New seismic survey searching WA's crust

A new seismic survey passing through Western Australia's rich iron ore, copper-lead and gold regions has commenced hoping to improve understanding of the valuable resources buried under the ground of north-west WA's crust.

The survey is one of a series under way across Australia as part of the National GeoTransect Program, which aims to construct a three-dimensional image of the Australian plate and gain data on its evolution.

The state government's Exploration Incentive Scheme, part of the Royalties for Regions program, is funding 50 per cent of the Capricorn Deep Crustal Seismic Reflection Survey through the Hamersley Ranges near Tom Price investigating the crust's structure from the Hamersley Ranges, through the Gascoyne and into the Mid-West.

Mines and Petroleum Minister Norman Moore said understanding the earth's crust was crucial to the resource exploration industry because the data could identify potential commercial ore bodies or petroleum deposits.

"This invaluable geological data will also link the two oldest pieces of crust in Australia (the Pilbara and Yilgarn cratons), and provide clues on how plate tectonic processes moved continents around earth's surface more than two billion years ago," he said.

"It will test the theory that cratons were parts of two ancient continents separated by ocean and brought together by continental collisions."

Seismic data is generated by vibrating the ground using three large vibrator trucks.

Seismic waves travel down through the earth and are reflected from surfaces and fault structures that mark changes in rock type. The reflections are recorded and interpreted to construct an image of a vertical slice through the crust.

Full announcement below:

Seismic survey set to unlock secrets of WA's crust.

The State Government's Exploration Incentive Scheme, part of the Royalties for Regions program, is funding 50 per cent of a new survey to improve understanding of the valuable resources buried in north-west Western Australia's crust.

The Capricorn Deep Crustal Seismic Reflection Survey has already started in the Hamersley Ranges near Tom Price.

The survey will investigate the crust's structure from the Hamersley Ranges, through the Gascoyne and into the Mid-West, passing through WA's rich iron ore, copper-lead and gold regions.

Mines and Petroleum Minister Norman Moore said understanding the earth's crust was crucial to the resource exploration industry because the data could identify potential commercial ore bodies or petroleum deposits.

"This invaluable geological data will also link the two oldest pieces of crust in Australia (the Pilbara and Yilgarn cratons), and provide clues on how plate tectonic processes moved continents around earth's surface more than two billion years ago," he said.

"It will test the theory that cratons were parts of two ancient continents separated by ocean and brought together by continental collisions."

The Department of Mines and Petroleum's Geological Survey of Western Australia and the Earth Imaging and Structure component of AuScope, the Federal Government's national earth sciences infrastructure program, are carrying out the survey.

The survey is one of a series under way across Australia as part of the National GeoTransect Program, which aims to construct a three-dimensional image of the Australian plate and gain data on its evolution.

Seismic data is generated by vibrating the ground using three large vibrator trucks.

Seismic waves travel down through the earth and are reflected from surfaces and fault structures that mark changes in rock type. The reflections are recorded and interpreted to construct an image of a vertical slice through the crust.