Sea Change for Salinity

the Australian landscape. The war on salt is calling forth new weapons.A suite of high technologies used by geologists to see underground and prospect for gold and minerals is now being used to pinpoint the presence of salt beneath the landscape, and predict where it might move. B Unless this process is clearly understood, warns Chief of Exploration and Mining Dr Neil Phillips, the hard work now underway of planning and tree-planting on the surface may be rendered ineffective: salt can still sneak past and erupt, following one of the ancient river channels formed millions of years ago. The use of airborne electromagnetic to detect salt hidden beneath the landscape has been around for a decade, but the past two years have seen a major development in its precision and powers of detection. Like the use of radar in battles, it has the potential to turn the tide of the struggle in favour of the defence by helping to pinpoint, plot and predict the movements of the foe.