3D Modelling/Inversion for Mineral Exploration

Dear colleagues,

This special issue aims to highlight recent developments in 3D modelling and inversion of geophysical data with emphasis on mineral exploration. This includes, but not limited to, airborne, semi-airborne, ground-based, and borehole methods.

Geophysical methods provide tools for subsurface exploration and monitoring. They are particularly valuable in settings with complex geology where direct methods alone can be too expensive. Recently, a lot of efforts have been made to facilitate the development of joint 3D inversion techniques. These algorithms try to create a unique model describing all available information from different types of geophysical data.  Despite concepts like Common Earth Modelling (CEM) has evolved, the joint inversion remains a challenging task.

Additionally, large interest is drawn lately to drone-borne geophysics. Such systems allow faster, high data density and relatively cheap surveying. However, modelling and inversion of large amount of data produced in airborne surveys have high computational requirements. As a result, a lot of efforts have been put into optimisation of the forward and inversion algorithms dealing with multiple sources and frequencies.  

We hope to draw attention to the importance of more integrated interpretation; how to quantify and evaluate uncertainties in geological interpretations, models, and experiments that broaden their applicability and increase their value. Therefore, we welcome contributions covering all aspects of modelling and inversion theory in 3D, and their applications to mineral exploration. Research articles, that provide new insights into multi-disciplinary data integration, CEM, 3D/4D inversion algorithms, and open source software developments are invited. New techniques based on machine learning approaches also fit into the topic.

Prof. Dr. Maxim Smirnov
Dr. Maria Smirnova
Prof. Dr. Thorkild Maack Rasmussen
Guest Editors

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