Magnetotelluric sounding evidence of development of nappes in the Tuolai Sag, Yin-E Basin

To explore the tectonic framework and features of stratigraphic distribution in the Tuolai Sag, Yin-E Basin, a 47-km-long magnetotelluric (MT) sounding measurement was performed around Well MAZD1 in the sag. During field data acquisition, a remote reference technique was used to ensure data quality, with apparent resistivity and phase curves of all measuring points obtained using the Fourier transform, power spectrum selection, robust estimation and other methods. After MT data processing, dimensionality analysis and the degree of two-dimensional deviation indicated that the study area had the dimensionality needed for two-dimensional inversion. The major electrical axis in the sag was determined, using a multipoint–multifrequency point statistical imaging technique, to be in the WNW direction. Within the constraints of the resistivity log data for Well MAZD1, inversion results for TE and TM models were compared, after which the TM model, which corresponded well to geological conditions, was selected for conducting the nonlinear conjugate gradient method inversion and a reliable resistivity model was finally obtained. Based on regional petrophysical properties, resistivity logging, and near-well bathymetric data, the electrical characteristics of different formations within the sag were obtained and a set of low-resistance clastic rock identified in the lower Carboniferous strata. Based on an integrated analysis of the regional surface geology, tectonic setting, and depositional environment, and within the constraints of gravity to fit with electrical structure, a tectonic framework of two subsags sandwiched by an uplift is proposed for the Tuolai Sag. The scale of the northern subsag is large, with development of pre-Carboniferous nappe as well as of Carboniferous–Permian strata within the lower part of the nappe. The southern subsag is small and filled mainly with Carboniferous–Permian strata.