Geogas prospecting - an ideal industrial application of PIXE

In geogas prospecting the extremely small concentrations of trace elements, in an upward gas stream, are measured with high sensitivity using the PIXE technique. The measured elemental composition in the geogas across geologi cal formations reveals much about the bedrock composition and the possible presence of concealed mineralizations and ore bodies. The possible origin a nd transportation of the geogas matter through the bedrock are discussed, T he sampling procedure, the data analysis and the normalisation procedures a re described, Finally, the possibility to extract three-dimensional informa tion from a two-dimensional measurement is demonstrated as an example from a field experiment. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.