Exploration in deeply weathered terrains: Basic to advanced concepts and pragmatic techniques

Regolith Mapping History

• Essentially started in 1980s

• Kalgoorlie 1:1,000,000 scale map one of
the first to be published
• Mapping
pp g schemes developed p by:
y
7. Regolith mapping history, mapping
schemes, datasets and method.
– CSIRO – RED Scheme
Residual/Erosional/Depositional Regimes
– GSWA – hybrid of RED and Geochemex
– AGSO – Little Red book (anything but!)
– Geochemex

Regolith Mapping Schemes

• Normandy History
– 1991 modified Geochemex scheme used
– Waited for CSIRO consolidated scheme
– Rejected AGSO scheme because it was too
detailed
• 1992 – 1995 continued with a modified RED
scheme, but had problems
• 1995 visited West Africa (Senegal and Burkina
Faso)
• Moved to West Africa:
– Revised mapping scheme to CEDR scheme
– Cuirasse/Erosional/Depositional/Residual

Regolith Mapping Schemes Regolith and exploration

Landform and Regolith maps produced because:
• FRED Scheme created from the CEDR
• Landform provides an indication of physical
scheme processes
– Ferruginous
• Mapping the geomorphology often provides
– Residual geological information and clues
– Erosional • Regolith provides information about the
– Depositional chemical environment

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 Exploration in deeply weathered terrains: Basic to advanced concepts and pragmatic techniques

Regolith and exploration Regolith and exploration

• Mapping must not become an academic

process
A correctly structured Landform and Regolith
• Need to map relevant features that impact
Map is one where it is possible to visualise the
upon exploration decision making processes
terrain and regolith from which samples will be
or have
h b
been collected.
ll t d • High reliance on remote sensing
• Need to understand landscape evolution
processes

Regolith and exploration Regolith and exploration

FRED Regolith Mapping Scheme

• Ferruginous Regime - iron rich regolith

Ferruginous Regime Hills, rock pinnacles Roads

Residual Regime Denuded outcrop Tracks • Residual Regime

g - essentiallyy residual soils,, v.few outcrops
p

Erosional Regime Breakaways Grid lines

• Erosional Regime - outcrop and thin soils
Depositional Regime Drainage channels Fence lines

Catchment boundaries Settlements

• Depositional Regime - transported overburden
Mine workings
• Unspecified regime – landform mapping only – especially in tropical terrains

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 Exploration in deeply weathered terrains: Basic to advanced concepts and pragmatic techniques

Ferruginous (Cuirasse) Regime

• Landscape Classification
– Fp - plateau surfaces
– Fs - distinct slopes
– Fv - Valley floors and valley pediments
• Genesis Classification
– Rl1-4 Laterite (residual)
– Df1-4 Ferricrete (transported)

Laterite or Ferricrete? Ferruginous Weathering Products

Three types:
• Cuirasse - where the origin is unknown
• Lateritic residuum - formed and remained in situ
• Ferricrete - demonstrably transported

Remote identification of iron rich regolith

Colluvium

Alluvial
sheetwash

Fe rich soil / rock

Cuirasse

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 Exploration in deeply weathered terrains: Basic to advanced concepts and pragmatic techniques

Cuirasse Plateaus – Burkina Faso, West Africa

Cuirasse

Outcrop
Colluvial
cover
Alluvium

Landsat TM7
Ferricrete

Locally transported ferricrete

Note rubble appearance, no matrix and angular quartz

Cuirasse comprised of ferricrete Fv-Df2

Transported ferricrete Ferricrete

Ferricrete directly over fresh granite (Fe poor) with no weathering profile in between
Note the rubble appearance, and blocks of cuirasse deep in the profile

Cuirasse block

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 Exploration in deeply weathered terrains: Basic to advanced concepts and pragmatic techniques

Residual ferruginous saprolite underlying the shallow ferricrete Residual laterite

of previous slide - residual because of saprolitic textures after Quartz vein provides the evidence!
Birrimian sediments Note regular nature of laterite below quartz vein

Residual laterite after granite Ferricrete - slightly indurated ferruginous gravels

Note high and low energy

flow banded ferruginous
Quartz stringer gravel

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Exploration in deeply weathered terrains: Basic to advanced concepts and pragmatic techniques

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 Exploration in deeply weathered terrains: Basic to advanced concepts and pragmatic techniques

CSIRO Lateritic Residuum

Classification Scheme – Aug. 1989

Fp2-Rl2(g)

Fp2-Rl2(g)

Old valley deposits (with gold) Fp2-Df1-2

Residual Regime Erosional Regime

Where bedrock is at or near surface and soils are thin / skeletal

Essentially residual to proximal soils • Eo0-Eo3 – Hills with outcrop and skeletal soils of
varying heights
• Ep0-Ep3 – Stripped plateaus, plains and
• Rh0-Rh3 – Hills of varying heights with pediments with thin lithosols and numerous
‘residual’ soils outcrop exposures
• Rp0-Rp3 – Plateaus, plains and pediments • Es – escarpment slopes with numerous outcrop
with ‘residual’ soils exposures
• Rhs – hills slopes with residual soils • Eo/c – low undulating terrain with numerous
outcrop exposures and residual to proximal soils
• Rv – residual soils on valley floor
• Eva – erosional incision next to drainage with
outcrop

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 Exploration in deeply weathered terrains: Basic to advanced concepts and pragmatic techniques

Depositional Regime Secondary descriptors

Transported overburden and sediments Extra information / detail added at local scales including field obs

• Da1-Da7 - Alluvium Weathering state Soil Texture

• Dp0-3 – Transported overburden on various land FS - ferruginous saprolite a - gravel
MZ - mottled zone saprolite b- sand
surfaces (Elevated to valley floor) c- loam
CZ - clay zone
• Dhs – Scree and thick colluvium on hillslopes SP- saprolite d - silt/clay
SR- saprock
SR
• Dh3 – low hills comprised of transported FR - fresh
sediments Geology
Use standard codes
• Dvs – Colluvium on valley sides Overprinting
Fer - pisolitic lag over colluvium
• Dva – drainage slot comprised of transported Cal - calcrete (split phreatic and pedogenic)
Annotation
Artisanal workings
material Har - hardpan
Tracks / roads
• Dd1-Dd2 – Clay pans, playas, lakes, swamps Infrastructure
Contours
• Dw1-Dw2 – Aeolian dunes and sand plains Mine workings

Don’t lose sight of why we need to map FRED Scheme in Australia

The geochemical response will depend upon the regolith terrain as well as the size of the ore body!

Fp 2 Fp 2
2
1 3 4 7
5 6

E Cuirasse Depositional C C/E Depositional Erosional / Cuirasse

Es/Ec2 Cp2 - Rl2 Dc3//Cp2/Cv Cp2 Es Cp3 Dc3//Cp3 Da Dc3//Cp3 Cp3 Ec2 (Fer) Cp2-Rl2 Es/Ec1 Ec2

Not to scale

Reg lex
Regolex Pty. Ltd. A.C.N. 085 006 77 5

Ferricrete

Laterite

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 Exploration in deeply weathered terrains: Basic to advanced concepts and pragmatic techniques

Ferricrete Ferricrete

The regolith can vary a lot in a short distance

Think in 4D!

Channels today carry pisoliths, just as they used to in the past

Think in 4D!

Ep2 /Fp2

Es
Rh2 / Eo2 (MZ)

Ep3 /Rp3//SP(s)

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 Exploration in deeply weathered terrains: Basic to advanced concepts and pragmatic techniques

Rp2 (Cal) //SP @ 1m(ms)

Rp2 CZ (g)

What clues are there in the photo that this area is suitable
for soil sampling?

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 Exploration in deeply weathered terrains: Basic to advanced concepts and pragmatic techniques

It is sometimes worth drilling just to see what’s beneath the soil.

Here the overburden is >80m thick.

Kanowna Deep Lead (Palaeochannel) – 4D thinking!

Arakaka Trend, Guyana

Calcrete nodules. Sample media for gold exploration

Regolith Terrain Map Examples Regolith Mapping Method

• Rapid and significant changes in my regolith
terrain mapping method in the last 5 years
• Changes are the result of new technologies
– Global DEM
– Software developments
• Possible to view anywhere in 3D and make a
good interpretation of the regolith terrain
• Applying the very latest technologies and involved
in their development
• Method described here is a mix of the old and new

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 Exploration in deeply weathered terrains: Basic to advanced concepts and pragmatic techniques

Regolith Mapping Method Stages Regolith Mapping Datasets

• Area, scale, timetable, budget

• Historically used aerial photographs -
• Data set compilation today use true colour or anaglyph stereo
• Data processing images.
• Preliminary interpretation
• Satellite imagery
• Field traverses (Finalise mapping scheme)
• Radiometrics
• Second pass interpretation
• Colour check • Geophysical data
• Digital capture • Geology Maps
• Report writing • Topographic maps / DEM
• Recommendations • Drill Data
• Interpretation / planning

Aerial Photographs

• Aerial photographs were for many years the

most important and useful regolith mapping
dataset.
– False colour infra red best
– Colour
– B&W
• Scale was an important consideration
• Excellent data but was very rarely used –
opportunites still exist where data was only
interpreted by “flat earthers”!

Regolex’s office, West Perth

Aerial Photo Interpretation scan over Landsat – DC457 Aerial Photo Interpretation scan over Landsat – 5/7, 4/7, 4/2 (RGB)

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 Exploration in deeply weathered terrains: Basic to advanced concepts and pragmatic techniques

Satellite Imagery

• LANDSAT TM 1-5 & LANDSAT TM 7 & 8

• SPOT – 10m, 5m, 2.5m
• ASTER
• Radar
• Hyperspectral airborne systems (AVHRIS,
ProSPECTIR, GEOSCAN, HyMAP)
• Ikonis / Quickbird / WorldView / GeoEYE
• ALOS, RAPIDEYE + many many
more……
Aerial Photo Interpretation scan over natural colour ortho-photo

Remote Sensing data – essential tools Bees Eyes – seeing the world differently

• Aerial Photographs
• Satellite imagery
• Airborne scanners

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Explore the world around you with new eyes.. Remote Sensing basics

White light Shortwave and midrange ultraviolet light

Apply different wavelengths of light and

the minerals visibly change

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 Exploration in deeply weathered terrains: Basic to advanced concepts and pragmatic techniques

Remote Sensing basics Landsat TM – different band combinations

Alternatives:
. Bands 457DC
. PC345
. Regolith Ratio
5/7, 4/7, 4/2 (RGB)

Psuedo-stereo

RGB Colour space

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Landsat TM – different band combinations Example of Landsat map with explanatory legend

“3D” perspective views of a district – Hounde Belt,

“3D” perspective views of a district Burkina Faso

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 Exploration in deeply weathered terrains: Basic to advanced concepts and pragmatic techniques

“3D” perspective views of a district – Hounde Belt WorldView-2 – DigitalGlobe

50cm resolution. Reduces the need to interpret!
Infra-red Natural colour

Pansharpening – Wv2 WorldView-2 spectral response

2m colour + 50cm pan = 50cm colour

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Hybrid pansharpening (Wv1 + Landsat) Remote Sensing data – commonly observed problems

• Inadequate georeferencing
• Only “end member” processing of ASTER
• Inadequate atmospheric corrections
• Inadequate integration of data

Examples follow …..

Source: Bob Walker, Geoimages

WorldView-1 Pan (50cm) Landsat 741 with Wv1

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 Exploration in deeply weathered terrains: Basic to advanced concepts and pragmatic techniques

Check the georeferencing…. Radiometrics, Tropical West Africa

5 km

The tropical regolith catena The tropical regolith catena

Soil #
# # # Soil #
# # #
#
# # # # Ferruginous #
# # # # Ferruginous
# # # # # # #
Lateritic duricrust # # # indurated Lateritic duricrust # # # # indurated
# # # # # # # #
# # # # # # # #

Fe- rich Fe- rich

P Mottled secondary P Mottled secondary
E Zone structures E Zone structures
D Cementation D Cementation
O Front O Front
L C L C
I l I l
Plasmic a Primary fabric Plasmic a Primary fabric
T T
or Arenose y replaced by or Arenose y replaced by
H clay - or quartz- H clay - or quartz-
Zone Zone
(Pallid Zone) Z rich secondary (Pallid Zone) Z rich secondary
R structures R structures
E o E o
G n G n
O e O e
L Pedoplasmation L Pedoplasmation
I Front I Front
T T
H H
S S
>20%weatherable >20%weatherable
A A
P minerals altered P minerals altered
Saprolite Saprolite
R Primary fabric R Primary fabric
O pseudomorphed O pseudomorphed
L but recognisable L but recognisable
I I
T T
H H

Saprock <20%weatherable Saprock <20%weatherable

minerals altered minerals altered
Grus Grus

Weathering Front Weathering Front

Rock Rock

Radiometrics, Tropical West Africa Radiometrics, Tropical West Africa

Eo/c

Cuirasse
Plateau

Fp3

Fp2

Rp3

5 km

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 Exploration in deeply weathered terrains: Basic to advanced concepts and pragmatic techniques

Radiometrics
K, Th, U
(RGB)

Landform Regolith Map from Aerial Photos Tropical Rainforest– South America
Map produced through interpretation / orthorectification of 65 aerial photographs

Perspective views enable you to view the terrain but not to map from them.

10 km Mapping requires that you: 1) fully understand what you are looking, 2) have tools to
record your interpretation.

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 Exploration in deeply weathered terrains: Basic to advanced concepts and pragmatic techniques

Regolith Terrain Mapping Regolith Terrain Mapping – newer techniques

• Psuedo
Psuedo--stereo technique converts flat images to 3D images
While with Newmont I designed
• Uses a DEM to create false offset images (left and right pairs) and commissioned
• Can specify the vertical exaggeration customised tools to facilitate
• Images can be paired with a vertical – orthorectified image. on-screen mapping /
visualisation based off
the anaglyph 3D viewing
Technique

I have similar capabilities in

Gryphon

On screen mapping preferable

to hard copy as it enables:
• Use of multiple data sets
• Work at variable scales
• Fully integrate data
• Digital output for data
integration / interrogation
in GIS

SRTM - Shuttle radar topographic mapping SRTM - Example

SRTM DEM data has been available for

Australia since January 2004.

A versatile and valuable dataset, with

many uses

0 100 200 km

Comparison of SRTM and Geocover Landsat (742 - RGB)

(Venezuela)
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Source: Geoimages Pty Ltd

SRTM - Example Venezuela SRTM – Roraima Formation

0 100 200 km

Comparison of SRTM and Geocover Landsat (742 - RGB)

(Venezuela)

~50km

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 Exploration in deeply weathered terrains: Basic to advanced concepts and pragmatic techniques

WorldView-2 DSM ( digital surface model) Next generation global DEM – TanDEM-x (TerraSAR)

New global digital elevation model

being generated by German
Remote Sensing Centre (DLR)
- Due for release 2014
- Global 12m DEM

Linking geology and geomorphology SRTM Example – detailed topo contours

Model for the development of regolith

terrains by differential etching and
stripping, based on Work in Suriname
(after Kroonenberg & Melitz, 1983)

SRTM Example – drainage analysis SRTM DEM and derivatives

Shade Relief
SRTM-3
5m contours
+
DEM derived
Flow paths
And
Catchment
boundaires

Drainage channels created by SRTM DEM analysis

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 Exploration in deeply weathered terrains: Basic to advanced concepts and pragmatic techniques

SRTM for catchment analysis SRTM for updating existing maps

SRTM with Australian Regolith Map SRTM & Geology 2.5D perspective

Merge
With
SRTM
DEM

Improved
Source: Alf Eggo, Sipa Resources
visualisation

Surface Analysis Surface Analysis

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 Exploration in deeply weathered terrains: Basic to advanced concepts and pragmatic techniques

SRTM DEM – Central Australia SRTM Slope Analysis

Slope analysis and overview regolith terrain SRTM Slope Analysis - Australia

Residual/
Shallow soil

Residual/
Shallow soil

Outcrop

Channel fill
Channel fill

Mapping Method (cont). Mapping method (cont.)

• Once datasets have been assembled and
processed:
– Validate satellite image georeferencing (if possible)
– Complete first pass interpretation
• Map obvious regolith terrain features that will not change
even after field work, as carefully as possible
– Drainage channels
– Distinct regolith / geomorphology boundaries
– Breakaways etc
• Identify points to visit before going to the field
• Plan field traverse – OziExplorer GPS software
• Go to the field with clear objectives and plan
– Check image georeferncing
– Understand image responses
– Develop a clear understanding of the regolith terrain
evolution – 4D!
– Continue field work until you ‘consistently and
correctly’ predict what is present at locations before
you arrive at a new place.
• Finalise the regolith mapping unit descriptions
• Draw schematic cross sections to assist the
thought process

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 Exploration in deeply weathered terrains: Basic to advanced concepts and pragmatic techniques

SW Burkina Faso – regolith terrain

Mapping method (cont.)
• Complete the regolith landform interpretation
• Plan the layout and consider what other data you wish to
include on the map.
• Complete the digital capture – attribute tables
• Combine with geology if details sufficient.
• Complete a memo / report recording the mapping
method
• Apply the map to assist with many aspects of the
exploration program!

Fp1

Es

Rp2-3//SP@2m

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 Exploration in deeply weathered terrains: Basic to advanced concepts and pragmatic techniques

Fp2-Df2

Df2

Fp1-Rl2

Dp3/Da4

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 Exploration in deeply weathered terrains: Basic to advanced concepts and pragmatic techniques

Buildings and roads from WorldView-2

Ferruginous Regime Hills, rock pinnacles Roads

Residual Regime Denuded outcrop Tracks

Erosional Regime Breakaways Grid lines

Depositional Regime Drainage channels Fence lines

Catchment boundaries Settlements

Mine workings

Summary Summary
• Relate individual profile observations to the big
• Mapping is far easier now than 5 or 10 years ago picture
• Satellite data is cheaper (even free) • Consider which is the appropriate terrain
• More accurate (ortho-rectified) and much clearer evolution model?
• Merging imagery types adds value • Better to make many short stops than a few
• Good DEMs extremely valuable – contours, stops when mapping large areas
shaded back drops, drainage and slope analysis, • Include a reliability diagram
pseudo stereo imagery, anaglyphs • Create digital maps
• Go to the field with a clear plan and set of • Mapping forces you to look closely data and to
objectives fully understand what the data show

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