Overview of Airborne-Electromagnetic and -Magnetic Geophysical Data Collection Using the GEOTEM Survey in the Sylvan Lake Area, Central Alberta

This report is the second in a series of eight Alberta Geological Survey Open File reports that provide an overview of airborne-electromagnetic and magnetic-geophysical surveys completed over the Edmonton-Calgary Corridor (ECC). Fugro Airborne Surveys Ltd. conducted these surveys between November 2007 to February 2010, as part of a joint Alberta Geological Survey and Alberta Environment and Sustainable Resource Development study to determine the usefulness of the RESOLVE, GEOTEM and TEMPEST geophysical survey techniques in mapping the distribution and physical attributes of sediment- and bedrock-aquifer complexes over areas of formerly glaciated terrain.

This report describes data-collection methods using the Fugro Airborne Surveys Ltd. GEOTEM� survey techniques and data processing. A geophysical interpretation of these data completed for a survey block in the Sylvan Lake area, Alberta, by Fugro Airborne Surveys Ltd. and Larch Consulting Ltd. is included as an appendix in this report.

The ECC was selected as the first test area for airborne geophysical data collection as it represents the region with the highest rates of industrial and urban growth in the province. Since this growth will likely exert increasing demands on water resources in the ECC, it is necessary to locate areas of groundwater recharge, and to reassess the spatial distribution of previously mapped, as well as unmapped, aquifer complexes in the region. By doing so, Alberta decision makers may better predict and manage current and future stresses on existing aquifer systems caused by industrial, agricultural and urban development. Airborne-geophysical survey methods were selected as one of the tools in completing this assessment.