Gravity Survey over the Bupyeong Silver Deposits

부평 은광상 일대의 중력탐사

Gravity study was carried out to investigate the structure and total mass of the Bupyeong silver deposits closely related to formation of the Bupyeong caldera. Survey region covers $3.3{\times}6.6km^2$ over silver deposits and is comprised of 334 gravity measurement stations. An apparent regional gravity trend parallel to the west coast line is mainly attributed to isostasy. A least square isostasy model was used for the regional correction. A Fortan subroutine was coded to calculate 3-dimensional subsurface model. The calculated gravity values from the 3-dimensional model of the caldera with silver deposits agree with observed anomalies relatively well. Gravity anomaly due to Bupyeong silver deposits reaches to +3.5 mgal from the background value and anomaly due to the caldera reaches to -4 mgal. But the maximum negative anomaly of the caldera would be much greater at its center. The total mass of silver deposits calculated from the subsurface model is $4.19{\times}10^9$ tons. Although the economic part of silver deposits depends on the grade of orebody, we expect that there are still large amount of silver reserves in Bupyeong area.