New geoscience surveys in Northern Ireland

New regional geochemical and geophysical surveys are in progress in Northern Ireland. These will advance the development of the natural resource industry and provide a baseline of information against which to measure environmental change. Soils, stream-sediments and stream-waters are being sampled, according to the G-BASE standard of the British Geological Survey, and analysed by XRF and ICP. The airborne geophysical survey will be flown by a fixed-wing aircraft equipped with magnetometer, 256-channel gamma-ray spectrometer, and electromagnetic systems. The line spacing will be 200m and ground clearance 55-90m over rural areas and 250m over urban districts.