Geophysical tools to explore for mineral and hydrogeological resources

该提案描述了正在进行的开发地球物理工具的项目，这些工具将允许人们通过测量地球表面的场或偶尔钻探的钻孔来确定隐藏在地下的东西。其中一套工具包括测量电磁场，目的是寻找可导电的特征，如有价值的镍和铜矿床，这些矿藏的开采可能对加拿大经济有利。这些沉积物通常是在沉积物较浅的地方发现的，因此需要一种能够寻找更深沉积物的工具。能够进行更深入研究的创新是使用一种发射器，它有三个发射器线圈，指向三个不同的方向，而不是标准的单个线圈指向一个方向。学生的项目将包括开发这个系统，测试它，处理和解释收集到的数据。第二套工具包括测量地球磁场中的微小扰动。在这个项目中，学生将开发一种创新的方法来创建数据图像，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，并有助于资源勘探。第三套工具测量与地下质子相关的核磁共振。这些质子主要与水有关，因此该工具用于在干旱地区寻找地下水。这个项目的创新之处在于让学生开发一种工具，这种工具可以被飞机携带，并且可以快速轻松地找到水。然而，机载结果是低分辨率的，机载工具可能只有很浅的穿透。尽管如此，这些结果应该使水文地质学家能够在地面上选择可以进行更高分辨率和更深入渗透调查的地点。最后一项创新是让学生开发一个计算机应用程序，使从业者和学生能够理解电磁响应的特征，这些电磁响应是用上面第二段中描述的工具测量的。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，创新之处在于源可以埋在导电表面层之下，并且可以相对快速地进行计算。

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.