Quick
Search: 		  
advanced search
 GSW Home   GeoRef Home   My GSW Alerts   Contact GSW   About GSW   Journals List   Help 
The Leading Edge Email Content Delivery
JOURNAL HOME HELP CONTACT PUBLISHER SUBSCRIBE ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
The Leading Edge; July 2000; v. 19; no. 7; p. 730-735; DOI: 10.1190/1.1438704
© 2000 Society of Exploration Geophysicists
This Article
Right arrow Figures Only
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Submit a response
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when eLetters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Gibson, M. A. S.
Right arrow Articles by Barnicoat, A. C.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
GeoRef
Right arrow GeoRef Citation

Interpretation of the Western Ultra Deep Levels 3-D seismic survey

Mark A. S. Gibson

AngloGold Exploration (SA), Carletonville, South Africa

Stephen J. Jolley and Andrew C. Barnicoat

Rock Deformation Research, Earth Sciences, University of Leeds, U.K.

Corresponding author: geoscience@icon.co.za; phone 27-83-308-2276

The first 20% of the full text of this article appears below.

AngloGold has used 3-D seismic reflection surveys as a powerful mine planning tool at several gold mines in the Archaean Witwatersrand Basin (Figure 1). The detailed 3-D seismic data prevent misplacement of underground development arising from otherwise poorly constrained geologic models. They also identify zones of potential mining hazard such as the distribution of unstable lithologies and fault zones. At nearly 300 km2, the Western Ultra Deep Levels (WUDL) survey is the largest mineral 3-D survey acquired in southern Africa to date. It imaged much of the Carletonville Goldfield, 80 km southwest of Johannesburg (Figure 2), where one key horizon, the Ventersdorp Contact Reef (VCR), is well imaged. VCR reflector quality is good because it occurs where basic to ultrabasic Klipriviersberg lavas overlie clastic sediments of the Central and West Rand Group. The data quality enabled detailed understanding of the geologic structure of economic targets including the VCR, resulting in a coherent model for development of the region and some indication of the prospectivity unmined ground.


Figure Removed (Available Only in the Full Text)
View larger version (37K):
[in this window]
[in a new window]
  		Figure 1. Site of Carletonville Goldfield within Witwatersrand Basin and summary of Witwatersrand stratigraphy.

 

Figure Removed (Available Only in the Full Text)
View larger version (29K):
[in this window]
[in a new window]
  		Figure 2. Location of the WUDL survey.

 
Acquisition and processing were managed by the Geophysical Services Department of Anglo American and supervised by Charles Pretorius. CGG acquired the 3-D seismic survey, which covered open ground with some topographic relief and the town of Fochville. Geco-Prakla processed the data and produced a final depth-migrated cube for interpretation. Two smaller 3-D surveys acquired several years earlier, over the Western Deep Levels and Driefontein gold mines (Figure 2), were merged into the WUDL data to give a final data cube with a bin size of 25 x 25 m and a sample interval of 6 m. GeoQuest's GeoFrame software was used for interpretation. Synthetic seismograms calculated from surface boreholes helped . . . [Full Text of this Article]




This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Geological Society, London, Special PublicationsHome page
S. J. Jolley, G. W. Stuart, S. R. Freeman, R. J. Knipe, D. Kershaw, E. McAllister, A. C. Barnicoat, and R. F. Tucker
Progressive evolution of a late orogenic thrust system, from duplex development to extensional reactivation and disruption: Witwatersrand Basin, South Africa
Geological Society, London, Special Publications, January 1, 2007; 272(1): 543 - 569.
[Abstract] [PDF]


JOURNAL HOME HELP CONTACT PUBLISHER SUBSCRIBE ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
Copyright © 2009 by Society of Exploration Geophysicists