Magnetic Prospecting of Iron Ore Deposits
Magnetic prospecting is a method of geological exploration applicable to certain types of iron ore deposits, in particular those made up of magnetite and hematite. Estimating center-of-mass coordinates and the spatial extent of iron-rich layers helps decrease the cost of exploration.Passive magnetic prospecting relies on accurate mapping of local geomagnetic anomalies – deviations from the natural magnetostatic fields based on the magnetic dipole of the Earth. This model estimates such magnetic anomalies, in both surface and aerial magnetic prospecting, from topographic data imported from a USGS database.
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Model from the perspective of aerial prospecting. The shape of the boundary is based on topographic data taken from a USGS database. The color plot indicates the depth of the iron ore in relation to the crustal surface, while the streamlines indicate the magnetic flux. |
Engineering Fields
- Electrostatic & Magnetostatics Applications
Application Areas
- Geophysics
- Electro- & Magnetostatics
- AC/DC Systems