Two field applications of the rotating current EM method1

The rotating current EM method has been applied to the delineation of two conductive orebodies, Elura near Cobar, NSW, and Thalanga near Charter's Towers, Queensland. The field data were collected in the form of observations of the vertical magnetic field strength ratio and phase difference using a Turam-style receiver with twin vertical coils. By reconstituting this data back to the ring source field and phase, i.e. the observed H_z, phasor, it is possible to present contoured maps of the EM field. Anomaly phasors are obtained by subtracting theoretical phasors from the observed phasors in the complex plane of the H_z phasor. The theoretical phasors for the finite source are based on horizontally layered, half-space earth models, computed at each point of the survey grids, then normalized to selected points of the observed fields. Use is made of the intrinsic circular symmetry of the method in X–Y plots of field versus source-receiver distance to ascertain geoelectric parameters for the earth models. A steel picket fence at Thalanga is modelled by a line source grounded at each end and its H_z, phasor is removed by the same process. A considerable improvement in anomaly delineation is gained over previous Turam-style anomalies and the two survey examples illustrate the limitations of the method in the presence of a conductive overburden (Elura) and its abilities in the absence of a conductive overburden (Thalanga).