Airborne Gravity 2010 - Geoscience Australia

Airborne Gravity 2010
The Kauring airborne gravity and airborne gravity
gradiometer test site, Western Australia
Introduction
David Howard 1 , Mark Grujic 2 , and Richard Lane 3
1 Geological Survey of Western Australia (david.howard@dmp.wa.gov.au)
2 Monash University (markgrujic@gmail.com)
3 Geoscience Australia (richard.lane@ga.gov.au)
With funding from the Western Australian government’s 2009 Exploration Incentive Scheme and a
matching contribution from Rio Tinto Exploration (RTX), the Geological Survey of WA (GSWA) and
Geoscience Australia (GA) have established a site near Perth, Western Australia for the testing and
calibration of airborne gravity (AG) and airborne gravity gradiometer (AGG) systems (Lane et al.,
2009).
Ground gravity data
The site, near the hamlet of Kauring, is 115 km ENE from Perth’s Jandakot Airport and 50 km due east
of York (Figure 1). It consists of two approximately concentric areas: an AG test area of 20 by 20 km
surveyed with 1,518 ground gravity measurements on a 500 m grid; and a central AGG test area of
5.2 by 5.7 km surveyed with 3,644 ground gravity stations with a variable spacing ranging from 50 to
100 m along lines that are 50 to 250 m apart (Coopes, 2009). The test areas are embedded within a
broader regional survey area of 143 by 169 km with gravity measurements having a 2 km nominal
station spacing (Figure 2 and Figure 3).
Figure 1. Regional location map for the Kauring Test Site showing the location of the airborne
gravity test area (black) and the airborne gravity gradiometer test area (red) in relation to the city
of Perth, the township of York, and Jandakot Airport.
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