The Southern Thomson Orogen AEM Survey

Abstract

The Southern Thomson Orogen airborne electromagnetic (AEM) Survey was flown in 2014 using the Geotech VTEMplus ® AEM system. The AEM survey was designed by Geoscience Australia, and its partners the geological surveys of New South Wales and Queensland, to help solve geological problems in the Southern Thomson Orogen as part of the UNCOVER Initiative of the National Mineral Exploration Strategy. Survey results indicate variable depth of penetration governed by conductive cover, primarily the Cretaceous Rolling Downs Group, and saline groundwater in broad ephemeral drainage systems including salt lakes and channel country around the Paroo River. The unconformity between the Paleozoic rocks of the Eulo Ridge (a partially-exposed palaeotopographic high) and the overlying Mesozoic and Cenozoic cover is well mapped in the central part of the survey area. The survey data reduce risk to explorers in the area by decreasing uncertainty regarding depth of cover for drilling activities and advising where ground and airborne electromagnetic methods can be expected to produce reliable results.