Airborne Geophysics Gravity and Magnetic Surveys Over Afghanistan Update and Progress J. Abraham and C. Finn

What are we doing for the Economy of Afghanistan? We are attempting to collect a data set that can be used by anyone for the development of natural resources Re-releasing old data in a digital format Assisting in capacity building at the AGS Assisting USAID on a road building operation in the Badakhshan Province

Specifics HIGH-ALTITUDE COUNTRY-WIDE GEOPHYSICAL SURVEY –Delayed several times –“Runway is not Ready” ??? –We are at the mercy of the Navy “Period” –New Schedule for Departing Pax River Naval Air Station May 12th for Kandahar Jared Abraham, Ben Drenth, Chuck Lindsay has been in Kabul since

P-3 Research Aircraft New Common Sensor Bomb-bay Pallet Magnetometer Gravity Sensor KGPS Navy Research Lab P3 Instrument Package Magnetometer (subsurface geology) Gravity meter (subsurface geology) Synthetic Aperture Radar (surficial geology) Ortho-photographic camera (surficial geology) Small Hyper-spectral system HIGH-ALTITUDE COUNTRY-WIDE GEOPHYSICAL SURVEY X/L Wide-Band-Band Mod for P/C Band

Flight Specs 4 km line spacing 15,000 ft AGL Country wide

USGS Accomplishments for Airborne Geophsical Survey NRL prepared P3 and equipment for survey (Winter 05) USGS has placed base magnetometer stations Kabul, Herat, Sheberghan, Faizabad (spring, 2006) USGS has placed GPS base stations in Kabul, Herat, Sheberghan (spring, 2006) USGS trains AGS personnel in use of GPS, mags, radiometric tools (spring 2006)

Training Chuck Lindsay has been on the ground since Feb 17, 2006 AGS Geophysical Staff MMI Oil and Gas Exploration staff Jowzjan Institute students AGCHO

Training Operation and downloading of Trimble 4800 GPS reference stations: Basic computer skills and introduction to Windows XP and Microsoft Office: Basic geophysical surveying techniques: Document scanning into PDF format:

Geodetic GPS Stations With Cooperation with the University of Colorado Boulder, AGCHO, NRL, and NGA Station (1) Kabul ( ) Station (2) Sheberghan ( ) Station (3) Herat ( ) Station (4) Kandahar (? )

Magnetic Base Stations Herat Kabul Kandahar Sheberghan Faizabad German PRT Faizabad

Equipment Purchased new PC, printer, and scanner for AGS Repaired 10-passenger van for AGS (WAZ) AGI Sting R-1 Resistivity Meter (Donated by BLM NSTC) Gamma Ray Scintillometer

Existing Geophysical Data Digitize 1968 BGR Magnetic Survey –Finished, USGS open file report in preparation Digitize 1979 Russian Magnetic Survey –In progress one section is finished Release magnetic susceptibility measurements –Fall 2006, after airborne effort Analyze existing gravity data –completed Summarize Existing Electrical data –Fall 2006, after airborne effort Obtain Magnetic data flown for CCC in –No progress, We need help from Afghan Government

EXISTING REGIONAL MAGNETIC DATA Helmund Basin 5 km spacing 1 km spacing

Magnetics Map as of

Magnetic Susceptibility Database

Bouguer Gravity

Status Waiting on the Navy USGS has everything ready for P-3 deployment Moving forward on the digitization of old data Release digital version of old data, mag, gravity, and EM