NWT RESEARCH DATABASE

Regions: Inuvialuit Settlement Region

Tags: geological mapping, land use planning, aeromagnetic survey

Objective(s): The objective of the airborne survey is to acquire high-resolution aeromagnetic data. This survey will be flown to improve our knowledge of the area and will support potential future ground-based geological mapping and to provide basic information to support mineral exploration.

Project Description: The objective of the airborne survey is to acquire high-resolution aeromagnetic data. Aeromagnetic surveys measure magnetic properties of bedrock and are one of the tools used in geological mapping. The bedrock may contain mineral deposits, such as gold, copper, lead, zinc, and diamonds. Understanding the geology will help geologists map the area, assist mineral exploration activities, and provide useful information necessary for communities, aboriginal associations, and government to make land use decisions. This survey will be flown to improve our knowledge of the area. It will support potential future ground-based geological mapping and to provide basic information to support mineral exploration. This application is made to allow the completion of a survey begun in 2009. 60,000 line km of this survey was acquired in 2009 in work done under Aurora Research License 1129. The final survey will consist of approximately 80,000 line km of surveying flown at a line spacing of 400 m for traverse lines and 2400 m for orthogonal control lines. The flying height will be determined by a smooth draped surface with a minimum terrain clearance of 150 m. The intensity of the total magnetic field will be measured from the aircraft. Please note that aircraft will not touch down except at municipal airports. There will be no ground-based survey. The Minto Inlier aeromagnetic survey proposed in this application is the precursor to potential mineral deposit studies, bedrock geological mapping, and hydrocarbon potential studies. These activities would be based on the results of this aeromagnetic survey and will be discussed through community consultations in Ulukhaktok, NWT, in early May 2010. The results of this research will be presented at the Yellowknife Geoscience Forum in November, 2010. The data will be made available on-line for free download through the Geoscience Data Repository for Aeromagnetic and Radiometric Data (http://gdr.nrcan.gc.ca/aeromag). The data will be published as maps available digitally for free download through NRCan’s MIRAGE application (http://gdr.nrcan.gc.ca/mirage). The fieldwork for this study will be conducted in March, 2010.