New Magnetic Susceptibility and Magnetic Field Tools for Wireline Logging

Two new tools are being developed to provide downhole magnetic measurements for the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) and other scientific drilling programs. The Magnetic Susceptibility Sonde (MSS) is built and has been run successfully in land boreholes, and the Multi-sensor Magnetometer Module (MMM) is at the design stage. Magnetic susceptibility is one of the best measurements for investigating stratigraphic changes in marine sediments, because the measurement is quick, repeatable, and non-destructive, and because different lithologies often have strongly contrasting susceptibilities. The MSS includes a Bartington sensor with a 12-cm vertical resolution, sufficient to resolve thin beds and track astronomical cyclicity for paleoceanographic studies, together with a deep-reading sensor that is minimally affected by tool standoff from the borehole wall. These downhole susceptibility measurements will complement the susceptibility measured on core and be invaluable for core-log integration. We have proposed to build a new magnetometer tool, the MMM, to measure the magnetic field in the borehole, from which we can calculate the magnetization and polarity of the rocks surrounding the borehole. The combination of a three-axis fluxgate magnetometer, an accurate Overhauser effect total-field magnetometer, and optical gyroscope orientation in a single tool will provide the capability to measure a wide range of rock types, from highly magnetic basalts to more weakly magnetized unlithified sediments. The magnetization of the igneous ocean crust is a fundamental subject in marine geophysics, and downhole measurements offer the advantages of oriented paleomagnetic data and continuous coverage in these difficult-to-recover rocks. The tool will also be able to provide downhole magnetostratigraphy in marine sediment sequences, as demonstrated with the previous generation of IODP downhole magnetometer (a commercial tool, no longer available). Both these new tools will run in-line with the standard Schlumberger tools used in IODP, a major advance in integration over previous third-party tools that will save operational time.