Electromagnetic Methods for Sustainable Resource Exploration and Energy Transition

The global transition toward sustainable energy systems and responsible resource management is creating unprecedented demand for improved subsurface characterization. Groundwater resources, geothermal reservoirs, critical mineral deposits, geologic carbon storage and other energy-transition-related targets require imaging methods capable of resolving complex geological structures across a wide range of spatial scales and environmental settings.

Electromagnetic (EM) methods have become increasingly important in addressing these challenges due to their sensitivity to electrical conductivity variations associated with fluids, alteration zones, mineralization, salinity, temperature, and lithological changes. Recent advances in airborne, ground-based, marine, and borehole EM systems, together with developments in inversion algorithms, uncertainty quantification, machine learning, and large-scale computational frameworks, are significantly expanding the role of EM geophysics in sustainable resource exploration and management.

This Research Topic aims to showcase recent advances in electromagnetic methods and their applications to energy-transition and sustainability challenges. We welcome contributions spanning theory, methodology, instrumentation, inversion, uncertainty analysis, data integration, and field applications. Particular topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

• Groundwater exploration, characterization, and aquifer management

• Geothermal resource assessment and reservoir monitoring

• Critical mineral exploration and mineral system analysis

• Geologic carbon storage and CO₂ monitoring

• Airborne, ground-based, marine, and borehole EM technologies

• Multi-physics integration centered on EM data

• Machine learning and artificial intelligence for EM interpretation

• Uncertainty quantification and confidence-aware decision-making

• Time-lapse and monitoring applications

• Large-scale regional and continental EM surveys

• Environmental and sustainability applications of EM geophysics

By bringing together developments across diverse application areas, this Research Topic seeks to highlight the growing contribution of electromagnetic geophysics to sustainable resource exploration, environmental stewardship, and the global energy transition.

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• ... View all formats

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Review
• Technology and Code

Keywords: electromagnetic methods, subsurface characterization, energy transition, geothermal exploration, critical mineral exploration, geologic carbon storage, machine learning geophysics

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.