Fractal/multifractal modeling of geochemical data: A review

Renguang Zuo, Jian Wang

PII: S0375-6742(15)00074-6
DOI: doi: 10.1016/j.gexplo.2015.04.010
Reference: GEXPLO 5555

To appear in: Journal of Geochemical Exploration

Received date: 27 February 2015

Revised date: 9 April 2015
Accepted date: 21 April 2015

Please cite this article as: Zuo, Renguang, Wang, Jian, Fractal/multifractal model-
ing of geochemical data: A review, Journal of Geochemical Exploration (2015), doi:
10.1016/j.gexplo.2015.04.010

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Fractal/multifractal modeling of geochemical data: A review

Renguang Zuo, Jian Wang

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State Key Laboratory of Geological Processes and Mineral Resources, China University of

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Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China

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*Corresponding author. zrguang@cug.edu.cn (R. Zuo)

Abstract

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Over the past several decades, a wide range of complex structures or phenomena of interest to
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geologists and geochemists has been quantitatively characterized using fractal/multifractal

theory and models. With respect to the application of fractal/multifractal models to

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geochemical data, the focus has been on how to decompose geochemical populations or
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quantify the spatial distribution of geochemical data. A variety of fractal/multifractal models

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for this purpose have been proposed on the basis of the scaling characteristics of geochemical
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data. These include the concentrationarea (CA) fractal model, concentrationdistance (CD)

fractal model, spectrumarea (SA) fractal model, multifractal singularity analysis, and the

concentrationvolume (CV) fractal model. These fractal models have been widely

demonstrated to be useful, as indicated by the increasing number of published papers. In this

study, fractal/multifractal modeling of geochemical data including its theory, the way it works,

its benefits and limitations, its applications, and the relationships between these models are

reviewed. The comparison among of CA, SA, and multifractal singularity analysis based on

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simulated data suggested that mapping singularity technique can enhance and identify weak

anomalies caused by buried sources. Future study should focus on how to distinguish the true

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anomalies associated to mineralization with the false anomalies from a fractal/multifractal

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perspective.

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Keywords: Fractal/multifractal; Concentrationarea fractal model; Spectrumarea multifractal

model; Concentrationdistance fractal model; Concentrationvolume fractal model;

Singularity
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1. Introduction

Decomposition of geochemical patterns is a basic task for applied geochemists. With

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environmental problems becoming increasingly important in recent years, discrimination

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between anthropogenic pollution and natural background is assuming increasing relevance

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(Darnley et al., 1995; Plant et al., 2001; Lima et al., 2003, 2005, 2008; Albanese et al., 2007).

Similarly, how to effectively detect geochemical anomalies from background is one of the

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major concerns of geochemical exploration, which continues to be a cornerstone to mineral
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exploration at all scales ranging from regional reconnaissance to local exploration (Cohen et

al., 2010; Grunsky, 2010). Anomaly patterns, as the end product of either common geological
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processes over long periods of time or uncommon processes such as oreforming processes,
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weathering, human activities and element dispersion from an orebody, are defined simply as
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geochemical features different from those that usually occur more frequently. These
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differences consist not only of the frequency and spatial distribution of geochemical data,

both of which have been investigated widely in the past several decades (e.g., Ahrens, 1954;

Krige, 1966;Turcotte, 1986, 1997; Reimann and Filzmoser, 2000; Agterberg, 2007; Carranza,

2009), but also the geometrical characteristics and scale invariance of geochemical patterns

(Cheng et al., 1994, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2000; Xu and Cheng, 2001; Li et al., 2003; Lima et al.,

2003; Afzal et al., 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013a; Agterberg, 2012a, 2012b; Zuo et al., 2015). It has

been shown that ore elements, especially trace elements, do not follow a normal or lognormal

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distribution, but instead follow a positively skewed distribution with a long Pareto tail toward

high values (e.g., Ahrens, 1957). With respect to the spatial distribution of geochemical data,

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autocorrelation often exists over a certain spatial range. The geometry of geochemical

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anomalies, also an important aspect, indicates geological structures. For example, linear

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anomalies may be associated with underlying faults, while arcuate anomalies may imply

intrusive bodies (Cheng et al., 1999). Recent studies of geochemical patterns at different

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scales have shown that self-similarity or self-affinity are fundamental properties of
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geochemical data (e.g., Blviken et al., 1992; Cheng et al., 1994; Zuo et al., 2009a, 2009b;

Afzal et al., 2011). The most effective way to distinguish geochemical anomalies from the
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background is to adopt a comprehensive technique that combines the properties mentioned

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above.
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The typical and most widely used method for detection of geochemical anomalies is setting
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threshold values, which contain the upper and lower limits of background variations (Hawkes

and Webb, 1962). Observations outside of this range are referred to as anomalies, whereas

those within background are not. However, traditional methods, including the one mentioned

above, exploratory data analysis (Tukey, 1977; Behrens, 1997; Reimann, 2005a, 2005b;

Carranza, 2010), and multivariate statistics (Zuo, 2011a, 2011b; Zuo et al., 2009a, 2009b,

2013; Yousefi et al., 2012, 2014), are based on the frequency distribution of geochemical

values and, therefore, neglect spatial variation and other potential characteristics that can

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provide valuable information. Considering the fact that exploration geochemical data are

typically spatially dependent, a couple of frequencyspace-based methods, such as the inverse

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distance-weighted (IDW) and different kriging methods, have been put forward (Krige, 1978;

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Lam, 1983; Zimmerman et al., 1999). Although these methods acknowledge the spatial

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dependence of element concentrations, they do not consider that spatial variability is rugged

and singular rather than smooth and differentiable.

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The main attraction of fractal/multifractal theory lies in its ability to quantify irregular and
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complex phenomena or processes that exhibit similarity over a wide range of scales, which is

termed self-similarity (Mandelbrot, 1983; Feder, 1988). Since the concept of fractal was
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introduced by Mandelbrot in the 1960s, a number of studies were applied to geological

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processes and phenomena to characterize the spatial distributions of concentrations and the
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relationship between tonnage and grade of deposits (e.g., Mandelbrot, 1983; Turcotte, 1986,
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1997, 2002; Lavallee et al., 1993; Cheng et al., 1994, 2000). With respect to applied

geochemistry, various researchers are being implemented on the fractal properties of

geochemical patterns over different scales, as indicated by the increasing number of published

papers (Fig. 1). For example, the number of papers published in the Journal of Geochemical

Exploration (JGE) at the five-year scale has increased nearly exponentially as the total

number of papers in JGE, Applied Geochemistry (AG), and Geochemistry: Exploration,

Environment, Analysis (GEEA). These numbers indicate that fractal/multifractal models have

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an important role, especially in applications to geochemical exploration. In detail, three

important achievements have been made over the past thirty years. The first one is the

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proposal of a series of fractal/multifractal models used for separating geochemical anomalies

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from background or for determining baseline concentration in environmental studies. The

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second is the introduction of the concept of singularity, which enables us to study

mineralization from a new nonlinear perspective and provides an effective tool for mapping

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local and weak anomalies, and the third is the ability to quantify the vertical distribution of
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geochemical elements using fractal methods.

<Insert Fig. 1 here>

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Based on previously published researches, this paper provides an overview of

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fractal/multifractal modeling of geochemical data, including its theory, the way it works, its
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benefits and limitations, its applications, and the relationships among various models.
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2. Fractal/multifractal models

The study of Blviken et al. (1992) was among the first papers to address the importance of

fractal models used for geochemical landscape studies and to predict their profound impact on

geochemical exploration. Cheng et al. (1994) proposed the concentration-area fractal model

(CA), which represents the first important advancement in fractal/multifractal modeling of

geochemical data (Zuo et al., 2012) and is a fundamental technique used frequently for

modeling geochemical anomalies (Carranza, 2009). The spectrum-area fractal model (SA),

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introduced by Cheng et al. (1999) as a version of the CA model in the frequency domain,

can separate overlapping populations using more than one cutoff value. Based on

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Mandelbrots radial-density law, by replacing density with concentration, Li et al. (2003)

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proposed the concentrationdistance (CD) fractal model, which is used for discriminating

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geochemical anomalies from background. Carranza (2009) reviewed the fractal/multifractal

methods used to model geochemical data in his book Geochemical Anomaly and Mineral

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Prospectivity Mapping in GIS and demonstrated the advantages of these models. Afzal et al.
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(2011) extended the C-A fractal model to 3D and developed the concentrationvolume (CV)

fractal model to identify various zones of mineralization. These models have been
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acknowledged widely as powerful tools for identifying anomalies as well as for determining
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geochemical baseline in environmental studies (e.g., Cheng et al., 1994, 1997, 2000, 2010;
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Gonalves et al., 2001; Xu and Cheng, 2001; Li et al., 2003; Panahi et al., 2004; Albanese et
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al., 2007; Afzal et al., 2010, 2011, 2013b; Deng et al., 2010; Zuo, 2011a, 2011b, 2014;

Sadeghi et al., 2012; Ali et al., 2007; Heidari et al., 2013; Jesus et al., 2013; Wang et al., 2013;

He et al., 2013; Asadi et al., 2014; Sun et al., 2014; Luz et al., 2014). As for the concept of

singularity, Cheng (2007) considered mineralization to be a singular process due to an

efficient process of element enrichment. A singularity mapping technique was proposed to

characterize the degree of uniqueness of geological features, and it can detect potential targets

that are often smoothed by traditional contouring methods (e.g., Cheng, 2007; Xie et al., 2007;

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Zuo and Cheng, 2008; Cheng and Agterberg, 2009; Zuo et al., 2009, 2013, 2015; Bai et al.,

2010; Sun et al., 2010; Arias et al., 2012; Xiao et al., 2012, 2014; Zhao et al., 2012, 2013; Liu

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et al., 2013; Zhao et al., 2014; Chen et al., 2015). Considering the fact that different points

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within a small vicinity may have different singularity exponents, Chen et al. (2007) proposed

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a local singularity iteration algorithm as an improvement of parameter estimation involved in

the local singularity analysis. Cheng (2012) proposed a densityarea power-law model,

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attempting to systematically confirm that singularity analysis is effective for recognition of
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weak geochemical anomalies. Agterberg (2012a, 2012b) noticed that singularity exponents

are linearly related to logarithmically transformed element concentration values, which can be
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used to measure the small-scale nugget effect caused by measurement error and microscopic
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randomness. Zuo et al. (2015) found that the local singularity index calculated by the original
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algorithm is influenced by background values and proposed a modified algorithm to

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overcome these shortcomings. With respect to the third aforementioned important

achievement, characterization of the vertical distribution of elements, several parameters,

including the box-counting dimension, Hurst exponent, power-law frequency characteristics,

etc., usually need to be estimated. A number of studies have demonstrated that the distribution

of geochemical elements in borehole exhibit fractal properties, just as the distribution in

surficial materials (Sanderson et al., 1994; Monecke et al., 2001; Zuo et al., 2009b; Wang et

al., 2012; Nazarpour et al., 2014). These properties can provide useful information about

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mineralization and can be used to distinguish mineralized zones from those that are not

mineralized.

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2.1. Numbersize model

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The very important fractal model, i.e., the numbersize model (NS), was firstly proposed by

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Mandelbrot (1983) to characterize the relationship between the size of objects and the number

of objects with size greater than or equal to a given size. Based on this model, several variants

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have been developed and successfully applied in earth sciences (Carlson, 1991; Sanderson et
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al., 1994; Agterberg, 1996; Turcotte, 2002; Zuo et al., 2009b; Hassanpour and Afzal, 2013).

This model was probably the first one with geochemical relevance, but it fails to characterize
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geochemical patterns effectively due to its emphasis on only the frequency distribution of
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variables.
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2.2. Concentrationarea fractal model

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From the multifractal point of view, Cheng et al. (1994) derived the CA

fractal model, which relates the element concentration to the area enclosed by concentration

contours by a power-law relation as follows

A v 1 ; A v 2 , (1)

where A denotes the area with concentration values greater than or equal to the contour

value , is the mathematical symbol for proportional to, and 1 and 2 are exponents

associated with minimum and maximum singularity, respectively. Two approaches can be

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used to calculate the enclosed area. One is based on the contour map created by interpolation

procedures, and the other is based on superimposing a grid with cells on the study area and

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calculating the area by means of a box-counting method. Distinct patterns, each

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corresponding to a set of similarly shaped contours, can be separated by different straight

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segments fitted to the values of the contours and enclosed areas on the loglog plot. The

slopes of these straight lines can be taken as an estimation of the exponents of the power-law

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relation in Eq. (1). The optimum threshold for separating geochemical anomalies from
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background is the concentration value common to both linear relationships on the loglog plot.

2.3. Spectrumarea fractal mode

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Geochemical patterns in the spatial domain can be considered as superimposed signals of

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different frequencies. Based on this argument, Cheng et al. (1999) proposed the SA fractal
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model to separate geochemical anomalies from background using spectral analysis in the
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frequency domain combined with the CA model, which can provide an effective tool for

determining an optimum threshold between different patterns on the basis of the scaling

property. This fractal model also can be expressed as a power-law relation between the power

spectrum and area A E with the power spectrum above the given value as follows:

-2d
A E
, (2)

where is an anisotropic scaling exponent and d represents the overall degree of

concentration. Different patterns can be recognized by fitting several straight lines, each with
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a different slope, to the data pairs of area and power spectrum on the loglog plot. An

irregular fractal filter can then be built according to these distinct patterns with background

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and noise corresponding to low and high power spectrum values being removed. The

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geochemical anomalies of interest can be obtained by converting the filtered pattern back to

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the spatial domain (Cheng, 1999a; Xu and Cheng, 2001; Cheng et al., 2010; Zuo, 2011a,

2011b, 2012, 2013).

2.4. Concentrationdistance fractal model

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A geochemical dispersion pattern often involves many sub-patterns at many hierarchical

levels, leading to the spatial distribution of element concentration being clustered at different
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scales (Li et al., 2003). Mandelbrot proposed the radial-density model as an approach to
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characterize the clustering of point events (Mandelbrot, 1983). Based on this model, Li et al.
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(2003) developed the concentrationdistance (CD) fractal model by replacing the density
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with element concentration. This model can directly process original element concentration

data, which can avoid the error caused by any interpolation procedure. Determination of the

optimum threshold for this model is nearly the same as for the CA model.

2.5. Concentrationvolume fractal model

On the basis of the same idea as the CA model, the CV fractal model was proposed by

Afzal et al. (2011) to quantify the relationship between element concentration and the

accumulative volume with concentration greater than or equal to the given value (Afzal et al.,

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2011; Delavar et al., 2012; Sadeghi et al., 2012; Wang et al., 2012; Lin et al., 2013; Soltani et

al., 2014; Sun et al., 2014).

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2.6. Local singularity analysis

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Singular processes, including earthquakes, mineralization, etc., usually result in anomalous

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amounts of energy release or mass accumulation, which are generally confined to a relatively

narrow spatial-temporal interval (Cheng, 2007). Singularity is a fundamental property of these

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complex processes, and they can often be expressed as multifractal distributions. The
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singularity mapping technique is developed on the basis of the local singularity exponent,

which is calculated by assembling a geochemical map at different scales to quantify the

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scaling characteristics of element concentration or depletion (Cheng, 2007). Within a

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multifractal context, the singular geochemical distribution can be described by the following
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powerlaw relation:

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A =cA 2 , (3)

where A denotes the total amount of metal within an area of size A , c is a constant also

termed the fractal density, and a is the singularity exponent, which can be estimated using the

ratio of the logarithmic transformation of measure and area A as follows

= log 1 2 log
A1 A2 . (4)

Different cases of E (Euclidian dimension) versus zero correspond to different

geochemical dispersion patterns, the case with difference value greater than zero indicating

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element depletion or otherwise enrichment. Cheng (2007) provided a windows-based method

for mapping a local singularity, which has been used widely for mineral prospecting.

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As showed in the Lebesgue decomposition theorem, any complex measure can be

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decomposed into two components: one is an absolutely continuous measure and the other a

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singularity. Therefore, for the power-law relation in Eq. (3), the value of c should be a

nonsingular component (Cheng, 2005; Chen et al., 2007). In the context of GIS, a point is

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different from a pixel because a point has no size. Therefore, the singularity exponent based
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on the raster model represents a local singularity in the sense of small vicinity but not a point-

wise singularity, i.e., the estimated value of c still contains the singularity. This kind of
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knowledge led to the proposal by Chen et al. (2007) of an iterative algorithm to obtain the
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optimal local singularity exponent, which has been demonstrated to be superior to the non-
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iterative algorithm originally proposed by Cheng (2007). Considering that the original
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algorithm used to estimate the local singularity exponent could not directly process a data set

containing negative values and that the estimated singularity is influenced by background

values, Zuo et al. (2015) developed a modified algorithm to overcome the aforementioned

shortcomings. The improvement associated with the new algorithm involves the introduction

of a step in which the minimum value within the maximum window for each given location is

previously subtracted. This kind of straight processing solves the existing problem and

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enables the singularity of similar anomalous patterns within different background values to be

comparable.

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2.7. Other parameters related to fractal methods

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The Hurst exponent (H) was proposed by Hurst (1951) as a measure of long-term dependence,

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and it has been applied widely in the geosciences (Turcotte, 1997). The expected value of H

lies between 0 and 1. A larger H means a stronger persistence of the time series. The rescaled

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range statistic (R/S) analysis as a measure of how the apparent variability of a series changes
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with the length of the time-period being considered is one of the most popular methods to

calculate the Hurst exponent. The rescaled range is calculated through dividing the range of
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the values within a portion of the time series by the standard deviation of the values for the
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whole same portion of the time series. The Hurst exponent can be estimated from the slope of
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regression line with log (n) versus log(R/S), where n is the length of sub-series.
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In addition, the box dimension also can be used for measurement of the complexity of

geochemical patterns, which can be estimated by the box counting method. Further details on

these parameters and models can be found in related literature (e.g., Sanderson et al.,

1994; Zuo et al., 2009a; Wang et al., 2012).

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3. Application

3.1. Identifying geochemical anomalies

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The past several decades saw the emergence of fractal/multifractal models and their utility in

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the field of applied geochemistry. Particularly, various types of geochemical datasets,

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including stream and lake sediments, soil, borehole, and lithogeochemistry datasets have been

processed to identify geochemical anomalies and discriminate between anthropogenic

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pollution and natural sources (e.g., Cheng et al., 1994, 2000,2010; Gonalves et al., 2001; Xu
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and Cheng, 2001; Li et al., 2003; Panahi et al., 2004; Albanese et al., 2007; Afzal et al., 2010,

2011; Deng et al., 2010; Zuo, 2011a, 2011b, 2014; Sadeghi et al., 2012; Heidari et al., 2013;
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Jesus et al., 2013; Wang et al., 2013; He et al., 2013; Asadi et al., 2014; Sun et al., 2014; Luz
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et al., 2014). Many researchers also found that the components decomposed from the original
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geochemical data often have good correspondence to the geological processes or phenomena.
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For example, Cheng et al. (1994) applied the CA fractal model to lithogeochemical data of

the Mitchell-Sulphurets precious metal district, British Columbia, and found that different

fractal patterns exist inside and outside the potassic, sulfidic, and silicic alteration areas. Afzal

et al. (2011) employed the CV fractal model to separate supergene enrichment and hypogene

zones from oxidation zones and barren host rocks, and the zones interpreted on the basis of

the CV fractal model are consistent with the geological settings. In addition, these fractal

models are often combined with principal component analysis or factor analysis methods to

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delineate multi-element association anomalies (e.g., Cheng et al., 1997; Panahi et al., 2004;

Zuo, 2011a, 2011b, 2014; Lin et al., 2013; Asadi et al., 2014; He et al., 2014; Shamseddin et

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al., 2014; Hosseini et al., 2014). New models also can be established based on these models.

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For instance, Wang et al. (2011) proposed a new fractal model to estimate the reserve. In this

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model, an orebody can be divided spatially into several parts with different degrees of

mineralization via the cutoff values obtained from the CA fractal model. Furthermore, on the

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basis of the CA fractal model, a median CA model was derived, and the ore tonnage
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thickness and the metal tonnagegrade thickness models then were established (Wang et al.,

2012). These new models can be helpful for understanding orebody spatial distribution. Cao
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and Cheng (2012) combined the SA fractal model and generalized scale invariance to
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develop a new method, which can not only separate anomalies from background but can also
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provide information about anisotropic scale invariance of geochemical patterns.

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3.2. Mapping mineral prospectivity

Cheng (2007) proposed the concept of the singularity exponent to depict the local structure of

geochemical patterns, and many case studies have been conducted to demonstrate its utility.

Note that some methods, such as principal component analysis, spatially weighted principal

component analysis, spatially weighted geographic regression, robust principal component

analysis, etc., could be applied to the geochemical data before singularity mapping to

integrate information of ore-forming elements (Xiao et al., 2012; Zhao et al, 2012, 2013; Zuo

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et al., 2015). Considering the difference of elemental mobility in areas with overburden, Xiao

et al. (2014) investigated the possibly of mobile elements by means of accumulation

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coefficient analysis to determine a set of suitable indicator elements for further analysis. This

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procedure is necessary for identification of weak anomalies from buried mineralization. From

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the perspective of application, singularity analysis cannot only identify geochemical

anomalies but can also map igneous rock bodies if different element associations are analyzed

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(Zhao et al., 2012). For example, stream sediment geochemical data of K2O, Na2O, SiO2, and
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Al2O3 can be integrated using principal component analysis and then one component score is

processed to map acid igneous rocks using singularity analysis. In addition, on the basis of
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singularity analysis, new models can be established to assist in geochemical exploration.

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Considering the advantage that the singularity exponent can identify heterogeneity, Wang et
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al. (2013) proposed a new model, the fault trace-oriented singularity mapping technique, to
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characterize anisotropic mineralization-associated geochemical signatures. Furthermore, a

tectonic-geochemical exploration model that focuses on fault-controlled and geochemical

halo-associated mineralization was also constructed by Wang et al. (2012).

Note that a singularity distribution map derived from a singularity mapping technique requires

further analysis for modeling mineral prospectivity, which usually involves setting a series of

thresholds to divide the singularity exponents into binary patterns and then calculating the

spatial correlation between these patterns and known deposits and occurrences. These

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correlation indices, termed students t-values, can be estimated by the weights of evidence

method. Further details on this method can be found in related literature (Bonham-Carter,

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1994; Cheng et al., 1994).

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There are also some other applications of singularity mapping techniques that deserve to be

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mentioned. Local singularity analysis has been proposed in the multifractal context, and it can

predict strong local continuity of element concentration values. In comparison with

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conventional methods, one prominent advantage of this approach is its ability to determine all
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singularities including positions with extreme values, which often disable statistical methods

due to the small sample size problem. Agterberg (2012) found that estimated singularities are
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linearly related to logarithmically transformed element concentration values. By means of this

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relation, the small-scale nugget effect can be measured. This argument has been demonstrated
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by several cases, including simulated and practical geochemical data. In addition, singularity
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exponents can be used for interpolation. Conventional methods, such as inverse distance

weighting and Kriging, fail to take into account the local properties of geochemical data. The

newly proposed multifractal interpolation approach can overcome this drawback by

incorporating local singularity into traditional models. In this regard, this method takes into

account the local structure and singularity in assigning weights for data interpolation. Both

one- and two-dimensional cases have been used to demonstrate its superiority over

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conventional methods (Cheng, 1999b, 2000, 2005, 2008). In fact, ordinary moving average

techniques can be taken as a special case of the multifractal interpolation method.

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3.3. Characterization the vertical distribution of geochemical element concentration

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Characterization of the vertical distribution of geochemical element concentration plays an

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important role in economic planning in the mining industry. Cheng (2014) proposed a new

non-linear differential equation which assumes the decay rate of concentration is negatively

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proportional to the concentration itself, with a functional coefficient dependent on vertical
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distance from the underlying surface of mineralized rocks to quantify the decay behaviour of

geochemical concentration of an element in a vertical regolith profile. Many studies have

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revealed that the distribution of geochemical elements exhibits fractal properties, which can
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be characterized by fractal or multifractal models. The routine procedure for this purpose
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involves estimation of several fractal parameters, including the box-counting dimension,

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Hurst exponent, etc. The box dimension often can be used for quantification of the complexity

of phenomena or processes, which usually serves as an indicator to differentiate mineralized

and non-mineralized zones (Zuo et al., 2009). The Hurst exponent is associated with

continuity of mineralization, and the larger the Hurst exponent, the better the continuity. In

addition, the power-law frequency distribution also plays an important role in characterizing

the vertical distribution of geochemical elements. It can reveal different patterns of elemental

distribution and provide cutoff values distinguishing these patterns.

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4. Comparison the CA, SA and singularity index

Cheng (2014) briefly reviewed the state-of-the-art the vertical distribution of elements in

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upper regolith over mineral deposits, and proposed a power-law decay function to model the

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regolith decay trends with increasing distance from the underlying altered rocks or saprocks.

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Cheng's work indicated that the element concentration is a function of the depth of mineral

deposits. For instance, Cheng (2012) showed a geological and geochemical profile in Gejiu

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Tin district, China (c.f., Fig.2 in Cheng, 2012). It can be observed that in the east of Gejiu,
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most of the known deposits with outcropping or shallower ore bodies (Fig. 2G) have large Sn

concentrations; however, in the west, the ore bodies occurred about 1 km below the surface of
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the Earth, correspond to small Sn concentrations (Fig. 2F). Following the preceding studies,
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the CA, SA and singularity index were compared based on simulated data, which were
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created by the superposition of anomalies on a linearly varied background. In this simulated

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model, we only considered the situation described by Cheng (2012, 2014). In practice, there

could be more complex situations which should be further considered. In this paper, the

anomaly pattern was generated using a method similar to the gravity forward model (Telford

et al., 1990), which exhibited a power-law relation between magnitude of the gravity field and

the departure from the geological body. The anomalies were defined as the projection of

patterns around sources with different burial depths. The model and detailed parameters used

for simulating anomalies can are shown in Table 1 and Fig. 2. The simulated geochemical

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pattern (Fig.2c) was created by superimposing the anomalies (Fig. 2b) on the regional

background (Fig. 2a). Figure 2d illustrates the profiles that intersect those patterns in the

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middle and two anomalous sources with different depth. Obviously, the deeper the source, the

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weaker the pattern on the surface. Thus, the anomalous pattern corresponding to the second

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source becomes almost indistinguishable due to the masking effect of the background. Even

for the first one, it has been weakened significantly.

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<Insert Fig. 2 here>
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Three fractal models CA, SA, and local singularity analysis will soon be employed on the

simulated geochemical data to detect anomalies with the aid of a Matlab program (Wang and
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Zuo, 2015). Based on the simulated geochemical pattern, the CA plot, as illustrated in Fig.
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3a, was obtained to reveal the relationship between the threshold value and the number of
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cells with values greater than or equal to it. Three straight lines can be fit by means of the
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least square method. Two threshold values can be then obtained and used further to divide the

geochemical pattern into three components (Fig. 3b). The left part and the circle within the

middle region can be regarded as anomalies. The middle part, with the exception of the circle,

can be regarded as moderate anomalies, and the rest can be considered as background.

Comparing these results with the anomalies map illustrated in Fig. 2b, only the higher

anomaly can be detected, which is associated with a large part of background being classified

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as anomalies. In this regard, the effectiveness of the CA fractal model depends on the

variability of the background.

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<Insert Fig. 3 here>

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Converting the simulated geochemical data to the frequency domain using fast Fourier

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transformation (FFT) and applying the CA model again, the SA plot can then be obtained

(Fig. 4). Two cutoff values can be determined by the same procedure as the CA fractal

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model. The filter can be built using the higher cutoff value and further employed on the FFT
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map. Converting the filtered map back into the spatial domain, two patterns, i.e., background

and anomalies, were generated (Fig. 5a and b).

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<Insert Fig. 4 here>

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<Insert Fig. 5 here>

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Unlike the results obtained by CA and SA can extract anomalies that lie within the varied
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background. The decomposed background is nearly the same as the originally simulated

pattern, with the exception of those locations significantly influenced by the two anomalous

sources. As for the anomaly map, both of the sources can be reflected to some degree.

However, there are also some symmetrically distributed anomalous areas that have no direct

correspondence to potential sources. These areas may be the numerical artifact of the S-A

model itself. In this regard, this method has limited capacity to correctly map anomalies

weakened by thick overburden.

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The singularity mapping technique was also used to detect simulated anomalies. Several

parameters need to be set prior to the calculation of singularity exponents. A series of square

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windows was selected with half window lengths ranging from 4m to 20m at a 4-m interval.

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The singularity map (Fig. 6) could then be created. Obviously, two circular regions with

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relatively low singularity exponents are delineated. The locations and shapes of the regions

are highly consistent with the anomalous sources. In addition, there are scarcely any

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interferences, as indicated by the fact that the singularity exponents of the regional field area
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approach 2. However, note that the singularity of the left delineated area is relatively stronger

than that of the right one due to their different burial depths. Therefore, the singularity
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mapping technique is a powerful tool for enhancing weak anomalies and locating anomalous
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sources from a multifractal perspective.

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<Insert Fig. 6 here>

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5. Discussion and Conclusions

Fractal/multifractal models have provided a new perspective for modeling of geochemical

data. These methods also have been proved effectively in practice by many case studies.

However, for analyzing geochemical data itself, there are still some unsolved problems. No

matter what methods are adopted, the anomalies detected are usually of unequal importance

for further exploration. Thus, methods for selecting promising anomalies mathematically are

crucial and require additional research. There are few studies on whether fractal/multifractal

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models could be used to assess anomalies, and to distinguish anomalies associated to

mineralization with false anomalies which may be caused by noise, data processing, or other

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geological processes. In addition, detection of geochemical anomalies in areas with more or

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less overburden remains the principal challenge. Mechanisms of element dispersion and

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distribution in the surficial environment should be investigated further with the help of new

theoretical approaches, including fractal and multifractal models.

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This study has mainly presented an overview of fractal/multifractal models used to model
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geochemical data. These models, including CA, SA, the singularity mapping technique, etc.,

have been used widely to detect anomalies in geochemical exploration and determine the
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geochemical baseline in environmental studies. The simulated experiment presented here

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made a comparison of three fractal/mutifractal models, i.e., CA, SA, and singularity
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mapping, indicating that singularity mapping technique can enhance and identify weak
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anomalies caused by buried sources.

Acknowledgments

We thank John Carranza, Peyman Afzal and an anonymous reviewer's comments and

suggestions, which improve this study.This research benefited from the joint financial support

from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 41372007), and the Program for

New Century Excellent Talents in University (NCET131016).

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geochemical evidential map for increasing probability of success in mineral potential

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Zuo, R., 2011b. Identifying geochemical anomalies associated with Cu and PbZn skarn

mineralization using principal component analysis and spectrumarea fractal modeling

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in the Gangdese Belt, Tibet (China). Journal of Geochemical Exploration 111, 1322.

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exploration data. Journal of Geochemical Exploration 122, 13.
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Zuo, R., Xia, Q., Zhang, D., 2013. A comparison study of the CA and SA models with

singularity analysis to identify geochemical anomalies in covered areas. Applied

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Zuo, R., 2014. Identification of geochemical anomalies associated with mineralization in the

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Fanshan district, Fujian, China. Journal of Geochemical Exploration 139, 170176.

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Figure Captions

Fig. 1. Histogram of the number of papers related with fractal/multifractal modeling of

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geochemical data published in Journal of Geochemical Exploration (JGE), Applied

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Geochemistry (AG) and Geochemistry: Exploration, Environment, Analysis (GEEA)

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during 1991-2014.

Fig.2. Maps showing simulated geochemical patterns: (a) a regional field created by linearly

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decreased function; (b) anomalies generated by two sources with a different buried
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depth; (c) simulated geochemical pattern by superimposing the regional background

on the anomalies; (d) a profile demonstrating three simulated maps.

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Fig. 3. (A) Loglog plot of concentration versus area with values greater than or equal to the
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given concentration; (b) anomalies map identified by the C-A fractal model.
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Fig.4. Loglog plot of power spectrum values and areas.

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Fig. 5. Maps showing background (a) and anomalous (b) map obtained by the S-A model.

Fig. 6. Map showing the singularity index.

Table 1. Model and parameters used to simulate anomalies.

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Fig. 5

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Table 1

Anomalies Model C h/m Position(m)

No. 1 P
Ch 4000 80 (400,402)
x

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y h
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No. 2 4000 140 (700,402)

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Note: The simulated values range from 1 to 14. P -simulated value; h -buried depth; C -

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constant; ( x, y) -location of center of anomaly source.

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Highlights

(1) Fractal/multifractal modelling of geochemical data is reviewed.

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(2) The C-A, S-A and singularity index are compared based on simulated data.

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(3)Singularity mapping technique can well detect weak geochemical anomalies.

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