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Decomposition of anomaly patterns of multi-element geochemical signatures in Ahar area, NW Iran: a comparison of U-spatial statistics and fractal models

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Abstract

The selection of an appropriate method for decomposition of anomaly patterns of stream sediment geochemical data is a challenging issue, as the geochemical anomalies of stream sediment data exhibit complex anomalous patterns. This study compares the results of delineation of multi-element geochemical anomalies of stream sediment data, derived via number–size (N-S) and concentration–area (C-A) fractal models and U-spatial statistics. Principle component analysis (PCA) was applied for Cu, Mo, and Au geochemical signatures to derive a multi-element geochemical signature associated with porphyry Cu deposits. Different geochemical populations of the multi-element geochemical signature were delineated by three modeling methods. We used the location of known porphyry Cu occurrences and employed two criteria of the Student’s t value and the normalized density index for the comparison of modeling methods. Results revealed the superiority of the U-spatial statistics method over the rest of models. Furthermore, the results of C-A model were better compared with those of N-S model.

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Acknowledgments

The authors immensely thank the editors and anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments which have significantly improved the manuscript.

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  1. Faculty of Mining and Metallurgical Engineering, Amirkabir University of Technology, Tehran, 15875-4413, Iran

    Mohammad Parsa, Abbas Maghsoudi & Reza Ghezelbash

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Correspondence to Abbas Maghsoudi.

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Parsa, M., Maghsoudi, A. & Ghezelbash, R. Decomposition of anomaly patterns of multi-element geochemical signatures in Ahar area, NW Iran: a comparison of U-spatial statistics and fractal models. Arab J Geosci 9, 260 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-016-2435-5

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