Three‐dimensional inversion of large‐scale EarthScope magnetotelluric data based on the integral equation method: Geoelectrical imaging of the Yellowstone conductive mantle plume

[1] Interpretation of the EarthScope MT (magnetotelluric) data requires the development of a large‐scale inversion method which can address two common problems of 3D MT inversion: computational time andmemory requirements. We have developed an efficient method of 3D MT inversion based on an IE (integral equation) formulation of the MT forward modeling problem and a receiver footprint approach, implemented as a massively parallel algorithm. This method is applied to the MT data collected in the western United States as a part of the EarthScope project. As a result, we present one of the first 3D geoelectrical images of the upper mantle beneath Yellowstone revealed by this large‐scale 3D inversion of the EarthScope MT data. These images show a highly conductive body associated with the tomographically imaged mantle plume‐like layer of hot material rising from the upper mantle toward the Yellowstone volcano. The conductive body identified in these images is west‐dipping in a similarway to a P‐wave low‐velocity body.Citation: Zhdanov, M. S., R. B. Smith, A. Gribenko, M. Cuma, and M. Green (2011), Three‐dimensional inversion of large‐scale EarthScope magnetotelluric data based on the integral equationmethod: Geoelectrical imaging of the Yellowstone conductive mantle plume, Geophys. Res. Lett., 38, L08307, doi:10.1029/2011GL046953.