Research Updates
PROGRAMS 1 AND 2
As part of the LEME LEGACY, a series of Explorers Guides are being produced:
Central Gawler, Curnamona Province, Cobar Region-Lachlan Orogen, Thomson Orogon, Tanami, Yilgarn.
These guides will be practical summaries of the Centre's work designed specifically for use by exploration geologists active in regolith-dominated terrains in Australia.
The Guides are part of the suite of LEME LEGACY publications arising from seven years of collaborative research as a CRC.
The first off the rank is the Explorers Guide to the Cobar Region, Lachlan Orogen, NSW. Author Ken McQueen.
UPDATE April 08 - The Cobar Guide is now available to download free of charge. Limited Hard Copies are also available on request to LEME HO. Email: leme-hq@csiro.au
The diagram shows a regolith landform model of the Cobar Region..jpg)
Assoc Prof Ken McQueen says the Guides will be created using the results of LEME research in specific regolith terrains, with input and discussion from industry geologists active in these areas.
Feedback from the minex industry strongly suggests there is a need for practical science publications to assist mineral explorers in interpreting the prospectivity of regolith landscapes.
The Guides will provide a user friendly introduction to the regolith and include advice on the most suitable geochemical sampling media and preferred lab techniques for identifying anomalies.
Each will provide an overview of the region's regolith setting and history and cover such factors as climatic controls, regolith evolution and mineralogy, weathering geochemistry and parent rock identification. Specific locations of interest will be documented with photographs, field descriptions, drill hole log data and profile interpretations.
Better identification of regolith materials will allow mineral explorers to work out if the regolith is in situ or transported and help identify regolith-related element associations and set appropriate geochemical background levels.
The information contained in these Guides can also be used in conjunction with other geological information to determine appropriate exploration strategies.
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