Mineral Exploration Using Subtle or Negative Geochemical Anomalies
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Mineral Exploration Using Subtle or Negative Geochemical Anomalies Renguang Zuo * State Key Laboratory of Geological Processes and Mineral Resources, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430078, China Renguang Zuo: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5639-3128 ABSTRACT: Mineral resources prediction and assessment is one of the most important tasks in geosciences. Geochemical anomalies, as direct indicators of the presence of mineralization, have played a significant role in the search of mineral deposits in the past several decades. In the near future, it may be possible to recognize subtle geochemical anomalies through the use of processing of geochemical exploration data using advanced approaches such as the spectrum-area multifractal model. In addition, negative geochemical anomalies can be used to locate mineralization. However, compared to positive geochemical anomalies, there has been limited research on negative geochemical anomalies in geochemical prospecting. In this study, two case studies are presented to demonstrate the identification of subtle geochemical anomalies and the significance of negative geochemical anomalies. Meanwhile, the opportunities and challenges in evaluating subtle geochemical anomalies associated with mineralization, and benefits of mapping of negative anomalies are discussed. KEY WORDS: geochemical prospecting, subtle geochemical anomalies, negative geochemical anomalies, spectrum-area multifractal model, GIS. 0
INTRODUCTION Mineral exploration has always been at the frontier of geoscience research and has advanced from empirical prospecting to scientific exploration and, more recently, information exploration (Xie, 1999). Empirical prospecting is based on the visual observations and experiences of geoscientists in the field. Scientific exploration integrates mineral deposit models and various geoscientific data to study geological conditions and environments for the formation of mineralization. Information exploration combines both direct and indirect information of mineralization using various techniques. The current mineral exploration is heavily based on information, especially subtle information originating directly from concealed mineralization (Xie, 1999). Geochemical anomalies, as direct indicators of the presence of mineralization, have played a significant role in the search of mineral deposits over the past several decades. Geochemical prospecting focuses on the formation, location, and characteristics of geochemical anomalies (Hawkes, 1957), and has played a critical role in mineral deposit discovery. Meanwhile, there have been refinements in the methods of digestion and selective leaches, resulting in improvements in detection limits (Grunsky, 2010). Due to increased investment in geochemical surveys, geochemical datasets for various earth materials or media (e.g., rocks, stream sediments, soils, water, gas, and plants) at regional, *Corresponding author: [email protected] © China University of Geosciences (Wuhan) and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, Part of Spri
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