physical property analysis and preserved relative amplitude processed seismic imaging of volcanogenic massive sulfides a case study from neves corvo portugal neves corvo is one of the biggest mining districts on the portuguese side of the iberian pyrite belt hosting six different lower carboniferous copper zinc lead and tin orebodies including lombador neves grac a corvo zambujal and semblana during the past 50 years geological geochemical and geophysical methods were utilized in the exploration of volcanogenic massive sulfide deposits at neves corvo electromagnetic earth resistivity and principally gravimetry methods played major roles in the geophysical exploration of the area however in 2011 as the exploration depth for volcanogenic massive sulfide mineralization became ever deeper the surface reflection seismic technique was trialled initially elastic property measurements were employed on numerous core samples to determine the seismic properties of the major formations of neves corvo the contrast in acoustic impedance values derived from these measurements showed that there should be a significant difference in the seismic response of mineralization relative to the surrounding host rocks based on this a high resolution 3d seismic survey was acquired over the neves corvo mine and its southeastern extension in order to image known deep volcanogenic massive sulfide mineralization to validate the seismic reflection technique and to potentially identify new mineralization targets as a result the semblana and lombador deposits were successfully imaged along with key lithological contacts and geologic structures additionally copper sulfide extensions south of semblana were discovered unfortunately all of the high priority targets that were identified from the seismic data were subsequently drilled and many of them found to be non economic in order to overcome the non uniqueness of the original seismic data full waveform sonic and pseudo logs were used to model different interfaces and calibrate the seismic data these results indicated that preserved relative amplitude processing might be of importance to help reduce the ambiguity in direct detection of volcanogenic massive sulfide based on seismic amplitude anomalies the customized relative amplitude processing of a sub dataset over the semblana deposit was then performed the newly obtained seismic cube was calibrated with existing drillholes and a volumetric interpretation was performed by utilizing amplitude based geobodies eventually superior target zonation and precision for the subsequent deep drilling campaign was achieved with the revised interpretation clearly showing that the high priority targets originally identified from the legacy data would not have passed the targeting criteria in the reprocessed data due to their relatively weak amplitude response the results obtained from this study inspired the subsequent reprocessing of the full seismic dataset

imaging and interpreting the shallow crystalline crust abstract in the past many tests of high resolution seismic imaging methods utilizing off the shelf technology from hydrocarbon exploration have had only limited success some problems associated with the application of seismic profiling in the shallow crystalline crust differ from those encountered in sedimentary basins perhaps the most fundamental distinction stems from differences in statistical properties of the reflection coefficient time series analysis of power spectra derived from borehole data indicates that the reflection coefficients in the crystalline crust are depleted in the seismic bandwidth relative to sedimentary basins this fundamental difference must be considered in the design of shallow crustal seismic surveys in order to achieve success to a first approximation acoustic impedance variations in sedimentary basins are controlled by velocity changes whereas velocity and density can vary independently in the crystalline crust and changes in density may be relatively more important in controlling reflectivity in certain instances density fluctuations outweigh velocity fluctuations for example physical rock property data from mining districts in the canadian shield suggest that massive fe oxide or sulphide bodies will generate strong seismic reflections

performance of low fold scalar migration for downhole seismic imaging of massive sulfide ore deposits at norman west sudbury canada abstractthe downhole seismic imaging consortium conducted two consecutive vertical seismic profiling surveys in the norman west mining camp sudbury canada in 1998 and 1999 these were aimed toward imaging a massive sulfide ore deposit situated within the footwall of the sudbury igneous complex sic three component seismic data were acquired in four boreholes with variable signal to noise ratio and poor polarization quality consequently the images suffered from strong azimuthal ambiguity a strike filter passing only reflections originating from within the sic was applied during migration to enhance interpretability of the images obtained migrated images showed structures correlating with the known position of an ore deposit located 1800 m away from one borehole n40 diffraction coherency migration enhanced the image of the deposit and suggested strong seismic scattering from within the footwall of the sic

seismic imaging of massive sulfide deposits part i rock properties laboratory measurements of the density rho and compressional wave velocity v p of massive sulfides and host rocks at elevated pressures show that ores occupy a v p rho field which is distinct from that of common silicate rocks and governed by simple mixing rules between the properties of host rocks and pure sulfide minerals the velocities of the most common sulfides are extremely variable ranging from 3 7 km s for galena through 4 7 km s for pyrrhotite 5 6 km s for sphalerite and chalcopyrite to 8 0 km s for pyrite but their densities are always high 7 6 4 6 4 1 4 2 and 5 0 g cc respectively causing ores of even intermediate grade to have high acoustic impedances this suggests that large massive sulfide bodies should make strong to spectacular seismic reflectors depending on their grade mineralogy size and setting in principle it should thus be possible to use high resolution seismic reflection techniques for base metal exploration and delineation

seismic imaging in hardrock environments the role of heterogeneity abstract we investigate the effect of petrophysical scale parameters and structural dips on wave propagation and imaging in heterogeneous media seismic wave propagation effects within the heterogeneous media are studied for different velocity models with scale lengths determined via stochastic analysis of petrophysical logs from the matagami mine quebec canada the elastic modeling study reveals that provided certain conditions of the velocity fluctuations are met strong local distortions of amplitude and arrival times of propagating waves are observed as the degree of scale length anisotropy in the p wave velocity increases the location of these local amplitude anomalies is related to the dips characterizing the fabric of the host rocks this result is different from the elliptical shape of direct waves often defined by effective anisotropic parameters used for layered media although estimates of anisotropic parameters suggest weak anisotropy in the investigated models these effective anisotropic parameters often used in vti tti do not sufficiently describe the effects of scale length anisotropy in heterogeneous media that show such local amplitude travel time and phase distortions in the wavefields numerical investigations on the implications for reverse time migration rtm routines corroborate that mean p wave velocity of the host rocks produces reliable imaging results based on the rtm results we postulate the following weak anisotropy in hardrock environments is a sufficient assumption for processing seismic data and seismic scattering effects due to velocity heterogeneity with a dip component is not sufficient to cause mislocation errors of target structures as observed in the discrepancy between the location of the strong seismic reflections associated to the matagami sulfide orebody and its true location future work will investigate other factors that may provide plausible explanations for these mislocation problems with the objective of providing a mitigation strategy for incorporation into the seismic data processing sequence when imaging in hardrock settings

new insights into the structure of the sudbury igneous complex from downhole seismic studies new vertical seismic profiles from the northwest margin of the sudbury impact structure provide details of structural geometries within the lower impact melt sheet usually called the sudbury igneous complex and the sublayer norite layer vertical seismic profile sections and common depth point transformation images display several continuous reflections that correlate with faults and stratigraphic boundaries logged from drill cores of four possible mechanisms that explain repeated rock units late stage flow or normal faulting that occurred within the last layers to cool and crystallize might best explain the observations especially the most prominent reflectors observed in the seismic data these results reaffirm previously proposed two stage cooling and deformation models for the impact melt sheet

a review of reflection seismic investigations in three major metallogenic regions the kevitsa ni cu pge district finland witwatersrand goldfields south africa and the bathurst mining camp canada abstract effective exploration for mineral deposits depends on a sound understanding of the processes and geological structures that contributed to their formation the reflection seismic method has proven to be a powerful tool that provides a high resolution image of the subsurface and information about structural and lithological relationships that control mineral deposits the method has also become an attractive geophysical tool for deep exploration and mine planning in this paper we review the use of reflection seismic methods to obtain a better understanding of the architecture and ore forming processes of three diverse mineral regions the kevitsa ni cu pge district in finland the goldfields of the witwatersrand basin south africa and the bathurst mining camp canada seismic data both 2d and 3d from the kevitsa deposit clearly image the 3d geometry of the ore bearing intrusion and provide information about its relationship to the host rock units and nearby intrusions within a larger tectonic framework 3d seismic data from the witwatersrand basin not only provide clear images of major structures including a distinct reflection that acts as a marker horizon for the gold bearing reef but also provide information that may be useful in resolving a long standing controversy regarding the origin of the gold in the basin for example it might be possible to show that dykes formed impermeable barriers thereby falsifying the epigenetic hydrothermal models 2d and 3d seismic data from the brunswick no 6 area in the bathurst mining camp suggest that the brunswick horizon which contains the bulk of the massive sulfide and associated iron deposits occurs within a reflective package that extends down to at least 6 7 km depth

high resolution 2d seismic imaging and forward modeling of a polymetallic sulfide deposit at garpenberg central sweden we acquired a high resolution 2d seismic profile to test the capability of the seismic method in imaging a sulfide ore body at garpenberg central sweden delineation of the geologic structures wh

site and propagation effects on the spectra of an s to s reflected phase recorded from a set of microearthquakes in the northern apennines italy we use recordings at a single station of a shallow crustal s to s reflected phase generated by microearthquakes ml 2 5 3 5 in the northern apennines italy to analyze source path attenuation and site effects a site resonance phenomenon in a narrow frequency band 6 8 hz has been clearly detected in the shear wave acceleration spectra consistent with similar observations from records of microseismic noise the non linear inversion of acceleration spectra which have been corrected for an average site response yields estimates of apparent corner frequencies that are approximately constant with moment with a mean value of 2 hz a significant increase with seismic moment of the spectral decay parameter at high frequencies is also observed the anomalous moment dependence of these spectral parameters is found to be related to the existence of a cut off high frequency limit close to the smallest event corner frequency which could be originated by combined site and travel path effects rather than source characteristics in the frequency range of observations 0 5 15 hz independent geological well soundings and seismic data for this site in the apennines suggest that the spectral shape on short period records is mainly controlled by the damping and resonance effects of a surficial layer of alluvium quaternary sediments 100 200 m thick characterized by low values of shear velocity and attenuation parameter

crustal scale reflection seismic investigations in the bathurst mining camp new brunswick canada abstract the bathurst mining camp northern new brunswick canada contains the super giant brunswick no 12 massive sulphide deposit and the smaller now abandoned brunswick no 6 deposit discoveries of additional base metal deposits in the camp require a better understanding of geological structures at depth to this end reflection seismic data in the brunswick no 6 area were acquired along three 2d profiles in 1999 with a total length of about 30 km we have recovered processed and interpreted these seismic data in conjunction with petrophysical and geological data from the study area the seismic data and the borehole geophysical data allow a better understanding of both the shallow and deep structures to 9 km depth in the area the seismic data show steeply dipping structures of the brunswick no 6 area many of which reach the surface and allow for correlation with the surface and borehole geological information finite difference modeling of major geological formations constrained with borehole petrophysical measurements indicates good correlation between the observed seismic and the synthetic data a sequence of seismically reflective and transparent zones indicates a thrust stack in the brunswick no 6 area the contact between the reflective and transparent zones is a series of faults bringing the two units over each other a reflective package is observed in all three profiles and correlates well with the brunswick horizon the key mineralized zone in the study area the brunswick horizon extends down to depth greater than 3 km increasing the hope for discovery of deeper base metal deposits two other sets of reflections are also observed in all three profiles in the depth range of about 5 8 km we interpret them as two sets of thrusted sheets which could be an indication that the brunswick belt extends down to a maximum depth of 8 km

improved structural interpretation of legacy 3d seismic data from karee platinum mine south africa through the application of novel seismic attributes abstract seismic detection of faults dykes potholes and iron rich ultramafic pegmatitic bodies is of great importance to the platinum mining industry as these structures affect safety and efficiency the application of conventional seismic attributes such as instantaneous amplitude phase and frequency in the hard rock environment is more challenging than in soft rock settings because the geology is often complex reflections disrupted and the seismic energy strongly scattered we have developed new seismic attributes that sharpen seismic reflections enabling additional structural information to be extracted from hard rock seismic data the symmetry attribute is based on the invariance of an object with respect to transformations such as rotation and reflection it is independent of the trace reflection amplitude and hence a better indicator of the lateral continuity of thin and weak reflections the reflection continuity detector attribute is based on the hilbert transform it enhances the visibility of the peaks and troughs of the seismic traces and hence the continuity of weak reflections we demonstrate the effectiveness of these new seismic attributes by applying them to a legacy 3d seismic data set from the bushveld complex in south africa these seismic attributes show good detection of deep seated thin 1 5 m thick platinum ore bodies and their associated complex geological structures faults dykes potholes and iron rich ultramafic pegmatites they provide a fast cost effective and efficient interpretation tool that when coupled with horizon based seismic attributes can reveal structures not seen in conventional interpretations

heterogeneity and seismic scattering in exploration environments abstract seismic scattering and the corresponding reduction in signal to noise ratio is a severe limitation to seismic exploration in crystalline environments in this paper we summarize recent elastic numerical modeling of scattering regimes and discuss the implications for seismic exploration in shallow hardrock environments the resulting synthetic seismograms range from relatively transparent to highly reflective depending on the ratio of seismic wavelength to heterogeneity scale length we note that the archean canadian shield is characterized by large scale lengths typical for crystalline environments which translates to moderately reflective seismic sections exhibiting scattering features that are coherent over large distances in contrast the highly fractured footwall of the sudbury impact structure in the canadian shield translates to a medium with small to moderate scale lengths resulting in seismic sections that can in places be highly reflective or relatively transparent from the perspective of mineral exploration in sudbury we find that the possible detection of massive sulfide targets is dependent not only on the shape and size of the deposit but on the scattering nature of the background as well with information about the petrophysical properties and the distribution of heterogeneity within an exploration area acquisition parameters such as source frequencies and minimum receiver spacing can be adjusted in order to survey within the scattering regime that will produce the least amount of noise

why 3d seismic data are an asset for exploration and mine planning velocity tomography of weakness zones in the kevitsa ni cu pge mine northern finland kevitsa is a disseminated ni cu pge platinum group elements ore body in northern finland hosted by an extremely high velocity 6 5 8 5 km s ultramafic intrusion it is currently being mined at

a coleopteran fauna from the middle wurm weichselian of switzerland and its bearing on palaeobiogeography palaeoeclimate and palaeoecology recent exposures of the upper lignite layer from the gossau section on the swiss plateau near zurich have shown that it contains a rich fauna of fossil coleopteran remains beetles these deposits have been radiocarbon dated to 28 500 yr bp up to now the environment of the middle wurm period has not been well documented in switzerland so this exposure provides a rare opportunity to investigate the palaeobiogeography local environment and palaeoclimate of this episode a coleopteran assemblage was obtained from the upper lignite in which 30 taxa were identified of which 26 could be determined to the species level all the species are still living today though ten of them are no longer found in switzerland their modern geographical ranges are boreal or boreo montane and on the whole the fauna is typical of lower alpine or northern tundras of the present day the mcr mutual climatic range method was used here to estimate the mean temperatures of the warmest month 9 c and of the coldest months 21 c comparing these estimated palaeotemperatures with modern values from the nearest meteorological station zurich airport middle wurm mean july palaeotemperatures were about 10 c lower and mean january february palaeotemperatures were about 20 c lower than today copyright 2001 john wiley sons ltd

lithoprobe s impact on the canadian diamond exploration industrythis article is one of a series of papers published in this special issue on the theme lithoprobe parameters processes and the evolution of a continent earth sciences sector contribution 20070261 lithoprobe contribution 1479 lithoprobe aided and will continue to guide diamond exploration in canada via a number of diverse ways and at scales from cratons to individual ore bodies specific transects outlined the domainal nature geometry and age relations of crust subjacent mantle and diamond bearing roots in unusually rich detail for cratonic settings such as those of the superior and slave cratons as well as pericratonic shield settings such as those of the sask craton and buffalo hills terrane the superior and slave examples of craton construction by multiple underthrust layers as inferred from structural geometries observed in lithoprobe seismic and magnetotelluric surveys remain the clearest resolved to date the first definition of the sask craton occurred 10 15 years ago and helped fuel the diamond industry s ongoing revision of clifford s rule for exploration so as to include targets in proterozoic shield settings main lithoprobe transect results and supporting geoscience studies have helped to demonstrate the

development of 3 d seismic exploration technology for deep nickel copper deposits a case history from the sudbury basin canada following extensive petrophysical studies and presite surveys the trill area of the sudbury basin was selected for conducting the first 3 d seismic survey for mineral exploration in north america the 3 d seismic experiment confirms that in a geological setting such as the sudbury igneous complex massive sulfide bodies cause a characteristic seismic scattering response this provides an excellent basis for the direct detection of massive sulfides by seismic methods the feasibility study suggests that high resolution seismic methods offer a large detection radius in the order of hundreds to thousands of meters together with accurate depth estimates

3d seismic reflection imaging of volcanic hosted massive sulfide deposits insights from reprocessing halfmile lake data new brunswick canada three dimensional seismic reflection data from the halfmile lake area new brunswick canada was reprocessed over an 18 km2 grid to improve the seismic signatures of a 5 million ton volcanic hosted massive sulfide vhms deposit located at 1200 m depth known as the deep zone as well as key host rock structures we chose a prestack dip moveout dmo and poststack migration processing sequence to preserve the possible diffraction signature of the deep vhms zone despite the high level of source generated noise and large statics caused by near surface conditions our processing results revealed improved 3d seismic images for shallow and deep structures many of the imaged structures were easily correlated with known lithological con tacts constrained by boreholes and petrophysical measurements a short flat lying segment of high amplitude reflection at about 800 m depth in the unmigrated cube was interpreted to originate from a small portion of the lower vhms zone the dmo stack was characterized by a l

targeting nickel sulfide deposits from 3d seismicreflection data at kambalda australia abstractthe greenstone belts of the yilgarn craton western australia host numerous archaean gold nickel and iron ore deposits these deposits typically are found in complex geologic structures hidden by a deep heterogeneous and often conductive regolith profile this added complexity limits the depth of penetration for the potential field methods but at the same time opens new revenue possibilities through the application of seismic methods to explore this opportunity we acquired high resolution experimental 3d seismic data over lake lefroy in kambalda western australia the main objective was to map exceptionally complex deep structures associated with kambalda dome survey design used 3d ray tracing to improve the distribution of the common reflection points across ultramafic basalt contacts which host numerous small high grade nickel sulfide deposits a combination of small explosive sources high shot receiver density and exceptionally good coupling over the ultrasalty lake surface prod

3d imaging challenges in steeply dipping mining structures new lights on acquisition geometry and processing from the brunswick no 6 seismic data canada we have analyzed and processed a 38 km 2 nonorthogonal 3d surface reflection seismic data in the brunswick no 6 area to better understand the effect of acquisition geometry on the resultant image

feasibility of virtual source reflection seismology using interferometry for mineral exploration a test study in the lalor lake volcanogenic massive sulphide mining area manitoba canada approximately 300 hours of ambient noise data were recorded on a grid of receivers covering an area of 4 km2 over the lalor mine canada to test the capability of seismic interferometry to image ore deposits in the crystalline rock environment underground mining activities create the main source of ambient noise in the area alongside the ambient noise survey a larger three dimensional active source seismic survey was also acquired and used to evaluate the interferometry results power spectral density calculations show random ambient noise with a frequency range of 2 hz 35 hz a beamforming analysis identified body waves arriving from the west northwest pointing towards the mine and surface waves propagating from the northeast the calculated virtual shot gathers retrieved by cross correlating ambient noise at all receivers were processed following both two dimensional and three dimensional approaches using a sequence similar to the one applied to the activesource three dimensional data the dip moveout stacked section reveals a number of events similar to those observed on the processed active seismic sections in particular the passive seismic interferometry method is capable to partly image shallowly dipping reflections but did not produce convincing images of steeply dipping reflections dip moveout stacked sections obtained with different cross correlation time windows indicate that the strength and number of reflections generally increase with longer noise records however a few reflections at depth show reduced coherency with longer noise time windows the passive seismic interferometry results over the lalor mining area are encouraging but image quality of the passive survey is lower than the acquired active three dimensional survey at the area future ambient noise surveys with longer offsets shorter receiver spacing and wider azimuth distribution are needed in crystalline rock environment to address the potential of the method for mineral exploration

seismic imaging of massive sulfide deposits part ii reflection seismic profiling seismic reflection profiling the dominant geophysical method for hydrocarbon exploration has the potential to provide images of regional structure for mineral exploration in the crystalline crust and direct detection of large massive sulfide orebodies previous tests of traditional seismic methods in hard rock environments have had mixed success based on these earlier results we have tailored acquisition and processing strategies to conditions in the canadian shield we illustrate these methods using an example from the sudbury basin a rich mineral producing region because of structural complexity that complicates interpretation of the seismic images the seismic data are integrated with detailed three dimensional forward modeling based on physical properties studies mine geology and well logging through this integrated approach we show that massive sulfides can produce a characteristic seismic reflection response and that surface seismic reflection profiling may be used to detect and delineate deep large massive sulfide deposits accurately in a complex geologic setting characterized by moderate dips

introduction to the special section on the lithoprobe sudbury project integrated geophysical and rock property studies of the sudbury structure have revealed it is highly deformed with substantial ns shortening in the sudbury igneous complex understanding the nature and extent of deformation is essential to determining the original shape of the structure and the results of these studies are sufficient to discount many of the objections to an impact origin

downhole seismic imaging of a massive sulfide orebody with mode converted waves halfmile lake new brunswick canada multioffset multiazimuth downhole seismic data were acquired at halfmile lake new brunswick to image known massive sulfide lenses and to investigate the potential existence of a steeply dipping mineralized zone connecting them the massive sulfide lenses which have significantly higher elastic impedances than host rocks produce strong scattering the downhole seismic data show prominent scattered p p and s s and modeconverted p s and s p waves originating from the deposit such complex scattering from massive sulfide ore was not observed previously in vertical seismic profiling data migration of the scattered and mode converted waves from several shot points imaged different parts of the deepest lens the scattered s waves and modeconverted waves provide additional imaging capabilities that should be considered when selecting downhole seismic methods for mining exploration

crustal geometry of the central skellefte district northern sweden constraints from reflection seismic investigations abstract the palaeoproterozoic skellefte mining district in sweden is one of the most important mining districts in europe as a part of a 4d geologic modeling project three new sub parallel reflection seismic profiles with a total length of about 95 km were acquired in the central part of the district processed seismic data reveal a series of gentle to steeply dipping reflections and a series of diffraction packages the majority of reflections that extend to the surface can be correlated with geological features either observed in the field or interpreted from the aeromagnetic map a set of south dipping reflections represent inferred syn extensional listric extensional faults that were inverted during subsequent crustal shortening cross cutting north dipping reflections are correlated to late compressional break back faults flat lying reflections in the central parts of the study area could represent lithological contacts within the skellefte group or the contact between skellefte group rocks and their unknown basement flat lying reflections occurring further north are inferred to originate from the top of the jorn intrusive complex or an intrusive contact within it so far unknown south and north dipping faults have been identified in the vicinity of the maurliden deposit based on the seismic results a preliminary 3d model has been created in order to visualize the fault pattern and to provide a base for future 3d 4d modeling in the skellefte district

shallow 3d seismic reflection imaging of fracture zones in crystalline rock a limited 3d seismic reflection data set was used to map fracture zones in crystalline rock for a nuclear waste disposal site study seismic reflection data simultaneously recorded along two roughly perpendicular profiles 1850 and 1060 m long and with a 400 x 400 m receiver array centered at the intersection of the lines sampled a 680 x 960 m 2 area in three dimensions high levels of source generated noise required a processing sequence involving surface consistent deconvolution which effectively increased the strength of reflected signals and a linear tau p filtering scheme to suppress any remaining direct sv wave energy a flexible binning scheme significantly balanced and increased the cmp fold but the offset and azimuth distributions remain irregular a wide azimuth range and offsets 800 m are only found at the edges of the site three dimensional dip moveout and 3d poststack migration were necessary to image events with conflicting dips up to about 40 degrees despite the irregular acquisition geometry and the high level of source generated noise we obtained images rich in structural detail seven continuous to semicontinuous reflection events were traced through the final data volume to a maximum depth of around 750 m previous 2d seismic reflection studies and borehole data indicate that fracture zones are the most likely cause of the reflections

deep geometry of the sudbury structure from seismic reflection profiling seismic reflection data show the deep geometry of the sudbury structure to be markedly asymmetric the sudbury north range comprises shallowly south dipping sedimentary strata overlying a thick unit of heterolithic breccia and melt bodies layered rocks of the sudbury igneous complex and footwall gneiss reflections from the upper layers are interrupted by faults near the center of the sudbury basin whereas the basal mafic units and footwall gneiss continue dipping southward and appear to be tightly folded or truncated near the creighton fault in contrast the seismic image of the south range is dominated by a distinctive series of moderately south dipping reflections interpreted as thrust faults or shear zones on which severe telescoping and imbrication of lithological units and considerable northwest southeast shortening of the sudbury structure have occurred such shortening explains the noncircular shape of the structure and thus removes a critical objection to the sudbury impact crater hypothesis the new structural model is shown to be consistent with regional magnetic and gravity fields a large hidden ultramfic mafic mass is no longer required to explain the potential field data

evaluation of the 2d reflection seismic method toward the exploration of thrust controlled mineral deposits in southwestern fujian province china southwest of fujian is one of main ore districts of china thrust controlling mineral deposits model over there means that there may be deep concealed deposits in the overlapping areas of the thrust and refection seismic which has great depth penetration and higher resolution has great potential to delineate these complex structure and give some clues to mineralization in 2015 an experimental 13 8 km 2d reflection seismic survey named fujian 2d was conducted in this region for the data acquisition the designed shot and receiver intervals were 60 m and 20 m respectively and all 691 receivers recorded seismic signals for each shot due to the properties of the tested environment some shot points were re designed but the average fold reached 64 in the middle at more than 10 km distance during the data processing procedure conventional technologies involving statics noise elimination deconvolution and iterative velocity analyses were applied after the pre stack time migration failed to obtain a