric signals as source to obtain
a resistivity map of the subsurface. Since temperature and permeability are some of the factors controlling electrical resistivity,
MT is widely utilized for surveying geothermal areas such as Caldas Novas. Data were acquired along two profiles crossing the
Serra de Caldas (Caldas Mountains) with a total of 25 MT stations. Frequencies of acquisition were in the range from 0.008 to 176
Hz. Spacing between stations were usually around 5 km. Apparent resistivity and phase data from the transverse electric (TE)
and transverse magnetic (TM) modes were computed for both profiles. Very high (100,000 V m) apparent resistivity values in
the TM mode indicate distortion, possibly caused by 3-D resistive structures. In this work, we focus on Profile 2, which was
acquired aligned at N40E, approximately following the direction of weakness N50E. Two-dimensional (2-D) inversion
suggests a basin-like model with very high-resistivity block structures associated with concentric faulting below the Caldas
Mountains inside a resistive basin that extends to depths of approximately 25 30 km. This model is in good agreement with
gravity data and the available geological information in the area and can help delineate areas of new geothermal reservoirs. The
high resistivity associated with the depression in the MT model can be interpreted as caused by the low-permeability quartzites
that form the Caldas Mountains. Although the survey configuration does not allow for a full three-dimensional (3-D) interpretation, a 3-D resistivity model was constructed and the MT responses computed. The 3-D synthetic data explains the behavior
of both the TE and TM modes in this faulted resistive environment. D 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Caldas Novas, Brazil; Electromagnetic methods; Geothermal exploration; Magnetotellurics

Corresponding author. Tel.: +1-713-689-1288; fax: +1-713-689-1129.

E-mail addresses: plugao@lgc.com (P.P. de Lugao), bert.kriegshauser@bakeratlas.com (B. Kriegshauser), sergio@on.br (S.L. Fontes).
1
Tel.: + 55-21-2220-9790; fax: + 55-21-2533-7062.
2
Tel.: + 55-21-2266-8477; fax: + 55-21-2266-8458.
0926-9851/02/$ - see front matter D 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
PII: S 0 9 2 6 - 9 8 5 1 ( 0 1 ) 0 0 0 9 7 - 0

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P.P. de Lugao et al. / Journal of Applied Geophysics 49 (2002) 3346

Fig. 1. Map of Brazil and location of MT stations around the area of Caldas Novas.

P.P. de Lugao et al. / Journal of Applied Geophysics 49 (2002) 3346

Fig. 2. Gravity interpretation of the Caldas Novas depression (after

Fig. 33 of Haralyi, 1978).

1. Introduction
Caldas Novas is a well-known tourist location
because of the occurrence of thermal waters. Study of

35

this area is important since the exact reason for the

presence of thermal waters is still unknown. Previous
studies indicate that the existence of thermal waters
in Caldas Novas is probably related to the structure
and tectonic faulting around the mountain (Veneziani
and Anjos, 1976). In addition, new studies can possibly delimit anomalous zones where thermomineral waters can be found (Veneziani and Anjos, 1978). The area
has been studied by only a few other geophysical and
geochemical methods and information on the area is
scarce. Most surveys were performed in order to assess
the potential of the aquifer (Veneziani and Anjos, 1976,
1978; Haralyi, 1978; Campos et al., 1980; Anjos et al.,
1994; Ribeiro et al., 1994). Furthermore, it is difficult to
survey the area using conventional geological methods
due to the scarcity of outcrops and the presence of a
thick vegetation cover (Veneziani and Anjos, 1976).
Since temperature and permeability are some of the
parameters controlling electrical resistivity (Arps,

Fig. 3. Observed TE mode apparent resistivity for Profile 2.

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1953), electromagnetic and electrical methods can

provide a model of the subsurface relating changes
in the resistivity to changes in both lithology and temperature. One such method, magnetotelluric (MT), is
widely utilized for surveying geothermal areas such
as Caldas Novas (Sandberg and Hohmann, 1982;
Wright et al., 1985; Pellerin et al.,1996; Wannamaker,
1997a,b). In the particular case of Caldas Novas,
thermal waters are found deeper than 100 m associated
with faulting systems occurring in the low-permeability quartzites and schists (Veneziani and Anjos, 1976).
Therefore, MT can be especially valuable in providing
information about the deeper structure of the reservoir.
This is due to its excellent lateral resolution and depth
penetration (Zonge and Hughes, 1991) since MT
sounding utilizes the concept of skin depth (lower
frequencies are able to probe deeper in the earth) and
frequencies as low as 10
3 Hz (Vozoff, 1991).

2. Geological setting of Caldas Novas

Caldas Novas is located on the NE border of the
Parana Basin, over the Canastra Arch in the SE
portion of the state of Goias. It consists of an anticline
that is supported by quartzites of the Araxa Group that
resisted erosion (Campos et al., 1980).
The area consists predominantly of crystalline rocks
represented by a sequence of upper Precambrian metasediments from the Araxa and Araxa Canastra groups.
The Araxa and Canastra groups are composed of mica
schists, biotite schists, quartz schists with quartzite
lenses, quartzites from the Caldas Mountains and
granites (Anjos et al, 1994). The lithology does not
follow stratigraphic layering, but superposition imposed by the tectonic movement (Ribeiro et al.,
1994). From a tectonic point of view, the area of the
Caldas Mountains has an elliptical shape with 15- and

Fig. 4. Observed TE mode phase for Profile 2.

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9-km diameter (Fig. 1), with the major axis aligned in

the N10W direction (Campos et al., 1980) and
bounded by fracture zones with trend NW SE. Most
geothermal waters occur within this region (Anjos et
al., 1994).
Since the most abundant rocks in the area, schists
and quartzites, have very low permeability (Veneziani
and Anjos, 1976) we expected magnetotelluric signatures of a highly resistive environment.

3. Previous geophysical data

The area of Caldas Novas has been extensively
studied since the 1800s. However, most surveys were
concerned with evaluation of the aquifer, and were
published in the Brazilian literature. However, sparse,
information obtained from gravity and remote sensing
surveys in the literature yielded additional information

37

on the structural features of the area and were used to

guide the location of the MT survey, and later, their
interpretation.
A gravity model obtained by three-dimensional
modeling was presented by Haralyi (1978). The lowgravity anomaly of the Caldas Novas depression was
separated from the adjacent high-gravity anomalies and
interpreted in terms of a mass deficiency. The model
shown in Fig. 2 was proposed as that of a possible
structure in the area. Haralyi (1978) associated the
model proposed for the Serra de Caldas to a depressed
area located within concentric faulting as mapped by
Braun (1968).
Remote sensing surveys (Anjos et al., 1994; Ribeiro
et al., 1994; Veneziani and Anjos, 1978; Veneziani and
Anjos, 1976) were utilized in thermal water prospecting and structural mapping. Since the area consists
mostly of crystalline rocks, the faulting system has
an important role in determining and controlling the

Fig. 5. Observed TM mode apparent resistivity for Profile 2.

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P.P. de Lugao et al. / Journal of Applied Geophysics 49 (2002) 3346

aquifer (Anjos et al., 1994). The remote sensing studies

of Ribeiro et al. (1994) concluded that N50E and N S
E W were the main directions of weakness that control
the tectonics and faulting of the Caldas Novas region.

4. Magnetotelluric survey and data processing

The MT method is a frequency domain technique
that utilizes naturally occurring magnetic and electric
signals as source (Vozoff, 1991). Magnetotelluric data
were acquired along two profiles encompassed by
1730VS and 1800VS and 4830VW and 4900VW.
Profile 1 (PROF1) followed the geological N10W
trend of the major axis of the Caldas Novas Mountains.
Profile 2 (PROF2) was aligned at N40E, approximately following the direction of weakness (N50E)
and crossing PROF1. A total of 25 MT stations were

occupied. Three components of the geomagnetic field

(Hx, Hy and Hz) and two components of the electric
field (Ex and Ey) were acquired utilizing equipment
from EMI of Berkeley, CA. Frequencies of acquisition
were in the range 0.008 176 Hz. Spacing between
stations were usually around 5 km. The data were
acquired in single-station mode. Fig. 1 shows the
location of the MT stations (triangles) for both profiles.
The processing of the data was done utilizing software from EMI, which is based on the theory of
Gamble et al. (1979a,b), for remote reference. Here,
remote reference was not used, and the remote magnetic field components were substituted by single-site
magnetic field components. Data quality was average,
with high error bars at higher frequencies. Therefore,
only frequencies in the range 0.01 61 Hz were utilized
for interpreting the data. In order to maximize the twodimensionality of the data, the impedance tensor was

Fig. 6. Observed TM mode phase for Profile 2.

P.P. de Lugao et al. / Journal of Applied Geophysics 49 (2002) 3346

rotated in order to minimize the sum of the squares of

the elements of its main diagonal (Vozoff, 1972). For
PROF2, we used the direction of weakness N50E as
perpendicular to the strike of this line.
Apparent resistivities and phases for each station
were linearly interpolated using Matlab for ease of
display. Figs. 3 6 show apparent resistivity and phase
pseudosections for the transverse electric (TE) and
transverse magnetic (TM) modes respectively for
PROF2. Very high (10,000 100,000) apparent resistivity values in the TM mode for both profiles indicate
distortion, possibly caused by 3-D structures in a
highly resistive environment.

5. Two-dimensional inversion
Two-dimensional (2-D) inversion was performed
using both apparent resistivity and phase data, for

39

PROF2, using a code developed by de Lugao et al.

(1997). The inversion code is based on a finite difference forward modeling algorithm. The inversion problem is linearized and the sensitivities needed to search
for a minimum misfit are calculated using reciprocity.
Reciprocity allows for full calculation of the sensitivities from the forward solutions, considerably speeding
the inversion process. In addition, by using reciprocity, there are no assumptions that the resistivity variations are larger in the vertical or horizontal directions.
This is particularly important in this area, where faulting in a resistive environment, causes rapid lateral
changes in resistivity. Tikhonov regularization ties the
solution to an a priori model in order to stabilize the
inversion problem (de Lugao et al., 1997).
TM mode data only was utilized for the inversion.
Wannamaker et al. (1984) modeled a conductive body
of limited extent and de Lugao and Kriegshauser
(1997) studied the effects of inverting conductive

Fig. 7. Resistivity model obtained from 2-D inversion of TM mode data from Profile 2.

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P.P. de Lugao et al. / Journal of Applied Geophysics 49 (2002) 3346

and resistive 3-D structures using a 2-D algorithm.

Both works suggest that data of 3-D nature should
be interpreted by taking into account each mode, TE
and TM, separately. This is due to the fact that the 2-D
TE and TM mode responses differ from that of a truly
3-D body. If both modes are inverted simultaneously,
one model that explains the data may not exist.
The resistivity model obtained from 2-D inversion
of the TM mode for PROF2 is shown in Fig. 7. The
misfit was 19% RMS. Apparent resistivity and phase
pseudosections for the data obtained from inversion
are shown in Figs. 8 and 9, most features of the
measured data being reproduced by the synthetic data.
The model resulting from inversion has a high-resistivity basin extending to a depth of approximately 25
km, as background. However, the TM model provides
good resolution of higher resistive blocks inside the
basin, especially for PROF2, located across the geo-

logical strike. This can be explained in terms of

boundary conditions. The electric field in the TM
mode is measured perpendicular to strike and, thus,
discontinuous across lateral changes in resistivities:
r1 E?1 r2 E?2
Along PROF2, several high-resistivity blocks are
resolved inside the background basin (Fig. 7), below
stations 2-02, 2-03 and 2-04; between stations 2-05
and 2-07; before station 2-08; and below stations 209, 2-10 and 2-11. The high-resistivity feature between stations 2-05 and 2-07 is located at the Caldas
Mountain. The delineation of high-resistivity blocks
with strike perpendicular to the direction of weakness
(N50E) suggests faulting in the general trend NW
SE around the Caldas Mountain. Since geothermal
waters occur within the faults (Anjos et al., 1994), the

Fig. 8. Apparent resistivity data calculated from 2-D inversion of the TM mode for Profile 2.

P.P. de Lugao et al. / Journal of Applied Geophysics 49 (2002) 3346

41

Fig. 9. Phase data calculated from 2-D inversion of the TM mode for Profile 2.

location of the resistive blocks given above can help

guide the location of new reservoirs.

6. Three-dimensional modeling
The geology of the Caldas Mountain area is threedimensional (3-D) and MT interpretation of this type
of structure based solely on 2-D formulations can lead
to erroneous resistivity models. However, a full 3-D
interpretation would require data acquired on a grid.
Here, data were acquired along two nearly perpendicular profiles. The behavior of the data can be explained
by modeling a 3-D structure, which is based on the
available 2-D MT inversion, gravity and geological
information. For the modeling experiment we utilized
a 3-D integral equation code, SYSEM (Xiong, 1992).

The model (Fig. 10) consists of six highly resistive

blocks (from 20,000 to 80,000 V m) inside a 5000-V m
basin and underlain by a 1000-V m crust. The resistivity values and location of the resistive blocks were
obtained based on the 2-D model. The along-strike
length of 15 km for the blocks was obtained from
geological information on the length of the major axis
of the structure of Caldas Novas (Campos et al., 1980).
Synthetic apparent resistivity and phase data were
then generated for an across strike profile, similar to
PROF2 and are presented in Figs. 11 14. This 3-D
modeling exercise can explain several features in the
measured data, but is not proposed to fit all features in
this data set, due to the limitations in the dimensionality of the data set.
(1) The synthetic TE mode apparent resistivity
presents lower magnitudes when compared to the

P.P. de Lugao et al. / Journal of Applied Geophysics 49 (2002) 3346

Fig. 10. Conceptual 3-D resistivity model of Caldas Novas.

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P.P. de Lugao et al. / Journal of Applied Geophysics 49 (2002) 3346

TM mode, as seen in the measured data (Figs. 11 and

12).
(2) The behavior of the phase is similar for both TE
and TM modes (Figs. 12 and 14). For the TE mode,
we observe phase values above 50 below 1 s on both
measured and synthetic data. For the TM mode, phase
values above 50 are restricted to a window between
0.1 and 10 s. The fact that the behavior of the phase
is similar for measured and synthetic data is important
since the effect of a near-surface 3-D body on phase
data is limited to the high frequencies. Consequently,
the phase data is less distorted by accumulation of
boundary charges than apparent resistivity data (Wannamaker et al., 1984).
(3) The apparent resistivity data across strike (Fig.
13) behaves very similar to the measured apparent
resistivity data from PROF2, with high values and
distorted, elongated features.

43

7. Conclusions
A first MT survey was conducted in Caldas Novas
in an attempt to determine a geoelectrical model for
the area. Caldas Novas is a very important geothermal
reservoir, but geophysical surveys and literature of
the area are sparse. The 2-D inversion of the TM mode
along PROF2, located nearly along the direction of
weakness at N40E, yielded a model of a basin
structure, containing several highly resistive faulted
blocks. This model is consistent with the available
geological information on the area and delineated
different fracture zones with strike perpendicular to
the direction of weakness N50E. The location of
these new fracture zones can help guide the location
of new reservoirs, since most of the waters occur
within fault zones and below 100 m (Veneziani and
Anjos, 1976).

Fig. 11. TE mode apparent resistivity data from 3-D modeling of across-strike profile of model in Fig. 23.

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P.P. de Lugao et al. / Journal of Applied Geophysics 49 (2002) 3346

Fig. 12. TE mode phase data from 3-D modeling of across-strike profile of model in Fig. 23.

Full 3-D inversion of the data could not be performed since data were acquired only at two nearly
perpendicular profiles and not at a grid. However, the
3-D modeling was very important in explaining the
high-resistivity values in the TM mode data for
PROF2. In addition, the behavior of the phase was
similar for both TE and TM modes, for both profiles.
Consequently, the 3-D modeling supports the resistivity model for the area obtained from the TM mode data
of PROF2.
This first MT survey provided very encouraging
information about the resistivity structure of Caldas
Novas. The agreement between the MT model and
geological information supports the use of electromagnetic techniques in a geothermal region. A more
detailed MT survey with denser station spacing and
wider frequency range would surely further contribute

for knowledge of the shallow and deep structure in the

region.
Acknowledgements
One of the authors (P. de Lugao) would like to
acknowledge the financial support by a postdoctoral
grant from CNPq (Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientfico e Tecnologico), Brazil.
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