Class 12 Geochemical Sampling and Geostatistics - Notes

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Geochemical Sampling Geostatistics

Geochemical Sampling
Geochemical sampling methods are methods which involve collecting and analyzing various types of geological materials (such as soils, stream sediments and rocks) or certain biological materials (such as plants). Historically these methods have been some of the most productive in of any methods used in mineral e ploration. Sometimes mineralization can be e tremely subtle, if not impossible to recognize, in hand specimen. !ithout the use of geochemical sampling methods, many known ore deposits would probably not have been discovered. "fter discovery, geochemical sampling plays a key role in the delineation of mineralization. #or e ample, geochemical sampling of soils is often employed to outline the general distribution of mineralization at shallow depths where outcrops of bedrock are minimal or none istent. $he procedure involves collection of materials in the field, laboratory (or field) analysis of the geochemistry of the materials, plotting of the geochemical values on maps, and interpretation of the results. $he materials may be analyzed for any number of elements. !hich elements are chosen for analysis depends on budget, the geology of the area, and the commodity which is being sought after. %ften there are specific elements or suites of elements which are known to be associated with specific types of mineralization. $herefore it is possible to evaluate the potential for the e istence of certain types of mineralization by evaluating which elements are associated in a given area.

Dispersion Halos
&ispersion is the process of dispersing elements outward from a source. " dispersion halo is a zone around a mineral deposit where the metal values are less than those of the deposit but significantly higher than background values found in the country rocks around the deposit. Geochemical sampling and testing can be used to outline the 'dispersion halo(. Primary Dispersion Halos: )rimary dispersion refers to dispersion which occurs in rocks at or near the time of formation of a mineral deposit. *t is usually the result of 'hydrothermal( (hot a+ueous) fluids which are responsible for creating the deposit. #luid movements in rocks are so variable that the halo formed by primary dispersion may or may not reflect the shape of the ore deposit itself. $he e tent of the primary dispersion halo can range from inches to hundreds of feet. $he e tent of the primary halo is dependent on very dependent on the nature of the rock. , tremely porous or highly fractured rocks usually develop more e tensive primary dispersion halos.

Secondary Dispersion Halos: Secondary dispersion refers to dispersion which occurs in the secondary environment (soils, stream sediments or plants) long after the formation of a mineral deposit. $his type of dispersion is usually the result of mechanical and-or chemical weathering. .echanical weathering is caused primarily by breakage due to freezing and thawing. /hemical weathering is caused by chemical reactions between minerals and groundwater resulting in chemical decomposition of minerals. /hemical decomposition can also be caused by bacterial action. $he dominant means of chemical breakdown of minerals in the near surface environment is o idation. % idation has dramatic effects on the behavior of iron and sulfur, which happen to key elements in many types of ore deposits. "fter decomposition, the elements from the minerals are released into groundwater or surface water, which carries the elements outward. Halos caused by secondary dispersion are usually much more widespread than those caused by primary dispersion. #or this reason, sampling of soils, stream sediments or plants can detect the presence of a mineral deposit from a much further distance. Groundwater and surface waters migrate and transport metallic ions away from ore deposits. !eathering, o idation and water migration also produce and transport iron and manganese ions, which are paritcularly abundant in and around ore deposits. *ron and manganese ions tend to precipitate easily once they leave acidic water conditions around a weathered ore deposit and come into contact with normal pH water conditions. $hey precipitate as hydro ides forming solid particles which are abundant in soils and silt size stream sediments. $hese hydro ides are negatively charged, and behave like magnets to metallic cations in solution, causing them to be precipitated also. $his process, called adsorption, leads to small accumulations of metallic ions in soils and stream sediments (#igure 01 2 0).

#igure 01 2 0. &ispersion of metallic ions in soils near ore body (S., .ining 3 ,ngineering Handbook). &ispersion results in the transport of metallic ions away from a source. Some of these ions are precisely the ones sought after, and others are called 'pathfinder( metals or elements. )athfinder elements are those which are closely associated with the metal of interest. High values of pathfinder elements may be more significant because they have better mobility, resulting in greater dispersion. #or e ample, arsenic and bismuth are good pathfinders for gold.

Stream Sediment Sampling Surve s

Stream sediment surveys are very useful for mineral e ploration because of greater dispersion in the stream environment. Greater dispersion means greater ability to detect an ore body from a greater distance. " drainage basin is an area with a network of streams like the branches of a tree4 smaller streams 5oin together leading into larger and larger streams. *t is assumed that the values will decrease downstream from the source, so following the 'path( of increasing values upstream. may lead to mineralization (#igure 01 2 1).

#igure 01 2 1. Stream sediment anomaly pattern (S., .ining 3 ,ngineering Handbook). .echanical erosion leads to the breakdown of host rocks containing ore minerals. /onse+uently, tiny grains of the minerals occur in the suspended load of the stream. $urbulence of the water keeps the particles in suspension. $urbulence is greatest in steeper areas where the stream water flows faster. &ownstream where the topography is gentler the stream waters move slower, thereby decreasing turbulence. $his causes

the suspended load to drop out, resulting in deposition of the mineral grains in the stream sediments. Heavy minerals, like ore minerals, tend to drop out first because less turbulence is needed to keep them in suspension. Studies have shown that the preferred material to collect for a stream sediment sample is the 2066 mesh size fraction, which corresponds with silt size. "bout 7 to 0 cup of this size material is sufficient in most cases. *f gravel or organic material is mi ed with the silt, then a larger sample needs to be collected. Steep areas may lack the hydrologic conditions which allow silt and fine grained sediments to settle, which can make sample collection very difficult. $he downstream sides of large boulders are sometimes the best place to look in these areas. .oss growing on boulders within the stream can act as a filter, trapping finer grained sediments, and can be collected to provide samples from these more difficult areas. $he material needs to be collected from the active stream channel, not dried up side channels. " single sample taken at the mouth of a large drainage basin may be a good way to +uickly evaluate potential of a large area, but it provides little detail of the location of a source of mineralization. 8y sampling the entire stream network of an area, the location of mineralization can be narrowed down considerably. $his can be done by collecting samples at close spacings (appro imately 9:mile spacing is common) and by sampling both sides of every stream fork. *n this manner, if an anomaly occurs on one side and not on the other, only the fork with the anomaly needs to be considered in locating the source. $he trail of anomalies forms a path upstream towards the source. Generally the values will increase upstream towards the source and reach a ma imum value in close pro imity to the source, and then drop to background values further upstream from the source. "nother type of survey which relies on collection of alluvium is the 'pan concentrate( survey. *n a pan concentrate survey, coarse materials (generally pebble:sized) are collected and screened to 9 inch or smaller and placed in a gold pan. $he screened material is then panned using a standardized method, down to a volume size of appro imately 7 cup. $his will be further processed in a laboratory setting and then analyzed. )an concentrate samples give an indication of the types of heavy minerals present in an area. &ue to inherent inconsistencies in sample collection and panning methods, results from these surveys are difficult to evaluate statistically. $o help remedy this problem, special methods are sometimes employed in the field which use screening and collection of specified volume of material, and minimize or eliminate the use of actual panning of the materials (ie, concentration of heavy minerals).

Soil Sampling Surve s

Soils are the product of weathering of bedrock, decomposition of organic material at the surface, and deposition of other materials which have been transported. Generally speaking the soils tend to form certain layers called 'horizons(. $he lowermost horizon consists largely of decomposed bedrock and is called the '/( horizon. $he uppermost horizon, called the '"( horizon, is variable in composition. *n vegetated areas the '"(

horizon consists largely of organic material. $he '8( horizon is between the '"( and '/( horizons, and is essentially a mi ed zone. &ispersion is generally greatest in the '"( and '8( horizons. #or this reason, soil samples collected from the '8( horizon can detect a mineral deposit from a greater distance. *n arctic regions, the '8( horizon tends to be poorly developed (if present at all). *t is best to collect soil samples from the '/( horizon in these regions. Soil surveys are typically situated to investigate target areas outlined by previous geophysical survey or stream sediment surveys, or they may be positioned to cover certain structural features or rock units which are known. Generally close spacing (; <66 feet) is needed to detect subsurface mineralization, because large spacings may miss the target. $he pattern which usually emerges is one which shows highest values directly over the ore, and a broad area surrounding these with highly elevated values corresponding to alteration in the host rocks ad5acent to the main ore zone (#igure 01 : =).

#igure 01 : =). Soil anomaly profile (S., .ining 3 ,ngineering Handbook). $he strategy most often employed is to collect samples at set line or grid spacings. $he tighter the spacing, the more likely it will be to locate a soil anomaly over a buried ore deposit. " grid survey has a big advantage over a line survey because the anomalies which are discovered may form a trend indicating the trend of the buried mineralization. "n anomaly discovered along a line survey gives no indication of trend, and usually must be followed up with a grid survey.

Geostatistics
Geostatistics is the use of statistics to evaluate geochemical data. >umerous samples of different types of rocks and other materials comprising the earth?s crust have been analyzed. "s a result, the average abundance of trace elements in these materials is fairly well established. $he average value for a specified rock is called the 'background( value. !e are interested in values which are much greater than average or 'anomalous( because these values may indicate the presence of an ore body. " cutoff value, or 'threshold value(, is the value above which all values are considered anomalous. $he threshold value can be selected arbitrarily by simply viewing the data,

or it can be selected by statistical methods. Geologists endeavor to select which values of a data set are truly significant and therefore worthy of follow:up geochemical sampling or other types of e ploration. .ost element concentrations in geological materials follow a lognormal distribution. $his is demonstrated by plotting of histograms which show a skewed distribution of values towards either the high or low values. )lotting the log values instead of the real values yields a typical 'bell:shaped( distribution. )lotting the of geochemical values using geostatistical methods helps define the following types of values4

$hreshold @alue4 the value chosen above which values are considered anomalous. "nomalous @alues4 any value above the selected threshold value. 8ackground @alues4 'normal( values for the given environmentA ma5ority of values are background values.

$hreshold values can be selected in several different ways.

"rbitrary threshold 2 find the highest value, find the median value (the value at which half of the samples have higher values and half of the samples have lower values), and select a value in between, but closer to the highest value. /umulative fre+uency diagrams 2 line up values in by rankA determine class intervalsA determine fre+uency percent and cumulative fre+uency percentA plot a graph with class intervals on the B a is and concentration on the C a is using log probability paper. $hen specify the percentile to use as the threshold value. $his often selected at the DE.< percentile value (second standard deviation), however, lower cutoffs may be selected to highlight a greater number of anomalous values. $his method also highlights the presence of different 'populations( of values which may be related to different geologic features or rock types.

$he evaluation of results depends largely of the type of samples being studied. #or stream sediment, pan concentrate, and in some cases soil samples, the procedure is often to plot all the values on a map, determine an arbitrary or statistical threshold and highlight the anomalous values. $his will suffice to look for general mineralization trends. #or soil sample grids4 0) contour the dataA look for trends 1) make a thematic map which color codes the samples according to specified class intervalsA look for patterns and trends. %ne method is to assign a color code system or use symbols for specified ranges of values. $his type of map is called a 'thematic( map (#igure 01 2 F). $he advantage of thematic maps is that they are simple to make and provide the reader with a +uick understanding of the distribution of anomalies in an area. "nother method is to create a 'geochemical contour( map (#igure 01 2 <). Here the values are contoured4 lines of

e+ual value (called isopleths) are e trapolated between every data point and the ad5acent points. $his type of map accentuates possible mineralization trends but is much more tedious to construct.

#igure 01 2 F. $hematic geochemistry map showing highest values in red and lowest values in blue.

#igure 01 2 <. Geochemical contour map showing highest values in red and lowest values in gray.