Afghanistan Aeromagnetic

Survey
GROUP MEMBERS:
MUHAMMAD
ARSLAN
MUHAMMAD BILAL
AHSAN ALI KHAN
ZAIN

INTRODUCTION
Because of its geologic setting, Afghanistan has the potential to contain substantial natural resource. Although valuable
mineral deposits and petroleum resources have been identified, much of the countrys potential remains unknown thats why
airborne geophysical survey is conducted to explore these natural resources.

Acting upon the request of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan Ministry of Mines, the U.S. Geological Survey contracted
with the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory to jointly conduct an airborne geophysical and remote sensing survey of
Afghanistan.

Data collected during this survey provide basic information for mineral and petroleum exploration studies that are
important for the economic development of Afghanistan.

Additionally, use of these data is broadly applicable in the assessment of water resources and natural hazards, the planning
of civil infrastructure and the construction of detailed maps.

OPERATIONS
The U.S. Geological Survey and U.S. Naval Research Laboratory jointly conducted an airborne
geophysical and remote sensing survey in Afghanistan during the summers of 2006 and 2008.
Approximately 70 people worked to implement the airborne survey in Afghanistan.
Global positioning system (GPS) and magnetic base stations were established throughout Afghanistan
in order to provide correctional data in support of the airborne survey.
Temporary GPS and magnetic reference stations were positioned in the cities of Kandahar, Kabul,
Herat, Sheberghan, and Faizabad. Afghan scientists from the Afghanistan Geological Survey,
Afghanistan Head Office for Geodesy and Cartography, and Ministry of Mines and Industries operated
many of these stations.

INSTRUMENTS
A research-modified Lockheed NP-3D Orion aircraft served as the survey
instrument platform.
The geophysical instrumentation employed in this survey included the following:
Tail-mounted cesium-vapor magnetometer.
Dual marine gravimeters modified for airborne use.
True-color, medium-format, photogrammetric digital camera.
228-band hyperspectral imaging sensor.
L-band polarimetric imaging synthetic aperture radar (SAR).

DATA PROCESSING
A typical aeromagnetic survey uses a single base station magnetometer to record the timevarying magnetic fields produced by currents in the earth's upper atmosphere. Because these
time-varying fields are unrelated to the geological sources of interest, they are subtracted from
the magnetic field measured by the aircraft.
In order to correct the airborne magnetic data for time-varying anomalies, a weighted average
of data from the five base stations was used to predict the time-varying field at the aircraft.
The second step in the processing involved removing spikes and noise from the base station
readings, we applied a three-point non-linear filter to all base station data to remove spikes
and noise (using the Geosoft Oasis montaj software)

DATA PROCESSING
The approach for removing the time-varying magnetic field provided a visible
improvement over the raw aircraft data. Additional processing was necessary to
remove line- leveling noise and elevation variations.
The final diurnally corrected magnetic data had some remaining flight-line noise
due to variable flight altitudes and possible compensation issues. These issues are
easily solved with the help of Geosoft Oasis montaj software

EXISTING DATA
The lines data acquired in 2006 and 2008 by the USGS and NRL (Ashan and others,
2007; Shenwary and others, 2011) were spaced 4 km apart and are inferior to the
Soviet Union dataset because of extreme flying height (5 km or more above the
ground). Gravity data were also collected in 2006 and 2008 but are thought to have
little bearing on geology related to mineralization.

Map Of Afghanistan With Areas Of Interest For Mineral

Exploration Outlined In Red

Zarkashan region

Dusa
r
Shaid
a

Khanash
in
Region
Chagai
Hills

Dusar
Shaida

Zarkashan region

Khanash
in
Region
Chagai
Hills

DUSAR-SHAIDA
Interpretation:
Short-wavelength aeromagnetic anomalies are spatially
correlated with outcropping Mesozoic volcanic rocks
that are suspected to host volcanogenic massive
sulphide (VMS) deposits. Alternating highs and lows are
observed (fig. 7) as well as a common aeromagnetic
pattern over volcanic rocks that likely reflects a mix of
both normally and reversely polarized rocks. The low
resolution of the existing data prevents more detailed
mapping of structures.

KHANNESHIN
An aeromagnetic high is observed over the outcropping
carbonatite indicating that those rocks are strongly
magnetized. Similar magnetic values nearby may
indicate locations of similar rocks buried in the shallow
subsurface.
The source of that anomaly has been interpreted to be
strongly magnetized rocks within a Precambrian shield
terrane (Bosum and others, 1968), although an intrusion
related to the outcropping Quaternary(?) carbonatite is
also a possibility.

CHAGAI HILLS
Interpretation
Aeromagnetic anomalies are spatially correlated with some
plutons potentially related to mineralization, but in general seem
to be better correlated with volcanic rocks that also crop out in
the region (Doebrich and others, 2006)

CONCLUSION
Existing geophysical datasets provide a useful, yet highly limited, perspective on
geophysical signatures of mineral deposits in Afghanistan. The interpretations
summarized here would be significantly improved by the collection of highresolution, low-altitude airborne geophysical surveys.