1887
PDF

Abstract

During the past fifteen years environmental scientists have applied airborne geophysical techniques<br>increasingly to the mapping and monitoring of potential environmental hazards such as leakage from<br>landfill sites, the spread of polluted groundwaters and the distribution of possibly harmful natural and<br>artificial radionuclides. Explorationists first applied these techniques more than 60 years ago, initially for<br>metallic mineral exploration in Shield areas. In later years the sensors and techniques were improved and<br>also applied to hydrocarbon exploration and geological and structural mapping. The rapid emergence of<br>airborne techniques in environmental studies can be attributed to ease of access to ‘difficult’ sites,<br>comprehensive data coverage and remote, rapid and non-invasive acquisition of data which in turn<br>informs highly focussed confirmatory ground follow up activities. Airborne multi-sensor platforms now<br>typically include magnetic (gradiometer), radiometric and electromagnetic measurements. Due to time<br>restrictions, the talk will focus on the increasing role of Airborne EM (AEM) methods for environmental<br>purposes. Although the issue of time/frequency domain AEM systems can be debated, a requirement for<br>multi-sensor measurements places the focus on modern frequency domain measurements.<br>The environmental business and research sector is already large and it is growing in value, scale and<br>complexity. Ground-based geophysics, particularly non-seismic methods, already has an established<br>presence. From the perspective of a geological survey, it is possible to consider ‘growing’ AEM survey<br>data from the local, to the regional and thence to the national scale. The drivers (potential users) of<br>airborne information become an important component when developing these types of programme.<br>Within Europe, key words include sustainability and climate change. Within this framework, airborne<br>surveys offer both baseline and monitoring capabilities. The talk considers both helicopter and fixed-wing<br>AEM survey techniques and data; what they can do and what they can deliver. Example studies, from<br>programmes underway in Europe, with particular reference to the UK, are provided.

Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/papers/10.3997/2214-4609-pdb.216.I_SG_SBGf2004_AR002
2004-09-26
2024-03-29
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

http://instance.metastore.ingenta.com/content/papers/10.3997/2214-4609-pdb.216.I_SG_SBGf2004_AR002
Loading
This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a Success
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error