oa Mineralization Indicators from Seismic and Full Wave Sonic Data in the Athabasca Basin, Saskatchewan, Canada

Seismic reflection method was successfully introduced, as an exploration tool, in the Athabasca Basin in 2003. Investigations demonstrated that the mineralized zones are associated with basement located shear zones, complex variable sandstone-basement unconformity intervals, and significant alteration zones within the sandstone fill and the basement. All these anomalous zones consistently were associated with diagnostic seismic images, providing a set of primary indicators of mineralization for regions of future exploration interest. Recent Full Wave Sonic surveys illustrated that not only the longitudinal (P) waves, which were exclusively utilized to date, but detectable transverse waves (S) can also observed from the geologic setting of the basin. In most instances, the responses of these elastic disturbances, to geologic irregularities, are recognizably dissimilar. This duality of the specific responses permits derivation of characteristic elastic properties of the lithological units within the investigated area. The knowledge of the depth variations of the P and S wave velocities permits the computations of elastic parameters of rocks such as shear modulus (µ), Lame’s modulus (λ) and Poisson’s ratio (σ). Combinations of these elastic properties facilitate the recognition of fractures with different sizes and their properties, as well as alteration and meta-somatic zones.