Low flying aircraft conducting geo survey of county from this month
All of Westmeath is to be surveyed in a project beginning this month and running until December, aimed at examining the geophysical make-up of the area.
Expect to see lots of low-flying aeroplane activity as much of the survey will be conducted from the air by aircraft flying over Westmeath, Longford and Roscommon, as well as part of Galway.
Tellus North Midlands is a survey project aiming to map the rocks and soils of the area, in a follow-on to the recently completed Tellus (Northern Ireland) and Tellus Border (border region of Ireland) surveys.
The announcement of commencement of the project was made last Tuesday by the Minister of State for Natural Resources, Joe McHugh TD, and the survey is to be led by the Geological Survey of Ireland (GSI).
As part of the survey, soils will be sampled, and their chemistry analysed, while at the same time, survey aircraft will fly low over the landscape and collect information about the physical properties of soils and rocks underground.
The low-level airborne geophysical survey will encompass an area of 5,840 km2 mainly over counties Westmeath, Longford and Roscommon – the area outlined in red. The ground-based geochemical soil survey team will cover a wider area of 9,675 km2, also incorporating parts of counties Mayo, Galway, Offaly, Kildare and Meath – the larger area outlined in blue.
Explaining the need for the survey, the GSI, on its Tellus website, explains that the data collected will provide a comprehensive picture of the environment in the region today.
“This will help us sustainably manage the environment, natural resources and protect public health in the future.”
Previous Tellus surveys have provided improved data for the GSI to update geological maps for planning and research purposes, and provided new data to improve radon risk mapping.
They have also assisted mineral exploration companies to invest locally, and facilitated new third-level research on environmental pollution, agricultural productivity, peat and wetlands.
Tellus North Midlands is not, itself, engaged in commercial mineral exploration, but the material it collects will be available to all, including mineral exploration companies, and according to GSI, the data is likely to highlight areas which would be of interest to mineral exploration companies for further investigation.
Bogs
While Tellus North Midlands collects data on the land and surface environment including areas covered by peat, Tellus stresses that the project is not involved with the selection of bogs for conservation or the cessation of turf cutting.
“Previously research has been carried out using Tellus data in the border region on peat bogs to assess how much carbon is stored in peat and variation in peat deposit thickness.”
The two aircraft that are to be used for the survey are C208B Cessna Grand Caravan aircraft operated by the specialist survey company, CGG, based in South Africa. The white, single turbine propeller planes have a red nose and blue stripe. The registration numbers are ZS-FSA and ZS-SSA.