Near surface seismic investigation of the regolith in South Australia

Abstract

Investigation of the regolith is an important part of the mineral exploration. Large territories are overlaid by the regolith rocks and recent trends show a clear tendency of discovery major mineral deposits under the thick cover. Thorough regolith exploration involving geophysical techniques is required to push new deep mineral discoveries. Knowledge about the regolith structure and properties is necessary for designing the mine excavation and production as well. A shot 2D seismic was acquired to investigate regolith's structure and properties at the Hillside prospect, situated on the Yorke Peninsula, South Australia. The small 3D dataset has been conducted to evaluate potential for seismic imaging of deep structures. The survey has been designed to be able to accommodate good data for various seismic methods simultaneously. Data analysis included processing and interpretation of surface, refracted and reflected waves. The study also involved an application of diffraction imaging to detect faults and fracture zones. The experiment has demonstrated a cost effective near surface seismic setup that is capable to obtain a comprehensive set of information about undersurface. The results include imaging of the regolith structure, estimating of dynamic elastic properties of the ground and obtaining images of deep structures.