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Airborne Gamma-Ray Spectrometry Surveys
Airborne Gamma-Ray Spectrometry Surveys
Airborne Gamma-Ray Spectrometry Surveys
Ltda.
Santiago Chile
Table of Contents
4. Airborne Radiometric (Gamma-Ray
Spectrometry) Surveys
4.1 Basic Principles
4.1a Compton Scattering
4.1b Cosmic Rays
4.1c Atmospheric Radiation
4.2 Instrumentation
4.2a Detectors
4.2b Analyzers
4.3 Spectrometer Calibration and Data
Corrections
4.3a Calibration
4.3b Deadtime Correction
4.3c Background Correction
4.3d Compton Stripping
4.3e Altitude Compensation
4.3f Radioelement Abundance Calculations
4.4 Processing of Airborne Data
4.5 Radiometric Survey Design
4.5a Counting Statistics
4.5b Line Spacing
4.5c Detector Selection
4.6 Radiometric Survey Specications
4.7 Interpretation
4.7a Natural Radioactivity of Rocks
4.7b Eects of Weathering and Metamorphism
. Appendix 1: Typical Radioelement
Concentrations in Earth Materials
. Selected Bibliography
In order to emphasize the smaller peaks, the spectrum in this gure is shown on
a logarithmic scale. Note that there a many peaks but the three that are
mentioned above are the most important ones. We also notice a sharp cut-o just
beyond the Tl208 peak. This cut-o occurs because there are no radioactive
isotopes in the natural environment which emit gamma rays having energies
higher than 2.62 MeV. The general increase in the background level of the
spectrum towards the lower energies is primarily due to Compton scattering
which we will discuss shortly. The heights of the peaks are proportional to the
amounts of the respective radioactive isotopes that are present in the rock. Thus,
in principle, if we measure gamma ray spectra over dierent regions of exposed
rock, and compare them, we should be able to translate changes in the heights
of the 1.46, 1.76 and 2.62 MeV peaks into corresponding variations in the
concentrations of potassium, uranium, and thorium within the dierent rock
types.
Latitude
Altitude
Figure 4.1-2: Variations in cosmic ray intensity with latitude (top) and with
altitude (bottom).
4.1c Atmospheric Radiation
A further source of non-geologic gamma radiation is radon gas. In company with
dust particles containing K40 and other radio-isotopes, it occurs in layers or
clouds, particularly when there is little or no wind to disperse it, at heights of up
to 300 meters or more above the ground. Because the radiation from these
sources is indistinguishable from geologic radioactivity, special measures have to
be taken to correct for this eect.
4.2 Instrumentation
All spectrometers used for measuring gamma ray intensity in geophysics consist
of two principle parts; the detector which senses or detects the gamma rays, and
the analyzer which analyzes the signal and displays the result.
4.2a Detectors
The most widely used detector of gamma radiation for geologic mapping is one
or more crystals of thallium-activated sodium iodide. When a gamma ray enters
the crystal and strikes an electron, the electron gains energy which is then
emitted as a tiny ash of light when the electron returns to its original energy
state. The number of ashes is proportional to the gamma ray energy , so that
the total light intensity is a measure of the energy of the incoming gamma ray.
An array of photomultiplier tubes converts the light into an electrical signal.
Sodium iodide crystals are preferred to other detector types for three principle
reasons:
They have good resolution of the energies in the .3 to 3 MeV range.
They have a high transparency and thus, even weak ashes of light can be
detected.
It is relatively easy to grow large crystals of NaI, and therefore they are a
relatively economical detector.
Because there is less chance that a gamma ray will pass through a large crystal
undetected than through a small one the eciency of the detector rises with
rising crystal volume.
Solid state semiconducting detectors, like lithium-drifted germanium crystals,
have superior resolving power to that of NaI (50 to 80 times). However they are
dicult to grow and in order to operate eectively they must be maintained at
liquid nitrogen temperatures thus presenting handling and weight problems.
4.2b Analyzers
There are two dierent types of gamma ray measuring systems; integral and
dierential spectrometers. The detectors are the same in both systems but the
electronic analyzer is dierent. These systems are illustrated in Figure 3.2-1.
4.3a Calibration
The systems count rate is related to the gamma ray intensity through various
instrumental parameters, the most important being the sensitivity of the
detector. Because this sensitivity varies with the temperature of both the crystal
and the photomultiplier tubes, the temperature of the detector should be
carefully controlled during operation. As well as measures taken to control the
temperature, daily calibration checks, using standard isotope sources, are
always a good idea.
where:
(corr) stands for "background corrected count", and (obs) for
"observed count" and NTh, NU, and NK are the count rates in the
Tl208, Bi214 and K40 channels, respectively; bTh , bU and bK are the
"Compton stripping ratios" dened as follows
a = # of counts in the Bi214 channel per count in the Tl208 channel.
b = # of counts in the K40 channel per count in the Tl208 channel.
g = # of counts in the K40 channel per count in the Bi214 channel.
The values of a, b, and g are determined by measuring the systems
response using articially prepared calibration pads that are
impregnated with the appropriate isotopes. For a given detector
conguration, they will tend to remain constant over a fairly long
period of time, but they should be checked periodically. Typically, the
values for these three ratios lie between 0.5 and 1.
1. Smoothing
Radioactive decay is a random process, and the accuracy of all measurements is
governed by statistical laws. The proles of counting rates are always "noisy" as
illustrated in gure 4.5-1 and usually the data cannot be contoured until they
have been smoothed. Figure 4.5-1 illustrates data with no smoothing.
Figure 4.5-2: The proles of gure 4.5-1 after ltering with a hanning lter
operator, top, and a "boxcar" operator, bottom. Note: the phase reversal marked
with the "B", caused by the inappropriate boxcar lter compared to the same
point using the hanning lter marked with a "A". (Hogg, 1977)
3. Calculation of Ratios
The abundance ratios, U/Th, U/K and Th/K, are often more diagnostic of changes
in rock types, alteration, or depositional environment than the values of the
radio-isotope abundances themselves, which are subject to wide variations due
to soil cover, etc. The U/Th ratio has particular value in exploration for uranium
deposits because it has been found to increase locally within regions containing
uranium ores. Thus proles that include this ratio are often very useful for
picking specic target anomalies for ground follow-up. The anomaly indicated by
a red ball on gure 4.5-4 is an example of such a target. While stacked prole
presentations are no longer standard for many radiometric surveys, when using
this method for the direct detection of uranium deposits this data presentation
technique, either on the computer screen or in hard copy, is invaluable.
4. Ternary Maps
A ternary map, such as the one shown in gure 4.5-2 is made by assigning one of
the primary colours to each of the element abundances. For example, in the
gure, Thorium is assigned red, Uranium is green and Potassium is blue. The
total count rate is used to assign an intensity scale to each of the elements and
the resulting colours are then combined to produce a coloured map. Thus, bright
green areas on the map show areas where the uranium count is very high
relative to both of the other element count rates; bright blue indicates areas of
high potassium count rate, etc. Colours other than the three primary colours
indicate areas with various, well dened proportions of Th, U, and K. Generally,
the dierent colours on the map correspond closely with dierent rock types
when compared with geological samples collected on the ground. In fact, the
Ternary map has proven to be so useful that, along with contour maps of the
total count and of each of the element abundances, it has become a standard
method of presenting data.
Many processors use cyan for uranium, magenta for potassium and yellow for
thorium. While this colour scheme is dierent the same processing method is
used and the resulting map looks similar to the one shown.
Clearly, the best possible vehicle for performing high-quality radiometric surveys
is one which can carry a lot of weight and y safely close to the ground at low
speed. Helicopters give the best performance in terms of ground clearance and
speed, but all but the largest, can carry only about one third the number of
crystals that a Navaho or similar xed-wing aircraft can. Obviously, there will
have to be compromises. A simple rule of thumb that denes a more or less
optimum relationship between sample time, aircraft speed and survey altitude is:
t = h / 4V
where:
t = the sampling time in seconds;
h = the mean terrain clearance in meters;
and V = the aircraft velocity in metres/second.
Normally, h is chosen to be not more than twice the linear dimensions of the
smallest target that is considered to be of economic size. Thus, if h = 100 metres
and V = 50 m/sec., then t = 0.5 second. In many cases (including this one) it may
be impractical to adhere to the optimum rule because the sampling time may
turn out to be too small to give statistically meaningful rates; nonetheless, it is
useful as a general guide.
-3
Nu(corr) @ (V x C(U) x A x 10-2) / (1.9 x h x e(5.6 x 10 x h)
where:
C(U) is the U 3O8 concentration in percent
and A is the area of the outcrop in square metres.
Using the numbers suggested for C(U) and A we nd that, for a helicopter
survey own at a mean terrain clearance of 40 meters and using a crystal
volume of 1000 in3 (about the maximum size that a medium size helicopter like a
Bell Jetranger, can carry), Nu(corr) @ 41 cps. The total count rate obtained by
integrating the spectrum over the total count window, assuming no contributions
from either thorium or potassium, would be about 260 cps. We can calculate the
statistical uncertainty in the background variation, Su, approximately, using the
formula:
Su @
=
(bu(atm.) + bu(geol.))1/2
The signal to noise ratio in this case being 41/23 @ 1.8, so the target should be
easily detectable, assuming a line spacing of 200 metres is used. If the speed of
the helicopter is 100 km/hr. (30m/sec), the optimum sampling time is 0.5 sec.
Topography (and available budget) usually controls the nal selection between
helicopter and xed wing surveys. A high sensitivity spectrometer system may
weigh several hundred kilograms and require the use of a twin-engine aircraft
such as a Navaho, or a large and expensive helicopter like the Bell 412. The rate
of climb of the xed wing aircraft might not be sucient to maintain satisfactory
terrain clearance in very hilly or mountainous areas. The large helicopter may be
too expensive for the available budget. An appreciation of the size of the crystals
involved can be gained from the picture shown in gure 4.6-2. This picture
shows a box containing 1,500 in3 of NaI crystal mounted on the side of a Bell
412 helicopter. In this case the complete detector consisted of two boxes
identical to the one shown: one box mounted on each side of the aircraft.
The large helicopter could be justied, for this survey, because over fty
thousand kilometers of radiometric data in Thailand was to be collected over
extremely mountainous terrain. Note that in environments like Thailand, survey
operations can only be conducted during the dry season. In addition, very wet
areas, like the rice paddy regions, will yield marginal radiometric data.
For less ambitious projects perhaps, the optimum strategy would be to use a
light xed-wing aircraft, carrying a relatively small crystal to outline areas of
high radioactivity using the total count as the primary indicator, to be followed
by a high-sensitivity helicopter-borne survey to map the radioelement
abundances in the areas selected for detailed study.
4.8 Interpretation
The main applications of airborne radiometric surveys are:
Geological/geochemical mapping as an indirect aid in exploration for
economic minerals.
Exploration for uranium deposits.
Special applications such as exploration for diamonds by assisting in
kimberlite location.
U (ppm)
Mean Range
Th (ppm)
Mean
Range
K(%)
Mean Range
Acid Extrusives
4.1
0.8 16.4
11.9
1.1 41.0
3.1
1.0 6.2
Acid Intrusives
4.5
0.1 30.0
25.7
0.1 253.1
3.4
0.1 7.6
Intermediate Extrusives
1.1
0.2 - 2.6
2.4
0.4 - 6.4
1.1
0.01 2.5
Intermediate Intrusives
3.2
0.1 23.4
12.2
0.4 106.0
2.1
0.1 6.2
Basic Extrusives
0.8
0.03 3.3
2.2
0.05 8.8
0.7
0.06 2.4
Basic Intrusives
0.8
0.01 5.7
2.3
0.03 15.0
0.8
0.01 2.6
Ultrbasic
0.3
0.0 - 1.6
1.4
0.0 - 7.5
0.3
0.0 0.8
Alkali Feldspathoidal
Intermediate Extrusives
29.7
1.9 62.0
133.9
9.5 265.0
6.5
2.0 9.0
Alkali Feldspathoidal
Intermediate Intrusives
55.8
0.3 720.0
132.6
0.4 880.0
4.2
1.0 9.9
2.4
0.5 12.0
8.2
2.1 60.0
1.9
0.2 6.9
2.3
0.4 - 5.4
8.4
2.8 19.6
1.8
0.3 4.8
3.6
0.03 26.7
14.9
0.03 132.0
0.6
0.02 8.4
Carbonates
2.0
0.03 18.0
1.3
0.03 0.8
0.3
0.01 3.5
4.8
0.1 80.0
12.4
0.2 362.0
1.5
0.01 9.7
4.0
0.1 148.5
14.8
0.1 104.2
2.5
0.1 6.1
Metamorphosed Sedimentary
Rocks
3.0
0.1 53.4
12.0
0.1 91.4
2.1
0.01 5.3