Technical articles, stories, papers and more

Customer story: Reducing risk along tunnel corridors in planning phase

Significant risk reduction along various road tunnel corridors in Norway

Customer story: Assessing the internal structure of a Tailings Storage Facility

Integrated ground modelling for VALE Brazil, focusing on a tailings storage facility to enhance safety and minimise risks in mining operations.

Customer story: Geotechnical interpretation of 365 km railway project in Central-West of Brazil

In 2023, EMerald Geomodelling was hired by VALE S/A, the largest mining company in South America, to accurately characterize the real geological conditions of a planned railway route. EMerald Geomodelling interpreted a bedrock surface and developed mechanical and grain size classification models for the FICO railway project in Brazil.

Customer story: Using helicopter geoscanning in the Himalayas for tunnel pre-investigations

EMerald Geomodelling assisted NHIDCL in conducting geoscanning surveys to unveil ground conditions in the alpine regions of India.

Customer story: Assisting Nye Veier with geotechnical surveys to determine the most efficient route for building the new E6 between Kvithammer and Åsen

Nye Veier received assistance from Emerald Geomodelling before building and designing the new highway between Kvithammer and Åsen. Using airborne geoscanning, EMerald Geomodelling was able to collect data for large areas in a short amount of time, saving the project an estimated 250 million NOK.

Customer story: Collecting 730 line-km of flight data to characterize the geological condition of a planned railway route in Mato Grosso

In 2021, EMerald Geomodelling was engaged by RUMO Logística, the largest railway company in South America, to accurately characterize the real geological conditions of the planned railway route. By using both geophysical data and existing data combined with EMerald Geomodellings proprietory machine learning software, EMerald could provide RUMO with suggestions of where to focus their follow-up investigations.

Customer story: Using airborne geoscanning to map and get a better understanding of electrically conductive clay zones

The Flåm valley is a large and unstable area that is difficult to assess and that appears to be driven by a deep-seated sliding mechanism. The municipality and regional hydroelectric company E-CO Vannkraft were evaluating the potential of draining the unstable area to a nearby hydropower reservoir. EMerald Geomodelling was engaged to provide further geophysical inputs.

Customer story: Generating a 3D model showing the interface between saprolite and hard rock in relation to a mining project in panama

Back in 2013, First Quantum Minerals Ltd (FQML) collected geophysical data to map the depth of saprolite and to characterize mineral deposits in relation to a mining project in Panama. EMerald Geomodelling assisted FQML in their project by using the unique interface detection algorithm to generate a detailed model showing the interface between saprolite and hard rock, providing inputs into saprolite elevation and resistivity.

Customer story: Gaining information regarding geological conditions and probabilities for quick clay and other brittle clay materials through airborne geoscanning

In the aftermath of the devastating quick clay landslide in Gjerdrum in late 2020, The Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate (NVE) started conducting surveys to assess quick clay zones. EMerald Geomodelling was engaged to perform airborne geoscanning over an area in Nannestad, with the aim of effectively getting an overall overview of the ground conditions.

Customer Story: Using airborne geoscanning to provide valuable information and reduce drilling costs for hydropower tunnel projects

Assisting SN Power with geotechnical surveys to better understand the rock formations in underground structures, especially for hydropower tunnel projects.

Customer Story: Mapping 500 kilometers of ground conditions in 3 days

Within three days, EMearald Geomodelling managed to map the ground conditions in a 500 km area. This gave the contractor more security in planning the road alignment of the massive road project.

Customer story: How we made it possible to plan tunnels in the Himalayas with the help of a revolutionary geoscanning method

For the first time ever, the rock conditions of the challenging Himalayas were mapped with the use of helicopter geoscanning and exploratory drilling follow-up. This pioneering work, done in 2013, made it possible to analyse the ground conditions in practically inaccessible areas.

Customer Story: Using helicopter geo-scanning and advanced algorithms to get the full picture

For all big road and tunnel projects, knowledge of the ground conditions can be what makes or breaks it. Therefore, a thorough drilling campaign is required to get the necessary information before the construction work starts… Or at least, that's been true in the past.

Customer story: AI in geotechnical surveys provides major savings

By using EMerald Geomodelling's geoscanning surveys and machine learning algorithms on a road construction project near Trondheim, Norway, Nye Veier saved one year of geotechnical investigations and averted road construction costs equivalent to 250 million NOK.

Geoscanning an Active Construction Site: Handheld scanner Meets Machine Learning in Yokohama

A handheld TEM scanner and machine learning deliver continuous, uncertainty-quantified 3D ground models on an active construction site in Yokohama, from a single field day and just two boreholes.

Predicting Rock Quality from the Air: RQD Modelling for a Himalayan Railway Tunnel

Geoscanning data and machine learning are used to predict Rock Quality Designation continuously in 3D along a Himalayan rail-tunnel corridor — flagging high-risk zones and demonstrating that 40–50% fewer boreholes are needed for equivalent subsurface confidence.

3D Geotechnical Modelling for a Heavy-Haul Railway in Brazil

Airborne geophysics and machine learning were integrated with geotechnical boreholes to build a 3D geotechnical model for a railway project in Espírito Santo, Brazil, improving earthwork volume estimates and soft-soil foundation design.

Multidisciplinary characterisation of a Tailings Dam Facility using ML techniques

Integrated geotechnical and geophysical modeling using geoscanning data and machine learning was used to map subsurface layers and classify tailings in a Brazilian dam, supporting risk assessment and decommissioning planning

Testing an airborne TEM system in Denmark using a heavy-lift drone

The article covers the testing of a fully airborne TEM system using a heavy-lift drone in Denmark, focusing on design, operations, and future plans

Technical Article

This paper show how automatic, machine learning (ML) based, interpretation of densely sampled geophysical data is feasible and how it can be conducted in a time efficient manner

Geotechnical ground investigations with a small airborne TEM prototype system

The paper presents how time domain electromagnetic data from a small airborne prototype system was successfully used for geotechnical ground investigations at a road construction site in Central Norway.

Large-scale soil investigations for greenfield railways using airborne geoscanning

This conference paper presents a case study done in Mato Grosso, Brazil, where EMerald together with RUMO Logística, carried out large-scale soil investigations for greenfield railways using airborne geoscanning

Large scale soil investigations for railway planning in Brazil

A paper on Mato Grosso case study in Brazil, which is the first successful example of AEM in an infrastructure project in a tropical climate.

Tunnel planning through geoscanning - case studies from India and Norway

This article use examples from projects in Norway and India, to illustrate how airborne geocsanning is able to reveale weakness zones, weak rock types and lack of rock cover.

Depth to bedrock accuracy: comparing ANN with interpretation techniques used in early time case studies

A technical article illustrating the applicability of airborne geoscanning surveys by comparing ANN to earlier interpretation techniques.

Integrated scanning for quick clay hazards

This article combine airborne electromagnetics and drillings pre-machine learning, showing the value of AEM through two case studies.

Deliniating costly shale units pre-tunnel excavation

A technical article showing geophysics comparing airborne electromagnetic data and surface electrical resistivity tomography.

Illuminating deep weathering and weakness zones in the Himalayas

This Journal of Rock Mechanics & Tunneling Technology article highlights the practical use of advanced airborne geoscanning for tunnel planning in the Himalayas.

Talus thickness along a steep slope derived from airborne geoscanning to design land slide warning system to protect rail and road in Flåmsdalen

This technical article address the mapping of top of rock under extensive thallus along Flåmsdalen, involving simple resistivity threshold extraction.

Scanning for weakness zone along hydropower tunnel and rock sliding planes in Aurland.

An article presenting 3D image of base of rock slide, 3D signature of weakness / contact zone crossing potential hydropower tunnel.

Accuracy of EMerald's bedrock topography machine learning workflow assessed on synthetic and project data

A key scientific paper explaining the interface machine learning workflow.

A review article on airborne geoscanning in Norway

This scientific paper summarizes the national coverage done by EMerald and Norwegian Geological Survey with case studies from E16 and Norway.

3D classification of clay types using Machine Learning

This scientific paper on soil type workflow presents an improved method for predicting the probability of quick clay using airborne geoscanning.

Estimating peat thickness by using airborne geoscanning

Estimating peat over bedrock with the influence of artifical neural network (ANN)

An early geostatistical approach combining geotechnical and geophysical data

A scientific paper illustrating the track record for the E16-highway construction project in Norway, that EMerald Geomodelling worked on in 2015.