A nonlinear stochastic inversion scheme, called very fast simulated annealing (VFSA), was applied to the time-domain electromagnetic data generated from a horizontal electric dipole. The forward formulation of the vertical magnetic field was expressed in the Laplace domain by applying the Hankel integral transform. Time-domain transformation was performed by applying the inverse Laplace transform using the Gaver-Stehfest algorithm. In this study, for noise-free synthetic data, the VFSA scheme

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... elded the smallest misfit and an inverted resistivity model that resembled the test model. The addition of 5% random noise to the synthetic data produced the same level of misfit and a model that still mimicked the test model. However, the addition of 10% noise to the synthetic data resulted in a misfit value that was three times that of the first two values and a resistivity model with a large discrepancy with the test model, particularly at large depths. These results indicate the efficacy of the VFSA inversion scheme for inferring the subsurface resistivity structure from the electromagnetic data. This inversion scheme was applied to field data measured in a volcanic environment. The general pattern of the resistivity structure inferred by the VFSA inversion is consistent with the structure obtained previously by using a deterministic inversion scheme.