Geological Interpretation of Geophysical Data for Mineral Exploration
By: Prof. Michael Dentith
Instructor
Prof. Michael Dentith
(The University of Western Australia)
Duration
19-22 June 2023:
9:00AM - 1:00PM CEST
4 hours/day
Disciplines
Geophysics - Mineral Exploration
Course Format
The EAGE Interactive online short courses bring carefully selected courses of experienced instructors from industry and academia online to give participants the possibility to follow the latest education in geoscience and engineering remotely. The courses are designed to be easily digested over the course of two or three days. Participants will have the possibility to interact live with the instructor and ask questions.
Education Packages
To help you save on registration fees and better organize your learning path, we are offering Education Packages for all Interactive Online Short Courses and Online EETs. The packages are valid for a period of 12 months, choose between packages of 3, 5 and 10 credits.
Course Description
The purpose of this course is to provide training in how to use geophysical methods in mineral exploration. Designed for industry, government and student geologists seeking to understand how to use geophysical datasets to explore and map, and geophysicists seeking to include more geology in to their interpretations, this course teaches participants to integrate geological and geophysical data in a mineral exploration context.
Core topics include the basic principles of the main geophysical exploration methods used in mineral exploration including the importance of optimal processing and display of these data and the strengths and limitations of the various methods. Particular attention is paid to extracting the maximum amount of geological information from the data, recognising noise-related artifacts in interpretation products and how to deal with the ambiguity when interpreting geophysical datasets. The course includes practical exploration exercises involving real exploration data.
Course Objectives
On completion of the course participants will:
• Understand how to integrate geological and geophysical information during mineral exploration
• Have the ability to solve exploration challenges using geophysical methods
• Be familiar with state-of-the-methods for analysing petrophysical data
• Understand the capabilities and limitations of the various geophysical data types
• Be aware of the importance of geophysics in the future of mineral exploration
Course Outline
1. Introduction to geophysics
a) Geophysical methods used in mineral exploration
b) Geophysical anomalies and their sources;
c) Ambiguity
d) Geophysical exploration practice
e) Cost of geophysics
2. Acquisition to display
a) Signal and noise
b) Sampling and survey design
c) Data display
3. Data enhancement
a) Wavelength-based enhancement
b) gradient-based enhancements;
c) Amplitude-based enhancements
4. Gravity and magnetic methods
a) Basic principles of gravity and magnetism
b) Reduction of gravity data – the influence of terrain
c) Reduction of magnetic data – the importance of levelling
d) Enhancing gravity and magnetic data (derivative-based enhancements, continuation, reduction to the pole)
5. Qualitative interpretation
a) Understanding petrophysics
b) Beyond ‘geological pattern recognition’ in image interpretation
c) Geophysical expressions of common geological features
d) Common pitfalls
6. Quantitative interpretation
a) Representing the sub-surface with a geophysical mode
b) Forward modelling
c) Inverse modelling
d) Analysing a modelling result
7. Electrical and electromagnetic methods
a) Basic principles of electricity
b) Electrical properties of rocks
c) Resistivity method
d) Induced polarisation method
e) Basic principles of electromagnetism
f) Electromagnetic data acquisition and interpretation
Participants' Profile
The course is designed for:
• Industry, government and student geologists seeking to understand how to use geophysical datasets to explore for minerals
• Geophysicists seeking to improve the integration of geology in to
their interpretations.
Prerequisites
Participants should have a basic understanding of the geology of mineral deposits and mineral exploration practice. They should also be familiar with MS Excel.
About the Instructor
Prof. Michael Dentith
PROFESSOR MIKE DENTITH is Professor of Geophysics at The University of Western Australia, located in Perth, Western Australia. He has more than 25 years experience in teaching, research and consulting in petroleum and mineral exploration geophysics. Professor Dentith is a senior and foundation researcher at the Centre for Exploration Targeting, a minerals industry-funded research centre developing new exploration methods for the mining sector, where he leads the geophysical research theme. Current research projects include geophysical signatures of mineral deposits, hard-rock petrophysics, magnetotelluric and seismic methods applied to mineral exploration and using geophysical methods for assessing regional-scale prospectivity. This research is funded by industry and government. Professor Dentith is co-author of the award winning textbook, Geophysics for the Mineral Exploration Geoscientist, and editor of two case study volumes on the geophysical signatures of Australian mineral deposits. He has run numerous professional courses for industry, government and professional societies in Australia, South American, Asia, Europe and Africa.