Airborne gamma-ray spectrometer and magnetometer survey: Forsyth quadrangle, Round Up quadrangle, Hardin quadrangle (Montana), Sheridan quadrangle, (Wyoming). Final report

An airborne combined radiometric and magnetic survey was performed for the Department of Energy (DOE) over the area covered by the Forsyth, Hardin, and Sheridan, and Roundup, 1:250,000 National Topographic Map Series (NTMS), quadrangle maps. The survey was part of DOE's National Uranium Resource Evaluation (NURE) program. Data were collected by a helicopter equipped with a gamma-ray spectrometer with a large crystal volume, and with a high sensitivity proton precession magnetometer. The radiometric system was calibrated at the Walker Field Calibration Pads and the Lake Mead Dynamic Test Range. Data quality was ensured during the survey by daily test flights and equipment checks. Radiometric data were corrected for live time, aircraft and equipment background, cosmic background, atmospheric radon, Compton scatter, and altitude dependence. The corrected data were statistically evaluated, plotted, and contoured to produce anomaly maps based on the radiometric response of individual geological units. The anomalies were interpreted and an interpretation map produced. Volume I contains a description of the systems used in the survey, a discussion of the calibration of the systems, the data collection procedures, the data processing procedures, the data presentation, the interpretation rationale, and the interpretation methodology. A separate Volume II for each quadrangle contains the data displays and the interpretation results