Abstract

Geological structure is distinctive and boundaries are sharp contacts between units. On the other hand, geophysical models are often smooth and geological meaning interpreted. These interpretations are often subjective and the model can be unconstrained and not always influenced by prior information. Presenting these results to a non-geophysicist can be challenging. Typically, delineations are sketched or overlain on the geophysical model to communicate the results thoroughly. Information on structure orientation is often ambiguous. With prior information, we can select more geologically relevant models using regularization. However, it is more common that prior information is not available. This work proposes an automated approach to infer structure in geophysical models. This is done by applying image segmentation methods borrowed from computer vision. This work uses a Transformer network (Vaswani, 2017) to perform the segmentation. The segmentation then becomes the prior information that we update the regularization with as we iterate an inversion. Within the regularization, we can indicate spaces in the model and the directions to regularize. We also explore additional methods to incorporate segmentation to the inversion via proximal operators and the Alternating Method of Multipliers (ADMM). A more clearly defined targeting system for interfaces like unconformities or structural orientations of intrusive units, which are often associated with mineralization zones, is provided by incorporating segmentation methods. The results provide an outlook on using machine learning and foundational models for structural interpretation of geophysical models.

Bio

Johnathan Kuttai graduated from the University of Saskatchewan with a B.Sc in geophysics in 2010 and began his career in data acquisition. Johnathan then joined an instrumentation group, writing software for signal processing large-scale DC resistivity and induced polarization data. During his career, he gained experience processing and acquiring many km’s of electromagnetic and potential field data worldwide in various environments, cold to hot, flat to mountainous, and desert to jungle. In 2017, Johnathan joined the SimPEG group to explore the geophysical inversion space, which eventually led to an interest in pursuing a Ph.D. Johnathan is currently with the UBC-GIF group, researching avenues in geophysical inversion and machine learning. Johnathan also works part-time doing inversion and research & development at Computational Geosciences Inc.

Recording

Our 2024 annual general meeting (AGM) will be held:

at 4:40pm on Tuesday, December 17, 2024
at Room 111 – 409 Granville Street, Vancouver, BC, V6C 1T2

The main order of business will be to elect the Directors of the BCGS and review the past year’s activity. Our bylaws allow for between 4 and 7 Directors. The current six directors are standing for re-election and one new director is standing for election.

We are inviting interested persons to nominate themselves for election to join the Board of the BCGS. Please indicate your intent to do so by 23h59 on Wednesday, December 11, 2024.  All names of prospective candidates will then be included on a revised AGM notice to be emailed out the following business day if any changes are required.

The BCGS directors standing for re-election are:

The following new directors are standing for election:

We would like to remind you there are two classes of voting members in the BCGS:

1. General members. An annual fee of $20. Will be returned as a discount should they choose to enroll in our annual symposium; and
2. Student members. Free membership upon demonstration of enrollment in a post-secondary program at an accredited educational institution.

In order to participate in the vote, we ask that you pay your 2025 member dues online via Paypal on the “Join Us” page (link below). These member dues will provide membership in the BCGS through the end of 2025. Eligible students, as defined above, are entitled to vote. If you are unsure of your current membership status please send us an email (info at bcgsonline.org) and we’d be happy to check for you.

https://www.bcgsonline.org/join-us/

The AGM is open to all members and non-members.

The BCGS is exited to formally announce our upcoming 2024 symposium titled “Applications in Seismic Methods for Mining Exploration and Engineering“.

The focus of this year’s BCGS Symposium will be on development and applications in seismic methods for mineral exploration and mining engineering. Presentation topics will focus on advanced seismic reflection technology (e.g. HD3D surveys) applied to mineral exploration projects, small scale seismic surveys for shallow engineering investigations (e.g. tailings designs), seismic ambient noise tomography (ANT) for shallow overburden and bedrock structural/alteration mapping and passive seismic monitoring used to assist engineers during active mining operations. The symposium aligns with the goals of the BCGS to promote geophysics and geoscience education in BC.

In addition to a busy program of 12 presentations by industry leading explorationists, engineers and academics, there will be information booths set up by leading companies to facilitate more direct interaction with the speakers and with industry professionals.

Companies being represented include HiSeis, Fleet Space Technologies, Sisprobe, Teck Resources, BHP, Viridien (CGG), Axiom Group, ESG Solutions, SmartSolo and Frontier Geosciences.

Lunch and snacks are included in the registration fee.

Target Audience: Geophysicists, geologists, engineers and all exploration and mining professionals.

Speakers:

• Nick Arndt (Caur Technologies & Universite Grenoble Alpes)
• Darren Burrows (Fleet Space Technologies)
• Dan Hollis (Sisprobe SAS & IGGP/SIO University of California San Diego)
• Tanya Coetzee (Axiom Geophysics & Remote Sensing)
• Sebastian Braganza (ESG Solutions)
• Christian Dupuis (Universite Laval)
• Heather Schijns (Teck Resources)
• Andy Dyke (HiSeis Canada Ltd)
• Joel Jansen (Lundin Mining Corp.)
• Jared Townsend (Think & Act Differently, Powered by BHP)
• Max Norman (Viridien Group)

Schedule:

Abstracts:

Details:

Registration

Please register in advance of the symposium. Your registration is guaranteed once payment has been received. The attendee name must be entered for registration to be complete. Confirmed speakers and vendors do not need to register. If you need to register multiple attendees at once, please email info@bcgsonline.org. Payment will be processed by Paypal and can be paid using a credit card, debit card, or a Paypal account. To pay by credit card click on the “Checkout” button below.

Current paid 2024 BCGS members are able to register at the BCGS member rate for the event. Other attendees must use the non-member industry rate.

Thank you everyone for your support. We are now at capacity and in-person registrations are closed.

Sponsors

A big thank you to our sponsors for helping make this event happen.

Abstract

Recording

Abstract

Ambient seismology (also known as “passive seismic”) has been around for since the earliest seismoscope was invented by the Chinese philosopher Chang Heng in A.D. 132, if you consider primitive earthquake detection and localization as the earliest example of the science. Since those early times, the science has progressed using more sophisticated equipment, advances in data analyses methods, and with the introduction of high-performance computing. Beyond earthquake detection and localization, there have been developed a range of ambient seismology methods used to the study the interior of the Earth: from travel-time tomography to image the Earth’s interior to near surface mapping of cover using horizontal-to-vertical spectral ratio (HVSR) analysis. A recent addition to the ambient seismology toolkit is ambient noise tomography (ANT) which will be the focus of this presentation.

Early ANT work started in the early 2000s using global and regional seismic networks and was used for deep imaging from crust to core. With the introduction of inexpensive 1-component nodal seismometers in the early 2010s ANT started being used for imaging of the upper crust and near surface, mainly producing Vs imaging using Rayleigh wave tomography where velocity is a proxy for lithology and structure. Application of the ANT method for mineral exploration started in the mid-2010s using Rayleigh wave straight ray tomography. The introduction of 3-component nodal seismometers in the late 2010s and early 2020s allowed ANT imaging using both Rayleigh and Love wave which improved imaging accuracy, and also provided the basic seismic data that enabled other passive seismic methods such as receiver functions, HVSR, accurate seismicity localization, and local earthquake tomography from one common data set.

Since ANT’s introduction in the mineral exploration toolkit, there have been improvements in survey design and data processing workflow that have steadily improve its usefulness. There are processes developed to improve ANT imaging or extract additional imaging products from the ANT processing workflow that either are not commonly used or has not been use in ANT mineral exploration. A couple of examples of these developments are extracting anisotropy information, use of different tomography methods (e.g. raypath or eikonal tomography) as an alternative to straight ray tomography, and use of reflected surface waves to enhance imaging of near-vertical structures.

This presentation will present a brief review of the ANT method and the current state of its use. The second part of this presentation will review the newer developments mentioned above and how they might be employed in ANT surveys conducted for mineral exploration.

Bio

Dan Hollis currently holds two part-time positions: Director of Business Development (Americas) at Sisprobe SAS, and Research Associate at the Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics (IGPP) at University of California San Diego. Dan was one of the founders of Sisprobe, a 2017 start-up that offers passive seismic imaging and monitoring services using ambient seismic signals in several markets: energy and mineral resources, seismic hazard assessment, and geotechnical applications. At IGPP, Dan works on passive seismic monitoring of earthquake faults using ambient seismic signals. Dan’s 44-year career in industry has been with geophysical service companies in positions ranging from geophysicist to company administration. Dan is a member of the BCGS, KEGS, SEG, AGU and SSA.

Recording