Airborne Gravity 2010 - Geoscience Australia

Airborne Gravity 2010
The lithological classification may then be applied to the results of the SOM process to produce a 3D
volume of pseudo-geology. An example of this output is shown in Figure 4. The lithology code labels in
this figure relate to those shown in Table 1.
Figure 4. Example of 3D pseudo-geology.
Conclusions
The interpretation of FALCON airborne gravity gradiometry and magnetics data is greatly improved by
recovery of density and susceptibility by 3D inversion. The Solid Earth platform facilitates rapid
inversion of individual anomalies or large areas by tiling. A Self Organizing Maps method can be
applied to the recovered density and susceptibility models to identify regions in the models with distinct
petrophysical properties which can then be related to lithology. Output of the resultant 3D models of
pseudo-geology improves the understanding of the underlying geology, leading to better targeting.
Acknowledgments
Solid Earth was developed by Dr. Rob Ellis and Mr. Peter Diorio, with significant input from Mr.
Barry De Wet and the staff of the former FALCON Operations Group of BHP Billiton.
192