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Erik Ronald

Senior Resource Geologist at Rio Tinto

Rules of Thumb for Geological Field Mapping Success


March 20, 2016 • 1.335 Views • 147 Likes • 21 Comments

Following my February article on Rules of Thumb for Mineral Exploration Success, I'd
like to share some fundamental aspects to ensure success when conducting geological
mapping. These "Rules of Thumb" can be applied to either true greenfields mapping,
near-mine brownfields work, or open pit bench mapping. I'm not going to touch on
underground mapping as that is a different animal entirely. This list is a compilation of
notes from various publications, most notably Robert Compton's classic text book "Ge-
ology in the Field", and my personal experiences of mapping in various terrains and
pits across multiple countries and two continents.

Planning and logistics are a major effort and shouldn't be taken lightly. One should
treat a mapping campaign like a Project Manager and not like a weekend camper.
There should be a clear understanding and agreement with management on the scope,
resources, alternatives, objectives and timeframes to ensure success. Access rights, per-
missions, local guides, ability to collect samples, transportation, and other aspects
must all be clearly organized prior to any campaign. There is a big difference in logis-

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tics required for mapping via a four-wheel drive in Montana versus horseback in Mon-
golia or a chopper in PNG.

1) Safety - I'd like to start with the safety aspect. Though some may see safety as non-
critical to the technical mapping work, I strongly disagree. Your final product won't be
very good if you break a leg or end up as a pile of sun-bleached bones in the desert. Es-
tablish an emergency plan outlining locations and times. Always map with a partner,
as this is good for both safety and to have someone to bounce ideas off or to argue
about structural or timing relationships. Carry a satellite phone because wherever you
are in the world, mobile coverage is garbage. Establish check-in times so others will
know within a few hours if something bad has happened. Carry an appropriate field
first aid kit and know how to use it. Finally, take enough water or a filter/tabs to last 24
hours at a minimum.

2) Scope - It's critical to have a clear understanding of your goals. Is your plan to com-
plete a generalized geologic map showing all units with major structures or are you af-
ter a specific attribute? Maps for mineral alteration, engineering geology, hazards, or
oil & gas exploration can be quite different. This focus of scope can be a blessing and a
curse so tread carefully. Focusing on one aspect typically means you can overlook an-
other. There are many cases in both mapping and logging where the geologist failed to
recognize the obvious. A good example is the case of a geologist logging core for an in-
dustrial minerals deposit and missing the visible gold, a true story!

3) Pre-field work - The work you do before you set foot in the field can be the differ-
ence between success and failure of your field mapping campaign. I used to go by the
adage of three weeks of dedicated office work for each week in the field, others have
suggested three months! Your field book should be packed with information from
stratigraphic columns, to cross-sections, to unit descriptions before you leave your of-
fice. This time is important to familiarize the geologist with previous work in the area,
review any internal or public reports or maps, contact the local Geological Survey, cre-
ate preliminary maps via satellite imagery/aerial photos, and talk to anyone experi-
enced in your area of interest.

Remote sensing work (hyperspectral, satellite or aerial photo images), if possible,


should always be done well in advance of fieldwork. For those who can't afford satellite
imagery, an amazing amount of review can be done in Google Earth with some vertical

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exaggeration of topography and the Elevation Profile tool along with free information
online. Any published geophysical data will be very supportive in your preliminary
mapping. Remember that most places on Earth have at least a rudimentary geologic
map so you’re not 100% shocked when your boots hit the ground.

Be sure to learn as much from others before you go into your field area. This can range
from university professors, to water well drillers, to farmers or landowners who know
their own property. It’s amazing what non-professionals observe and you can typically
learn a great deal, if you listen. If there’s a sand pit, quarry or good road-cut nearby, be
sure to add it to your list during a reconnaissance trip or early on when mapping.

4) Field observations - Be detailed, confident, and consistent in field observations,


interpretations, contacts and any measurements collected. Ink your map in the field or
at worst, do it that night in your hotel room/camp/cave before going to sleep. Realize
that once you’re sitting back in an office a week or year later, you won’t suddenly have
an epiphany and work out all your problems, so just do it then and there. The more de-
tail in your observations in regards to landforms, erosion patterns, weathering habits,
minerals, stratigraphic features, textures and anything else will go a long way when
you see similarities the next day or need to recall subtle details to work out the greater
geological puzzle. When making geological observations, don’t forget to use all five
senses: does that shale have an oily feel? Can you smell sulfides in that diorite once it’s
broken? What sound does the serpentinite make when you hit it with your hammer?
Does that kaolinite-rich shale stick to your tongue? Lastly, don't forget to take ridicu-
lous amounts of photos, label them and describe each in excruciating detail – except
for the photos back at camp on your last night there, the HSE manager doesn’t need to
know about that night. No one needs to know about that night!

5) Samples - Human beings and especially ones training in Geology are excellent at
noticing deviations from the norm, oddities and outliers. Your eye will always focus on
what's different in an area. These oddities can be good at times if you're hunting miner-
alized veins or alteration features, but for general geology maps this can be trouble-
some. Ensure you collect “typical representative samples” for each geologic unit in ad-
dition to the more “interesting” or potentially high-grade samples you grab. The com-
mon, boring, and consistent sample of a formation or unit can be extremely helpful to
drag back to your camp to gain an eye for what is “typical”, thus assisting with identify-
ing the atypical.

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6) Take time to sit and contemplate. Some of the world’s best mineral deposits
were discovered simply because of where the field geologist happened to take their
lunch break. The time to sit and observe an outcrop to the point of boredom can mean
the difference between seeing that minor bit of alteration or just walking over it assum-
ing it’s the same rock unit you’ve seen all morning.

Fig. 1: Lunchtime stop on a jasperoid in Northern Nevada, USA.

7) Know your mental limits – This goes directly to the quality of one’s work at vari-
ous times of the day and your physical & mental state. Personally, I’m useless before
coffee in the morning and then again between 1pm and 3pm, after which I tend to get a
second wind of energy. Any mapping, field notes, observations, measurements, or in-

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terpretations made in those low-energy hours should be reviewed or simply thrown
out. Instead, I accept my hopelessness and schedule that time for a longer lunch, a long
walking period, mindless work like coloring, or even a nap if conditions permit. I once
had a field partner who couldn’t be consulted before 9am. Whether it was the lack of
good coffee in the Mojave or simply being hung over from the previous night, the im-
portant thing to recognize is that not all field observations are of equal quality. If
you're not focused, don't press the issue. The same goes for too many days in the field,
heat, cold, flies, mosquitoes, the grumpy camp cook, or general burnout.

Fig. 2: "Giving up" after a long day in the Baker Lake Basin, Nunavut, Canada.

8) Break rocks. Everyone should already know this point but you can only deter-
mine rock types and mineralogy with freshly broken surfaces. Don’t simply walk over
an area without leaving a trail of cracked rocks in your wake. Sometimes weathering
patterns of different rocks appear similar or too much desert varnish will make every-

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thing look the same. Don't be lazy, just check.

9) Draw pictures. A field book should be filled with sketches, drawings of intersect-
ing veins, cross-cutting relationships, reconstructions of faults, interpretations of
topography…whatever you need to bring that geologic puzzle together. I know many
people are not great artists and I’m not saying you need to be, but simple line diagrams
can do a lot toward understanding structure, veins, unit timings and relationships.
Fossils observed in the field can be great markers for time constraints on units. If
you’re like me and you can’t tell a Sarcopterygii from a Paramblypterus, then draw it
accurately and take a photo to ask someone later.

10) The right gear. This sounds straightforward enough but if you’re trying to carry
too many gadgets, various rock hammers, map boards, iPads, laptops, food, water,
GPS, cameras, gold pan, reference books, color charts, and rock samples around for
multiple hours per day it’s likely you’re going to be physically and mentally exhausted
resulting in reduced quality of field observations. Focus on the essentials: your brain,
maps, hammer, hand lens, compass/transect, camera, GPS, and magnet. Be sure to
grab the correct hammer dependent upon the rocks you’ll be working with. A chisel
and crack hammer is required for continental shields, a chisel edge hammer when in
sedimentary or softer units, and the classic geology hammer or geopick in most every-
thing else. A few other handy items are good such as a small scratch kit and acid bottle.
Depending on your specific goals of the mapping program or the terrain, you may swap
that Brunton for a Mag Sus meter, a scintillometer if known radioactive units are in the
area, or lug along your PIMA or portable XRF but in most cases these items become
dead weight.

I'll also include good boots, appropriate clothes for the climate and fauna (black flies
and mosquitoes!), sun protection, a big enough lunch(s), and should the occasion call
for it, the appropriate firearm when you encounter those pesky Grizzlies or radical fun-
damentalists.

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Fig. 3: Battling a laptop while mapping at the Bingham Canyon Mine, Utah, USA.

Unofficial #11 - End the day with a beer and enjoy that your role as a field geologist
has just allowed you to "work" in the greatest office in the world - outside.

Once you've returned from your field campaign, ensure ample time is provided to orga-
nize, catalogue, and report all observations immediately. The longer you wait to write
up reports or findings, the worse they will be. Ensure all work is correctly archived,
digitized or stored for maximum benefit.

I'll leave you with a quote from S.W. Muller in the Journal of Geological Education
(1983, v. 31) - "Field Geology is learned in the field; therefore one must go there as
soon and as frequently as possible". I hope you've enjoyed this article or perhaps it
simply brought back some good memories of past experiences. As always, I encourage
your comments, feedback, or suggestions on future posts. Best of luck to everyone on

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their next field mapping expedition!

Written by

Erik Ronald
Senior Resource Geologist at Rio Tinto

Geologist, Looking for a new career direction

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