Geological Exploration

Recommended Prerequisites

Course Units: Mineralogy; Structural geology; General Physics; Geochemistry; Geophysics; Elements of Cartography and SIG.

Prerequisites advised the level of Generic Skills: a) instrumental - competence of analysis and synthesis; competence in organization and planning; competence in joint interdisciplinary content; competence to apply in practice theoretical knowledge already acquired; competence to solve problems; b) Personal - critical thinking competence; skills in autonomous work and group work; c) systemic - skills in planning and research.  

Teaching Methods

Lectures and theoretical-practical with carrying out field work. Teaching methods fall into: the Cognitive Model of Education - oral presentation and support for audiovisual media, with deductive strategies (presentation of a statement introductory organizer, progressive differentiation and integrative synthesis); critical teaching with the presentation and discussion of problems; research, with deductive and inductive strategies; in Learning Interpersonal Models - Research Work Group.

Learning Outcomes

The UC aims to give: knowledge in research and identification of geological resources through integrated methods of geological exploration and skills for planning and execution of exploration campaigns. In this sense, the students should: identify the phases of exploration in context; list the following tasks to develop in each exploration phase; identify, select and execute techniques to be used "in a position"; estimate and justify the economic potential of the targets; determine the prospecting techniques to be used in subsequent phases; distinguish and question the application of exploration techniques; plan and propose the use of exploration techniques to specific fields; describe and analyze specific cases applied to different geological context; interpret and compare the techniques used in case studies; have developed skills in critical reading of sources and secondary bibliography.

Work Placement(s)

No

Syllabus

1. Mineral exploration phases and planning a campaign.

2. Economic mineral deposits and host rocks.

3. Photogeology, remote sensing and GIS in mineral exploration.

4. Exploration geology technics.

5. Exploration geochemistry.

Dispersion patterns and geochemical associations. Geochemical methods. Data analysis and interpretation.

6. Geophysical methods in exploration.

Electrical resistivity methods. Fundamental concepts and principles, methodology, data processing and interpretation, potentialities and limitations. Spontaneous polarization. Induced polarization. Electromagnetic methods. Seismic methods. Gravity and Magnetic methods. Well logging.

7. Mechanical surveys.

Auger soundings. Percussion drilling. Rotary drilling. Drilling campaigns.

8. Mineral resources and ore reserve estimation.

9. Mineral exploration. Case studies.

Head Lecturer(s)

Nuno Maria Siqueira Alte da Veiga

Assessment Methods

Assessment
Resolution Problems: 25.0%
Exam: 75.0%

Bibliography

Dobrin, M.B. (1994) – Introduction to Geophysical Prospecting. McGraw-Hill, London.

Gandhi, S.M. and Sarkar, B.C., 2016. Essentials of Mineral Exploration and Evaluation. Elsevier. 410p

Haldar, S.K., 2013. Mineral Exploration. Principles and Applications. Elsevier. 372p.

Kearey, P., Brooks, M., Hill, I. (2009) – Geofísica de Exploração. Oficina de Textos.

Marjoribanks, R., 2010. Geological Methods in Mineral Exploration and Mining. (Second Edition) Springer. 238p.

Moon, C., Whateley, M.K.G., Evans, A.M., (Eds.), 2009.  Introduction to Mineral Exploration (2nd Edition). Wiley-Blackwell. 496p.

Orellana, E. (1982) – Prospeccion Geoelectrica en corriente continua. Paraninfo, Madrid.

Parasnis, D.S. (1997) – Principles of Applied Geophysics. Chapman and Hall, London.

Telford, W.M., Geldart, L.P. e Sheriff, R.E. (1990) – Applied Geophysics, 2nd ed. Cambridge University Press.