3D self-potential tomography of seafloor massive sulfide deposits using an autonomous underwater vehicle-Reference-Cited by-同舟云学术

3D self-potential tomography of seafloor massive sulfide deposits using an autonomous underwater vehicle

Published:2022-06-13 Issue:4 Volume:87 Page:B255-B267
ISSN:0016-8033
Container-title:GEOPHYSICS
language:en
Short-container-title:GEOPHYSICS

Author:

Su Zhaoyang¹^ORCID,Tao Chunhui²^ORCID,Shen Jinsong³,Revil André⁴^ORCID,Zhu Zhongmin⁵^ORCID,Deng Xianming⁶,Nie Zuofu⁷^ORCID,Li Qianyu⁸^ORCID,Liu Long⁶^ORCID,Wu Tao⁶^ORCID,Zhou Jianping⁶,Chen Dong⁹

Affiliation:

1. China University of Petroleum (Beijing), State Key Laboratory of Petroleum Resources and Prospecting, Beijing, China and Second Institute of Oceanography, MNR, Key Laboratory of Submarine Geosciences, Hangzhou, China.

2. Second Institute of Oceanography, MNR, Key Laboratory of Submarine Geosciences, Hangzhou, China and Shanghai Jiaotong University, School of Oceanography, Shanghai, China. (corresponding author)

3. China University of Petroleum (Beijing), State Key Laboratory of Petroleum Resources and Prospecting, Beijing, China.

4. Université Grenoble Alpes, Université Savoie Mont Blanc, CNRS, EDYTEM, Le Bourget du Lac, France.

5. Shandong University, School of Civil Engineering, Jinan, China and Zhejiang Huadong Construction Engineering Co., LTD, Hangzhou, China.

6. Second Institute of Oceanography, MNR, Key Laboratory of Submarine Geosciences, Hangzhou, China.

7. Second Institute of Oceanography, MNR, Key Laboratory of Submarine Geosciences, Hangzhou, China and Shanghai Jiaotong University, School of Oceanography, Shanghai, China.

8. China University of Geosciences, Institute of Geophysics and Geomatics, Wuhan, China.

9. Hohai University, College of Oceanography, Institute of Marine Geology, Nanjing, China.

Abstract

Seafloor massive sulfide (SMS) deposits contain abundant metals, such as Cu, Zn, Au, and Ag, which are of growing economic interest. Currently, the exploration of SMS deposits has entered into a new stage of resource assessment, so we need a geophysical method to rapidly obtain the 3D structure of these SMS deposits. We report here a self-potential (SP) survey performed with an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) at the Yuhuang hydrothermal field on the ultraslow-spreading Southwest Indian Ridge with a water depth ranging from 1300 m to 2200 m. The electric-field sensors are attached to the tail of the AUV to record the electric field approximately 50 m above the seafloor. The electric field strength is observed to reach an amplitude of 0.6 mV/m at this known SMS deposit. SP tomography is used to obtain the 3D structure of the ore body, and benchmark numerical tests are first performed on synthetic cases to optimize the inversion algorithm parameters to estimate the ore location. The 3D SP tomography reveals a south-sloping ore body, which is 100 m long in the north–south direction and nearly 200 m long in the east–west direction. The vertical extent of the ore body is approximately 100 m. These results suggest that an AUV-based SP survey and tomography are potentially useful exploration methods to characterize the geometry of SMS deposits. This method may play an important role in resource assessment in concert with other geophysical methods, such as magnetic and induced-polarization surveys.

Funder

Scientific Research Fund of Second Institute of Oceanography

National Key RD Program of China under contract

Oceanic Interdisciplinary Program of Shanghai Jiao Tong University

Key RD Program of Zhejiang Province

Talent Cultivation Project of Zhejiang Association for Science and Technology

Natural Scientific Foundation of China

Publisher

Society of Exploration Geophysicists

Subject

Geochemistry and Petrology,Geophysics

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