Guidelines for radioelement mapping using gamma ray spectrometry data : also as open access e-book

Providing a balance between principles and practice, this state-of-the-art overview of geophysical methods takes readers from the basic physical phenomena, through the acquisition and processing of data, to the creation of geological models of the subsurface and data interpretation to find hidden mineral deposits. Detailed descriptions of all the commonly used geophysical methods are given, including gravity, magnetic, radiometric, electrical, electromagnetic and seismic methods. Each technique is described in a consistent way and without complex mathematics. Emphasising extraction of maximum geological information from geophysical data, the book also explains petrophysics, data modelling and common interpretation pitfalls. Packed with full-colour figures, also available online, the text is supported by selected examples from around the world, including all the major deposit types. Designed for advanced undergraduate and graduate courses in minerals geoscience, this is also a valuable reference for professionals in the mining industry wishing to make greater use of geophysical methods. In 2015, Dentith and Mudge won the ASEG Lindsay Ingall Memorial Award for their combined effort in promoting geophysics to the wider community with the publication of this title.

Geophysics for the Mineral Exploration Geoscientist

Geoscience Australia and the Australian State and Territory Geological Surveys have systematically surveyed most of the Australian continent over the past 40 years using airborne gamma-ray spectrometry to map potassium, uranium and thorium elemental concentrations at the Earth’s surface. However, the individual surveys that comprise the national gamma-ray spectrometric radioelement database are not all registered to the same datum. This limits the usefulness of the database as it is not possible to easily combine surveys into regional compilations or make accurate comparisons between radiometric signatures in different survey areas. To solve these problems, Geoscience Australia has undertaken an Australia-Wide Airborne Geophysical Survey (AWAGS), funded under the Australian Government’s Onshore Energy Security Program, to serve as a radioelement baseline for all current and future airborne gamma-ray spectrometric surveys in Australia. The AWAGS survey has been back-calibrated to the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) radioelement datum. We have used the AWAGS data to level the national radioelement database by estimating survey correction factors that, once applied, minimise both the differences in radioelement estimates between surveys (where these surveys overlap) and the differences between the surveys and the AWAGS traverses. The database is thus effectively levelled to the IAEA datum. The levelled database has been used to produce the first ‘Radiometric Map of Australia’ – levelled and merged composite potassium (% K), uranium (ppm eU) and thorium (ppm eTh) grids over Australia at 100 m resolution. Interpreters can use the map to reliably compare the radiometric signatures observed over different parts of Australia. This enables the assessment of key mineralogical and geochemical properties of bedrock and regolith materials from different geological provinces and regions with contrasting landscape histories.

The Radiometric Map of Australia

High-temperature metasomatism driven by ascent of voluminous, saline fluid columns in the upper crust plays a major role in the genesis of iron oxide-alkali alteration ore systems but fundamental questions remain on genetic linkages among iron oxide copper-gold (IOCG), iron oxide-apatite (IOA), albitite-hosted uranium, and skarn deposits that they produce. Excellent surface exposures of such systems in the Great Bear magmatic zone of northernwestern Canada record the depth to paleosurface, prograde evolution of iron oxide-alkali alteration facies, and mineralization. Across the belt, albitite corridors that are tens of kilometers in length record the earliest reactions between highly saline fluids and host rocks along fault zones and subvolcanic intrusions. Pervasive albitization partitioned metals from the host rocks into the ascending fluid column, leaving behind structurally weakened corridors of porous albitite. These corridors were cut, replaced, and overprinted by amphibole- and magnetite-bearing, calcic-iron alteration assemblages. In extreme cases, the discharge of calcium, iron, and specialized metals formed iron oxide-apatite deposits (±vanadium ± rare earth elements) while recharging the outgoing fluids in sodium, potassium, and base and precious metals. As temperatures declined and fluid chemistry evolved through fluid-rock reactions, the formation of potassic-iron alteration assemblages, breccias, and sulfides resulted in magnetite- and hematite-group IOCG mineralization. Within carbonate units, skarns formed prior to, are replaced by, and evolved to calcic-iron alteration facies. Skarns can locally host base metal mineralization. Tectonically uplifted albitite breccias replaced by potassic-iron alteration assemblages became a preferential host for uranium mineralization. The results of this study also illustrate that permutations and cyclical build-up of alteration products can arise from a combination of faulting, differential uplift, and renewed magmatism. Framed within an alteration-facies deposit model, alteration zones and mineral occurrences play a pivotal role in predicting the mineral potential of iron oxide and alkali-altered systems at district to deposit scales.

Alteration Facies Linkages Among Iron Oxide Copper-Gold, Iron Oxide-Apatite, and Affiliated Deposits in the Great Bear Magmatic Zone, Northwest Territories, Canada.

Inversion of airborne electromagnetic (EM) data for a layered earth has been commonly performed under the assumption that the magnetic permeability of the layers is the same as that of free space. The resistivity inverted from helicopter EM data in this way is not reliable in highly magnetic areas because magnetic polarization currents occur in addition to conduction currents, causing the inverted resistivity to be erroneously high. A new algorithm for inverting for the resistivity, magnetic permeability, and thickness of a layered model has been developed for a magnetic conductive layered earth. It is based on traditional inversion methodologies for solving nonlinear inverse problems and minimizes an objective function subject to fitting the data in a least-squares sense. Studies using synthetic helicopter EM data indicate that the inversion technique is reasonably dependable and provides fast convergence. When six synthetic in-phase and quadrature data from three frequencies are used, the model parameters for two- and three-layer models are estimated to within a few percent of their true values after several iterations. The analysis of partial derivatives with respect to the model parameters contributes to a better understanding of the relative importance of the model parameters and the reliability of their determination. The inversion algorithm is tested on field data obtained with a Dighem helicopter EM system at Mt. Milligan, British Columbia, Canada. The output magnetic susceptibility-depth section compares favorably with that of Zhang and Oldenburg who inverted for the susceptibility on the assumption that the resistivity distribution was known.

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Inversion of helicopter electromagnetic data to a magnetic conductive layered earth

Canadian case histories document the use of airborne and ground gamma‐ray spectrometry to detect and map potassium alteration associated with different styles of mineralization. These include: volcanic‐hosted massive sulfides (Cu‐Pb‐Zn), Pilley’s Island, Newfoundland; polymetallic, magmatic‐hydrothermal deposits (Au‐Co‐Cu‐Bi‐W‐As), Lou Lake, Northwest Territories; and porphyry Cu‐Au‐(Mo) deposits at Mt. Milligan, British Columbia and Casino, Yukon Territory. Mineralization in two of these areas was discovered using airborne gamma‐ray spectrometry. In each case history, alteration produces potassium anomalies that can be distinguished from normal lithologic potassium variations by characteristic lows in eTh/K ratios. Interpretations incorporating airborne and ground spectrometry, surficial and bedrock geochemistry and petrology show that gamma‐ray spectrometric patterns provide powerful guides to mineralization. This information complements magnetic, electromagnetic, geological, and conventional geochemica...

The detection of potassic alteration by gamma-ray spectrometry—Recognition of alteration related to mineralization

The Detection of Potassic Alteration by Gamma Ray Spectrometry:Recognition of Alterations Related to Mineralization

Mapping and Exploration Applications of Gamma Ray Spectrometry in the Bathurst Mining Camp, Northeastern New Brunswick

Airborne gamma-ray spectrometry data are used to support regional and details bedrock and surficial geological mapping, mineral exploration for a variety of mineral deposit types, environmental radiation monitoring and land-use planning. Recent case histories developed by the Geological Survey of Canada describe the use of airborne gamma-ray spectrometry to map composite igneous intrusions and mixed igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary terranes, with varying proportions of glacial overburden, soil moisture, surface wetness and vegetation cover. Other case histories show that potassium alteration associated with volcanic-hosted massive sulphide, polymetallic, magmatic-hydrothermal vein, and porphyry mineralization can be distinguished, relative to normal lithological radioelement signatures, by characteristic eTh/K ratio lows. These examples show that effective interpretation of airborne gamma-ray spectrometry data must include all airborne variables and incorporate ground spectrometry, superficial and bedrock geochemistry and petrology. This information compliments magnetic, electromagnetic, geological and conventional geochemical data often collected during regional geoscience and mineral exploration programs. (author)

R B K Shives

Papers

The detection of potassic alteration by gamma-ray spectrometry—Recognition of alteration related to mineralization

The Detection of Potassic Alteration by Gamma Ray Spectrometry:Recognition of Alterations Related to Mineralization

Mapping and Exploration Applications of Gamma Ray Spectrometry in the Bathurst Mining Camp, Northeastern New Brunswick

Application of airborne gamma-ray spectrometry to geological mapping, mineral exploration and land-use planning

Geophysical Series - Chu Chua Creek 92 P/8, British Columbia, Bonaparte Lake East geophysical survey