Grant: Engage Grants Program

One of the goals of exploration geophysicists is to detect and locate economic mineral resources in the earth's crust that are not visible at surface. How to distinguish geophysical signatures from each other and how to infer a complex geological setting from geophysical data still remains a challenge for geophysicists. In order to give a new perspective in the measurement of the gravitational field, the GRAVILOG borehole (slimhole) gravity probe was developed in 2008 by Scintrex Limited of Toronto. It measures the variations of the gravitational force with depth. The importance of borehole gravity stems from its ability to distinguish density variations in the vicinity of a borehole, which then opens the possibilities for the study of mass distribution in three dimensions. The wise use of borehole gravity in conjunction with other geophysical tools could significantly contribute in discriminating between anomalies created by economic concentrations versus those that are sub-economic. The technological challenges in interpreting borehole gravity data are: 1) how to identify and extract structural and petrophysical information at different scales from the data; and 2) how to integrate the surface gravity data with the data obtained with the borehole tool, e.g. GRAVILOG. Optimize and improve the GRAVILOG system will benefit the mineral exploration and development as well as society in general. The proposed research project aims developing the newest interpretation and integration tools tested with GRAVILOG system; and training young scientists to learn how to combine theoretical and practical considerations as well as expand his or her scientific knowledge whilst taking into consideration the commercial requirements of the users.