A radiometric airborne geophysical survey of the Isle of Wight

A high resolution airborne geophysical survey across the Isle of Wight and Lymington area conducted in 2008 provided the first modern radiometric survey across the geological formations that characterise much of southern England. The basic radiometric data are presented and it is evident that bedrock geology exerts a controlling influence on the broad response characteristics of the naturally occurring radioelements. A GIS-based geological classification of the data provides a quantitative assessment and reveals that a relatively high percentage of the variability of the data is explained by the Cretaceous bedrock geology but this is much reduced in the Palaeogene. The three traditional Chalk units (Lower, Middle and Upper Chalk depicted on the currently available Geological Map) provide the lowest and most distinct behaviour within the Cretaceous sequence. Mineral content within the Chalk appears to increase with increasing age. A new method of representing the baseline radiometric information from the survey in terms of the mean values of the geological classification is presented. The variation of radioelement geochemistry within individual formations is examined in two case studies from the Cretaceous Lower Greensand Group and the Palaeogene Hamstead Member (Bouldnor Formation). The Cretaceous sequences provide the higher levels of discrimination of localised variations in radioelement distributions. A more detailed case study examines the potential influences from the degree of water saturation in the soil and superficial deposits. (C) 2011 Natural Environment Research Council. Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of The Geologists' Association. All rights reserved.