From geophysics to reality: sand and gravel deposit evaluation in the computer age

摘要

Aggregate (sand and gravel) resource evaluation is at a decisive point in its evolution from an inadequately studied aspect of gravel mining that, until quite recently, was rarely taken seriously. Exploration and deposit evaluation methods, as well as innovative approaches to data analysis, are evolving faster than the ability of researchers to develop techniques to take advantage of them. Much of this is due to insufficient data to cover the range of deposit types. To date, the usefulness of research results has been limited at the scale of regional resource and land use planning. Even at this scale, however, research is evolving faster than practitioners (land use planners, concrete companies, etc) can integrate them into their exploration and planning processes. Geophysical methods are demonstrating clear benefits for evaluation at the scale of individual deposits. The accuracy with which geophysical methods can accurately predict the depth and orientation of different stratigraphic horizons has been remarkable, but survey programs must be substantiated with some drilling or the results are suspect. Recent advances that are likely to have a significant impact in the future have also involved image analysis for process control, airborne geophysics, and remote sensing.