ON SOME POSSIBILITIES OF THE BIOPHYSICAL METHOD FOR PROSPECTING MINERAL DEPOSITS

A. G. BAKIROV

(Presented by Professor A. M. Kuzmin)

In recent years, the biophysical effect has attracted increasing attention from geologists and certain other specialists [1, 2, 3]. Two scientific and technical seminars have been devoted to it, held in Moscow in 1968 and 1971 [4, 5, 6].

Let us recall that the biophysical effect (BPE) is the effect of spontaneous deflection or rotation of a metal frame or another indicator held in the hands of an operator¹. The direct cause of the manifestation of this effect is the physical heterogeneity of the portion of the earth’s crust on which the operator is located. This heterogeneity, in particular, may be due to the presence of underground waters and ores.

The biophysical effect is not manifested in all people. Its physical nature has not yet been reliably established. However, the objective existence and reproducibility of the BPE are confirmed by numerous studies, by the experience of ore prospectors and water finders of the 11th–18th centuries, and by many operators currently working in the Soviet Union, France, Czechoslovakia, India, the USA, and other countries.

The biophysical effect is used in geological practice in prospecting for underground waters and ores, tracing tectonic disturbances and mineral veins, outlining ore bodies, and identifying within the territory of deposits obviously “barren” areas where the presence of ore is most likely not to be expected. With the aid of the BPE it is possible to determine the depth of occurrence of the disturbing object (ore body, underground watercourse, etc.). Other geological problems are also solved. Qualified application of the biophysical prospecting method (BPM) makes it possible to reduce drilling costs by 30–40% [5, 6] and to achieve considerable efficiency in the process of exploring deposits.

At present, it is especially important to elucidate the methodology and results of the BPM and to organize experimental-methodological work [5]. The author of this article, who possesses the BPE, carried out biophysical investigations at hypergene nickel, chromite, copper-pyrite, and oil deposits in order to clarify the possibilities of using the BPM in their prospecting. The investigations were carried out on foot, by automobile—

... in the automobile and helicopter variants, in the presence of the geologists in charge of the work from the production organizations. The results obtained were recorded in special reports.

During the work, as an indicator the author used U-shaped frames: a steel one with an arm length of 18 cm, and then brass and aluminum ones with identical arms—9 cm. The diameter of the frame wires was 2–2.5 mm. The frame in the operator’s hands was held in a horizontal position. The number of rotations of the frame was counted for every 20 m of the pedestrian traverse. The investigations were carried out in the first half of September, in clear or slightly cloudy weather, in most cases in the first half of the day. The author worked with the frames while wearing headgear.

In the weathering crust of the Buruktal hyperbasite massif (Orenburg Region), biophysical anomalies were established in areas where nontronites and nontronitized serpentinites are developed, as well as ochres. BPAs are absent where leached magnesite-bearing serpentinites are developed. The steel frame made the following number of rotations: 4–5 over nontronites, 7–8 over ochres. In areas where the thickest nickel-bearing ochres are developed, there were up to 10–11 rotations. Biophysical anomalies were established during traverse crossings of the Novo-Buranovskii and Novo-Sazdinskii areas of the weathering crust of the hyperbasites of the Kempirsai massif (Aktyubinsk Region).

Within the same massif, BPAs are recorded above chromite bodies occurring at various depths: from 30–90 m, 100–260, 410–460 to 900 m (“Almaz-Zhemchuzhina”). The steel frame made from 20 to 30 rotations above them. At the same time, a certain decrease in the number of rotations of the frames over steep faults cutting the chromite bodies is noteworthy. Then, in many cases, a delay of the BPE is observed, which appears 40–90 m after the operator has entered the territory of the ore deposit (Fig. 1). Bio-

Fig. 1. Plot of a biophysical anomaly over the northern part of ore bodies 3, 4 of the “40 Years of the Kazakh SSR” chromite deposit: 1 — serpentinized dunites; 2 — chromites; AB — line of the plot.

physical anomalies essentially coincided with the three gravitational anomalies studied in the area of the Komsomolskoye deposit, previously identified by geophysicists. At one of them, the steel frame made 20 turns, the brass one 15, and the aluminum one 21 (the average of 10 measurements taken with each frame).

In the Dombarovsky district of Orenburg Province, the Osenneye copper-pyrite deposit and the adjacent tectonic ore-controlling zone were well “picked up” by the BPE while traveling by automobile along a route that crossed them. In the same area, the Letneye deposit, similar in composition and gently occurring in diabases at a depth of 100–160 m, was recorded by a biophysical anomaly detected when it was crossed in the latitudinal direction (Fig. 2). In this case the steel frame gave 16–28 turns, and the brass one 10–20.

Fig. 2. Graph of a biophysical anomaly over the Letneye copper-pyrite deposit: 1 — pillow lava of diabases; 2 — pillow lava of spilites; 3 — hyaloclastite lava of diabases; 4 — pillow lava of porphyrites; 5 — vein diabase; 6 — sulfides. AB — graph of the biophysical anomaly detected when working with the brass frame. CD — graph of the biophysical anomaly with the steel frame.

Biophysical anomalies were ascertained by the author over the occurrences of several oil-and-gas-bearing fields of Orenburg Province when they were crossed in a UAZ automobile and in a Mi-8 helicopter flying at an average technical speed of 180–200 km per hour at an altitude of 180–200 m. Thus, automobile routes were carried out at the Pokrovskoye and Bobrovskoye fields. On the Proskurinsk uplift of the second of those mentioned, in 1 minute of travel by an automobile moving at a speed of 20 km/hour, the frames made the following number of turns: brass — 22, aluminum — 50, and steel — 86 (average data from two measurements). When the Bobrovskoye, Kurmanayevskoye, and Tananykskoye oil-and-gas-bearing fields were crossed by helicopter, the brass frame made from 23 to 30 turns in 1 minute, and the aluminum one from 13 to 19. The brass frame proved more sensitive than the steel one, which

“detected” by no means all deposits. The depth of occurrence of the productive strata at the Pokrovskoye deposit is from 1,700 to 2,300 m; at the other three, from 2,020 to 2,880 m. They occur in carbonate and terrigenous rocks of Carboniferous age.

Such are some of the possibilities of the biophysical method for prospecting deposits.

REFERENCES

1. B. V. Bondarev. The biophysical reaction of a human being to the presence of ores and waters in the earth. Proceedings of Tashkent State University, issue 358, 1970.

2. B. V. Bondarev. The biophysical effect and its application in prospecting for minerals. Proceedings of Tashkent State University, issue 372, 1970.

3. V. S. Matveev. On the biophysical method in geology. Izv. Academy of Sciences of the Kazakh SSR, geological series, No. 3, 1967.

4. Resolution of the Scientific and Technical Seminar on the problem of the biophysical reaction of a human being to the presence of waters and ores in the earth (Moscow, April 11–12, 1968). Central Board of the Scientific and Technical Society of the Instrument-Making Industry. Moscow, 1968.

5. Resolution of the Second Scientific and Technical Seminar on the biophysical effect—BFE (Moscow, March 18–19, 1971). Central Board of the Scientific and Technical Society of the Instrument-Making Industry. Moscow, 1971.

6. Abstracts of reports. Second Scientific and Technical Seminar on the biophysical effect—BFE. (Moscow, March 1971). Central Board of the Scientific and Technical Society of the Instrument-Making Industry. Moscow, 1971.

1. An operator is a person in whom the BPE manifests itself and who is used to detect biophysical anomalies (BPA). ↩