Acquisition and processing of seismic reflection, refraction and magnetotelluric data, northern Eyre Peninsula, Gawler Craton

Summary

In 2008 Geoscience Australia acquired regional seismic reflection, wide-angle refraction/reflection, gravity, and magnetotelluric (MT) data along a 253km east-west transect across northern Eyre Peninsula, Gawler Craton in South Australia as part of the Australian Government’s Onshore Energy Security Program (OESP). These datasets provide complementary information on the crustal architecture and evolution of this part of the Gawler Craton.

Twenty three Earth Data recorders were deployed along the reflection transect as a fixed, wide-angle recording array, with 5 and 10 km interval spacing, using threecomponent seismometers. The high quality data of up to 60-70 km offsets were collected using vibroseis sources. MT data were acquired at 40 broadband and 12 long period sites along the reflection transect.

This paper presents acquisition parameters and processing steps for these datasets, to highlight their advantages and limitations, and improve the quality of the geological interpretation over the Gawler Craton.

Key words::

• seismic reflection
• vibroseis wide-angle refraction/reflection
• magnetotelluric
• Gawler Craton.