Subsurface Qualitative Investigation for Mineral Exploration using Aeromagnetic Data

Abstract

This research investigated the subsurface qualitative investigation for mineral exploration of Ibadan Southwest Nigeria, using high resolution aeromagnetic data. The data acquired from Nigeria Geological Survey Agency (NGSA) were subjected to different filtering processing techniques to produce magnetic anomaly maps which were analyzed to detect the subsurface geologic features that are indicative of the potential mineral deposits in the study area. The processing techniques applied in this study to delineate the magnetically active regions were Total Horizontal Derivative (THD), Analytic Signal Amplitude (ASA) and Upward Continuation (UP) method at 150 m and 250m. The results obtained show THD values ranged between 0.002 nT and 0.039 nT connoting regions between non-magnetic body region and high magnetic anomaly regions. The ASA technique revealed susceptibility contrast region between 0.0022 and 0.1472 nT/m; these depict region of geologic body housing the mineralized zones. Thus, there is potential for mineral exploration in the study area.