Publication Name: Australasian Exploration Geoscience Conference 2019
Authors: Ralf Schaa*, Brett Harris, Andrew Pethick
Date Published: September 2019
Number of Pages: 6
Abstract:
Regional scale geophysical data is widely and publicly available in many countries. Traditionally, these data include transects that span many hundreds of line kilometres. More recently it was recognised that imaging deep three dimensional crustal structures requires new 3D data sets. An example of this is the Australia AusLAMP magnetotelluric grid. We consider this data from a different perspective and ask how sparse regional data can be incorporated in mineral exploration workflows which focus on the top few kilometres of the Earth. We select a reference area of about 100,000 square kilometres in central Australia, which includes the 450-kilometre long Yilgarn Craton, Officer Basin, Musgrave Province (YOM) seismic and MT transect. We test and compare a number of 1D and 2D inversion strategies with broadband MT data and then stretch that geo-electrical model to the third dimension with an additional 18 long period MT stations on a 50 km grid in the Officer Basin and Musgrave block.