HI-RES (Hibernian Regional GeoElectrical Structure)

Project Description

In recent years, large geophysical datasets have yielded insights into the seismic, thermal and compositional structure of Ireland’s geology, and are complemented by an airborne and groundbased geochemical surveys managed by Geological Survey Ireland (GSI). HI-RES aims to complete an all island dataset of magnetotelluric (MT) soundings by acquiring an additional 22 sites across Ireland, expanding on previous MT campaigns, harnessing newly acquired, cutting-edge, MT instrumentation. The complete dataset will facilitate high resolution geoelectrical images of Ireland’s geology, allowing geoscientists to a) help constrain the locations of mineral and geothermal resources b) help answer remaining questions to its geological history and c) allow space-weather scientists to quantify geomagnetically induced currents (GICs), that impact societal infrastructure. The MT method exploits storms on the Sun to image the Earth’s geoelectrical characteristics, and with the onset of the latest solar cycle (No. 25), the timing is perfect to acquire

high quality data for improved resolution. Not only will the data be used for research in two disciplines, but also the data will help identify new site locations for the expansion of The Magnetometer Network of Ireland (www.magie.ie), and also be used for software development to complement the latest MT instrumentation.