Research grants and projects
ARC Linkage with Geoscience Victora and Goldstar Resources NL
Application of 3D modelling to mineral exploration under cover: An example from the Woods Point region, Victoria
Investigators: Dr F. Bierlein, Dr L. Ailleres in collaboration with external researcher Mr P. O’Shea.
This project aims to develop and test cost-effective tools in understanding and exploring for buried mineral deposits. We will apply our research via a) constructing three-dimensional models to analyse, characterise and compare ore system geometries, b) constraining structural controls that lead to mineralisation in a variety of settings, c) development and testing of fluid properties, and d) integration of geological, structural and geochemical datasets to predict favourable sites for gold mineralisation. This project will result in a greatly improved understanding of the formation of a range of gold deposit styles, and further strategic alliances between Monash University, the Geological Survey of Victoria and exploration companies.
Australian Society of Exploration Geophysicists Research Foundation
Defining the margins of Australia’s ancient geological cratons from gravity and magnetic fields
Total funding: $30,000 (2009-2011)
Investigators:Dr PG Betts; Dr Laurent Ailleres; Mr Brenton Crawford (PhD student)
It has now been demonstrated that several of Australia’s most prominent mineral belts (e.g., Olympic IOCG domain in the Gawler Craton) occur along the major crustal boundaries that occupy the location of ancient collisional zones at the margin of cratonic boundaries. Craton boundaries may have been favoured sites for mineralisation because they are likely to reflect ancient plate margins characterised by elevated heat flow, have lithospheric penetrating faults systems able to tap the deep crust and mantle lithosphere, and in many case may have occupied the position of ancient arc, which have all shown on the modern Earth to favour mineral development of mineral districts.
This project aims to address the issue of the distribution and geometry of these plate margins using analysis of regional potential field datasets to constrain their 3D geometry and to determine the connectivity between faults at the surface and deep crust structure. This will assist regional targeting and also assist in the development of new geodynamic models that will assist understanding the setting of mineral systems.
SEG Hugo Dummett Memorial Mineral Discovery Fund
Combined Geological and Potential Field Inversions: Using Geological Uncertainty in Implicit Modelling Applications.
Total funding: US$2,500 (2009); Geoscience Victoria - $10,000
Investigators:Dr Laurent Ailleres;Dr PG Betts; Mr Mark Lindsay (PhD student)
Over the past few decades, the increase in accessibility to high computing power and complex algorithms has made 3D geological modelling more accessible. Numerous models have been built from the plate scale to the mine scale. Unfortunately, the use of explicit modelling packages requires significant amounts of interpretation and extrapolation in the 3rd dimension and is highly subjective, so much so that it is very often not reproducible. The degree of uncertainty is high, which cannot be determined mathematically as the modelling process involves manual editing. Within the last few years an implicit geological modeller, 3D GeoModeller, was developed. While the modelling technique does not currently allow for uncertainty calculations, it will be used (and a test has been successfully completed already) to generate multiple geological architectures calculated from the same input data (although slightly varied to take into account and propagate field measurement errors). This will allow estimation of geological variability within a finite region and estimate the uncertainty within the resulting best probable geological model. In parallel, a subset of the models calculated above will be used for a-priori models for combined inversions of gravity and magnetic potential fields. The subset will be defined by an overall low geological uncertainty and a low misfit while comparing forward calculation of the potential fields and observed data. After potential inversions, the models will satisfy a low geophysical misfit. However, they may not satisfy the input geological data anymore and some of them should be rejected on geological grounds. This will require the development of geological penalty functions to assess the models geological predictions against the input data. Ultimately, the geological penalty functions will be integrated into a combined inversion process involving gravity and magnetics potential fields and geology. This new technique will be tested on synthetic models as well as real geological and geophysical datasets. We propose to build a 3D geological model along the Moyston Fault in Western Victoria.
Other Research Projects
Potential field signature of volcanic maars and calderas.
Funding: Self funded
Investigators: Ray Cas, Laurent Ailleres, Matt Greenwood (MSc) & Felicity Piganis (MSc).
Volcanoes geodesy
Funding: Self funded
Investigators: Ray Cas, Nicolas Fournier (GNS, New Zealand), Louis Moresi, Laurent Ailleres & Lucas Holden (PhD)
Structural geophysics of the Ashanti Belt, Ghana
Funding: Logistics thanks to Golden Star Resources & self-funded
Investigators: Laurent Ailleres, Mark Jessell & Stephane Perrouty (PhD) (both IRD, LMTG, Toulouse, France)
3D structural geophysics of the Farasan Islands (Saudi Arabia), salt tectonics and potential for hydrocarbon resources
Funding: Travel and field expenses thanks to King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology, Saudi Arabia and self-funded
Investigators: Laurent Ailleres, Peter Betts & Khalid Almalki (PhD)
Enabling geological constraints during potential field inversions
Funding: Geoscience Victoria & SEG
Investigators: Laurent Ailleres, Peter Betts, M. Jessell (IRD, LMTG, Toulouse, France) & Eric deKemp (Geological Survey, Canada), Peter Betts and Mark Lindsay (PhD).
Enabling geostatistical constraints during potential field inversions
Funding: Geoscience Victoria
Investigators: Laurent Ailleres, Peter Fullagar (U. Queensland), Peter Betts & Antoinette Stryk.
Geophysical evidence for the Selwyn block? Interpreting high-resolution airborne magnetics over Bass Strait.
Funding: self funded
Investigators: Peter Betts, Laurent Ailleres and David Moore (PhD)
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