In the exploration arena, tomographic imaging is finding increased application
in hydrocarbon exploration, reservoir characterisation and production engineeri
ng. Tomographic imaging in hydrocarbon environments complements conventional s
eismic methods and provides additional sub-surface images. Seismic tomography
has, to a lesser degree, also been demonstrated in the hard-rock environment.
In mineral exploration and mine planning, tomography has potential for delineat
ion of fault structures, zones of fracturing and geological interfaces. In pra
ctice, however, such hard-rock applications may be hindered by resolution issue
s associated with the smaller scale and reduced velocity contrasts.
The purpose of this thesis is to examine practical aspects of hard-rock seismic
tomography with reference to a real data set from the McArthur River mine in t
he Northern Territory. Firstly, we plan to use synthetic tomographic data gene
rated by elastic finite-difference modelling to examine resolution issues relev
ant to the McArthur River geometry. Another important investigation we plan t
o undertake is whether an enhanced tomographic solution can be obtained by expl
oiting the vector nature of the multi-component data set.
This project was supported by the ASEG Research Foundation.