Geological interpretation of aeromagnetic data / Геологическая интерпретация аэромагнитных данных

This book aims to help you to extract maximum value from aeromagnetic survey data. It shows how to integrate these data with geological data to build an interpretation that matches the objectives of your project. The book is as much for geologists as geophysicists and is written by two consulting geoscientists who deal with complex geophysical and geological interpretation problems in their day-to-day work.

We have prepared the book in response to the frequently cursory analysis of high-quality aeromagnetic data, usually caused by the absence of geologists’ active participation in the integration and interpretation process. We have seen the value of many superb datasets seriously eroded by under-use. Surveys costing $500 000 or more sometimes attract only a handful of days of interpreter time for assessment. We believe that aeromagnetic data contain a wealth of geological information that may be overlooked if the analysis is constrained to the ‘geophysical’ aspects and confined to geoscientists with predominantly geophysical training and a predominant focus on the physics and mathematics of the data. The examples in this book show the level of geological detail and consequent exploration value that can be gained from adequate, well-focused time spent analysing aeromagnetic data.

Our backgrounds exemplify our approach. Dave Isles is a geophysicist by training who has spent most of his 40-year career using aeromagnetic data (and many other geophysical tools) to facilitate mineral exploration programs. His grasp of geology has grown through the need to fully understand the geological environment of each new exploration project. Leigh Rankin is a geological mapper with specialist structural skills. He began using aeromagnetic data in South Australia during the 1980s when he discovered that just beneath the vast expanses of sand dunes, swamps and alluvial plains, there were rocks with readily measurable magnetisation. Beneath the paddocks of wheat and sheep, these rocks could be mapped both individually and collectively by using aeromagnetic data, thus aiding the assembly of geological interpretations at all scales. Our experience underlies the focus of this book. <...>