Geophysical tools to explore for mineral and hydrogeological resources

这项提案描述了正在进行的开发地球物理工具的项目，这些工具将使人们能够通过测量地球表面或偶尔为调查地下而钻出的钻孔来确定地下隐藏着什么。*一套工具涉及测量电磁场，目的是寻找可以开采的有价值的镍和铜矿床等导电特征，以造福加拿大经济。这些矿床通常是在矿床较浅的地方发现的，因此需要一种能够寻找更深层次矿床的工具。使更深入研究成为可能的创新是使用具有三个不同方向的三个发射器线圈的发射器，而不是标准的单个线圈指向一个方向。学生项目将包括开发这个系统，测试它，以及处理和解释收集的数据。*第二套工具涉及测量地球磁场中的微小扰动。在这个项目中，一个学生将开发一种创新的方法来创建数据的图像，这些图像具有更少的人工制品，看起来更像地下地质。这将使人们更容易解释地下扰动的来源。这将有助于更好地了解地质情况，并将有助于资源勘探。*第三套工具测量与地下质子有关的核磁共振。这些质子主要与水有关，因此该工具被用来在干旱地区寻找地下水。这个项目的创新之处在于，一个学生开发了一种可以由飞机携带的工具，并快速轻松地找到了这些水。然而，机载结果的分辨率很低，机载工具可能会有浅层穿透。尽管如此，结果应该使水文地质学家能够选择地面上可以进行更高分辨率和更深穿透调查的地点。*对学生来说，最后一项创新是开发一种计算机应用程序，使从业者和学生能够理解使用上文第二段所述的工具测量的电磁响应的特征。这将使人们能够确定作为电磁场来源的地下导电特征。在这种情况下，创新之处在于可以将源埋在导电表层之下，并且计算可以相对较快地进行。**

This proposal describes ongoing projects to develop geophysical tools that will allow people to determine what is hidden below the subsurface by measuring fields on the surface of the earth or down the occasional boreholes that are drilled to investigate the subsurface. ******One set of tools involve measuring electromagnetic fields where the intent is to look for conductive features such as valuable nickel and copper deposits that could be mined to the benefit of the Canadian economy. These deposits have generally been found where the deposits are shallow, so a tool that can look for deeper deposits is required. The innovation that will enable deeper investigation is to use a transmitter that has three transmitter coils oriented in three different directions, rather than the standard single coil pointing in one direction. Student projects will involve developing this system, testing it and processing and interpreting the data collected. ******The second set of tools involve measuring small perturbations in the magnetic field of the Earth. In this project, a student will be developing an innovative methodology to create images of the data that have fewer artifacts and look more like the subsurface geology. This will enable people to more easily interpret the source of the perturbations below the subsurface. This will enable a better understanding of the geology and will assist in resource exploration.******The third set of tools measures the nuclear magnetic resonance associated with protons in the subsurface. These protons are primarily associated with water, so the tool is used to look for groundwater in arid areas. The innovation in this project is for a student to develop a tool that can be carried by aircraft and find this water quickly and easily. However, the airborne results are low resolution and the airborne tool will likely have a shallow penetration. Nonetheless, the results should enable hydrogeologists to select locations on the ground where higher resolution and deeper penetration investigations can be undertaken. ******A final innovation is for a student to develop a computer application that will allow practitioners and students to understand the character of the electromagnetic responses that are measured with tools such as those described in the second paragraph above. This will allow people to determine the subsurface conductive feature that is the source of the electromagnetic fields. In this case, the innovation is that the source can be buried below a conductive surface layer and the computations can be undertaken relatively quickly. **