Enhancing the Exploration Process

Abstract

Geophysics can play an enhanced role in exploration programs when used in conjunction with geology and physical properties. Understanding how geology relates to geophysics is important both for supporting constrained geophysical modelling, and for extracting meaningful information from geophysics. Physical properties, and how geologic processes control physical properties, play a key role to link geology to geophysics and are an important focus of our research. In addition, methods of describing geology in a manner that can be incorporated into geophysical inversions provide another important link between geology and geophysics to aid in the integration process. This information is brought together and applied to deterministic inversion methods that have been developed at the University of British Columbia. When done in the context of a specific exploration goal, earth models can be produced that capture, and are consistent with, available geoscientific information, resulting in a clearer view of the earth.