A regional-scale geophysical inversion of magnetic field data in the Ngamiland region of northwestern Botswana is now available for download from the Botswana Geoscience, a partnership initiative of the Botswana Geoscience Institute (BGI), industry sponsors and Geosoft.
The earth modelling results represent Botswana’s latest push to provide geoscience data free of charge to mineral explorers, researchers and other stakeholders from around the world. They were generated by the Geosoft Professional Services Group using VOXI Earth Modelling, the company’s high performance inversion software.
“The VOXI inversion results are outstanding, even more so because the area of interest is vast, comprising more than 35 million cells,” said Motsamai Tarzan Kwadiba, Principal Geophysicist for the BGI. “The outcome provides a springboard for a variety of research opportunities such as seismotectonic studies for seismic hazard assessment and earthquake risk mitigation, area selection for earth resources exploration and management, and investigations of the anatomy and evolution of the Okavango rift zone.”
Since its launch in April 2016, over 1,000 multi-disciplinary datasets have been downloaded from the Botswana Geoscience Portal. Stakeholders from more than 35 countries have visited the repository to access the 10 gigabytes of pre-competitive geoscience data.
The new inversion results add clear 3D images of the shallow crust beneath the Okavango delta region, one of the world’s largest inland deltas. Often referred to as the ‘jewel’ of the Kalahari and Africa’s last eden, the 22,000 km2 Okavango delta itself is an alluvial fan contained within a seismically active graben structure at the southwest extremity of the East African Rift system.
“We are encouraged by the inversion results achieved with VOXI Earth Modelling, and are excited to participate in future modelling projects with the BGI – both at the target scale, where constrained inversion may prove beneficial, and the regional scale,” said Taronish Pithawala, Geophysical Modelling Technical Lead, Geosoft.
Visit the portal online at: http://geoscienceportal.geosoft.com/Botswana/search
