The Egyptian Journal of Remote Sensing and Space Sciences 22 (2019) 305–313

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The Egyptian Journal of Remote Sensing and Space Sciences

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Research Paper

Quantitative comparison of structural and alteration genesis relations of

Masahim and Bidkhan-volcano calderas: Located in northern strip of
Dehej-Sardu’ieh, Kerman, Iran
Hesam Moeinzadeh ⇑, Bahram Bahrambeygi
Department of Geology Shahid, Bahonar University of Kerman, Iran

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The origin of hydrothermal alterations in different facies of calderas can be exogenous or endogenous,
Received 13 September 2017 depending on the age of volcanism and the kind of structures in an area. Naturally, most alterations have
Revised 15 July 2018 proportion with faults and fractures which facilitate fluid penetration. Comparing different locations of
Accepted 1 August 2018
areas with high concentration of fractures in studied volcanic areas of Masahim and Bidkhan calderas
Available online 19 December 2018
and investigating the alterations of central facies within current study suggests that there is the strong
relation between argillic alteration (as supergenic and exogenous alteration) and lineaments whereas
Keywords:
phylic alterations as more endogenous genesis alteration have less general relation with lineaments. In
Lineament factor
Origin of alterations
Masahim caldera, with younger volcanism age, the origin of clay minerals is mostly related with meteoric
Spectral angle mapper waters and its major mineral is kaolin. According to XRD experiments, minerals such as pyrophyllite and
Aster dickite (as endogenous clays) are not very common in Masahim caldera; most alterations in Masahim
Masahim-volcano volcanic area are argillic with exogenous origin. On the other hand in Bidkhan caldera, as older volcano
Bidkhan-volcano than Masahim caldera, despite the argillic presence, phylic alterations (with endogenous origin) are sig-
nificantly observed as well. Conformity matrix of alteration map and upper bound of the lineament-index
map in Masahim and Bidkhan areas shows conformity coefficients of 37.8 and 29 percent for argillic and
1.1 and 10.7 for phylic alterations, respectively. Positive relation between argillic alteration and
lineament-index, and weaker relation between phylic alteration and the factor of lineaments in center
of Masahim and Bidkhan calderas, alongside with closer relation between general alterations regime of
Masahim area (mostly exogenous) and lineament-index, indicates and confirms stronger effects of faults
in supergenic processes compared with hypogenic processes within these areas. Also, due to older age of
volcanism activity in Bidkhan caldera (longer time of erosion action) and younger age of Masahim volcan-
ism (shorter time of erosion action), current surface observable facies are deeper facies in Bidkhan caldera
with more endogenous phylic alterations, while in Masahim caldera, more surface facies are mostly argil-
lic exogenous alterations.
Ó 2018 National Authority for Remote Sensing and Space Sciences. Production and hosting by Elsevier
B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-
nc-nd/4.0/).

1. Introduction the volcano is a stratovolcano similar to Masahim Mountain; its

Bidkhan-volcano: The volcano is located in Orumieh-Dokhtar
belt in geological classifications and in Dehej-Sardu’ieh one in Ker-
man classifications. Occupying an area of more than 400 sq. km,
Peer review under responsibility of National Authority for Remote Sensing and
Space Sciences.
⇑ Corresponding author at: Department of Geology, Faculty of Science, Shahid
Bahonar University of Kerman, Kerman, Iran – 7816914111. Tel./Fax: +98-
03431322035.
E-mail addresses: hmoeinzadeh@uk.ac.ir (H. Moeinzadeh), b.bahram@sci.uk.ac.ir
(B. Bahrambeygi).
caldera diameter and volcano base diameter are 10 and 25 km,
respectively. This volcanic complex contains dacite compounds
as well as pyroclastic and lava rocks. The corresponding stratifica-
tion is as follows:
* Green lahar with 30-meter thickness including Eocene vol-
canic lithologies
* Lahar with 50-meter thickness including andesite lithologies
* Lahar and andesite lava
* White volcanic ember with the 1-to-15-meter thickness
* Lahar with andesite lava and volcanic paste

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejrs.2018.08.001
1110-9823/Ó 2018 National Authority for Remote Sensing and Space Sciences. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V.
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
306 H. Moeinzadeh, B. Bahrambeygi / Egypt. J. Remote Sensing Space Sci. 22 (2019) 305–313
* Rhyiodacite lava needles which include flow textures and
massive pyroclastic deposits (Khalili Mobarhan, 2010).
Masahim-volcano: is considered as one of Iran’s largest volca-
noes. It is located in southern parts of Orumieh-Dokhtar belt
(Fig. 1). Morphology of Masahim caldera has been under the influ-
ence of different factors. Erosions have gradually faded away from
the conical shape of the volcano. Base diameter is around 25 km
and the erupted materials now cover an area of 530 sq. km
(Ahmadipour, 1994). These vast-alterations have significantly
influenced granodiorite lithologies of the area and created large
volumes of kaolin masses. The process is finished by silisization
and sulphidic mineralization so that copper, lead, and zinc com-
pounds are formed around the caldera crater at north Amroudieh
(Aminian and Moradian, 2010). Argillic and phylic alterations are
the most common visible outcrops at caldera crater.
1.1. Previous studies
Phylic alterations are mostly caused by operation of hydrother-
mal fluids at high temperatures, and if their hypogenic origin is
approved, they can be positive signs of separation of ore-bearing
masses from the barren lithologies (Crawford, 1980; Shahabpour,
2005). According to Harben and Kužvart (1997), Guilbert and
Park (2007) and Sillitoe (2010), argillic alterations grow in acidic
environments and are mostly known by clay minerals; they believe
that during this process, all alkaline cations are (almost) com-
pletely excreted from within the lithologies. Big flows of acidic
hydrothermal fluids result in kaolinite formation under supergenic
conditions, and in pyrophyllite and dycit-kaolinite under hypo-
genic conditions. Therefore, severe hydrolysis of aluminum-
containing silicates due to big flows of acidic hydrothermal fluids
will result in the formation of kaolinite, and pyrophyllite accompa-
Fig. 1. Location of Masahim (up) and Bidkhan (down) volcanoes on the map of DehajSarduieh belt of Kerman - with modifying from Shafiei et al. (2009a).
nied by dycite as the corresponding acidic phase under hypogenic
conditions. Argillic alterations are, hence, mostly caused by opera-
tions of exogenous hydrothermal fluids, and identification and
classification of the origins to the alterations are of high signifi-
cance in exploring issues. Several studies have been done on the
origins of altering hydrothermal fluids and their structural rela-
tionships so far; Mclemore (1994), Beukes et al. (1995), Kutina
(2006), Guilbert and Park (2007), Shahabpour (2007), Shafiei
et al. (2009b), and Julia et al. (2014), are examples of these studies,
which have looked on the issue from different points of view.
Aminian and Moradian (2010) have also done some studies on
the origins of Hydrothermal Fluids and alterations within the
northern part of Dehej-Sardu’ieh belt. Completing the former
investigations, the present paper deals with the processes of alter-
ations as related to control structures, and it analyzes the influence
of caldera faults’ structures on exogenous/endogenous nature of
alterations.
2. Methodology
2.1. Preprocessing
Preprocessing of Aster multispectral data was include organiza-
tion of bands in a form of digital data, calculation of the middle
wavelength of each spectral band, and putting it in its factual
wavelength, extract plotted bands, removal of anomalous noises,
geometric correction, and finally atmospheric correction. A geo-
metric correction was undertaken by images of Quick bird satellite
mounted on the Global Positioning System (GPS) and via field stud-
ies. Atmospheric correction of Aster data was performed using
Internal Average Relative Radiance (IARR) or a relative average of
reflectance as a suitable preprocessing for recovering spectral
 H. Moeinzadeh, B. Bahrambeygi / Egypt. J. Remote Sensing Space Sci. 22 (2019) 305–313
information on Multispectral data in a semi-arid
(Bahrambeygi and Moeinzadeh, 2017).
2.2. Spectral angle mapping on Aster multispectral data
One of the efficient modern methods of locating phylic and
argillic alteration is using electromagnetic spectrums of common
minerals of the zones (Alavipanah, 2004; Shokr, 2011; El-Magd
and El-Zeiny, 2014; AbdelRahman et al., 2016; Bahrambeygi and
Moeinzadeh, 2017); muscovite mineral as the origin to phylic
alterations, and clay minerals, especially kaolinite, as the index
mineral of argillic zones, for example (Guilbert and Park, 2007).
In the present paper, these studies were carried out through Aster
Multispectral image sensor. Spectral angle mapping method is one
of the methods for processing satellite images which was for the
first time used by Kruse and his collaborators in 1993. It was
applied on the basis of the similarities between spectrums of the
reference mineral and the studied mineral for kaolinite and mus-
covite minerals. The similarity of the two spectrums is identified
by measuring the angle between them. The angle between the
reflexing spectrum of reference and the reflexing spectrum from
the studied pixels is considered as the similarity criterion. This
technique is different from lighting effects and is independent of
the sun’s lightness factors because the angle between two vectors
is independent of vectors’ length (Kruse et al., 1993). Each pixel in
images of spectral angle mapping is representative of the differ-
ence between spectrums obtained from reflections from studied
surfaces and the reference one. This difference in spectral pattern
is shown as a radian angle between 0_90 (Van der Meer et al.,
2012). The output of this method is a qualitative approximation
of the similarity of the studied spectrum with any reference spec-
trum; any lighter pixel in the output is suggestive of bigger angle
ergo bigger difference between the two spectrums while darker
pixels show smaller angles and more similarities. Here, maps for
phylic and argillic alteration of Masahim and Bidkhan calderas
are prepared using the mentioned processing on Aster sensor data
and extensive field studies.
2.3. Lineament-index
In most economic geology studies, minerals which are con-
nected with hydrothermal fluids are considered as one of the
world’s most important metal resources (Guilbert and Park,
2007; Robb, 2013). Alteration is an important outcome of
hydrothermal mineralization. The type of alteration and its devel-
opment depends on factors such as kind of intrusive mass, depth
and volume of intrusive mass, kind of surrounding lithologies,
kind of faults development, and tectonic structures of hosting
environment. Lineament-index is a factor which represents an
Fig. 2. Altered (mostly phylic) lithologies of central parts of Bidkhan caldera.
307
region outline of a tectonic structure of any area as a combination of
faults’ intensity and relations per unit surface; it is, indeed, a
function of lineaments’ intersections, number, and length per unit
surface. There are different possible ways of connecting the infor-
mation necessary for the measurement of lineament-index. One
of the best methods for measuring lineament-index, which is as
well used in the present study, is to use information layers within
a geographical information system. Faults are first located at their
exact coordinate within this method; then based on Castel
method (Hardcastle, 1995), within a cellular net, faults’ intersec-
tions, number, and lengths are measured in each cell and then
ascribed to one point at the center of the cell. In the end, each
point represents a quantitative criterion obtained from the fol-
lowing formula:
Pf ¼ ða=AÞ þ ðb=BÞ þ ðc=CÞ
where a stands for length of faults within each cell, A for average
length of all faults, b stands for number of cells within each cell,
and B for number of all present faults of the area, c stands for num-
ber of faults intersections within each cell, and C for number of all
intersections within the area. Interpolation between central points
of defined cells on the continuous zoned map is obtained from
lineament-index for each point (Hardcastle, 1995; Bonetto et al.,
2015).
2.4. Sampling method
In order to investigate different alterations and prepare a map
of them for the area, extensive field studies, as well as sampling
from central facies of calderas, were carried out within nets which
have been formerly designed. In microscopic studies, those sam-
ples which were representative samples of the whole alterations
of each caldera and the present common minerals of the lithologies
were selected to be analyzed. Figs. 2 and 3 indicate the most com-
mon lithologies of the area within the field and microscopic scales,
respectively. Fig. 4 shows the XRD analysis carried out on sample
lithologies of Bidkhan. Fig. 5 shows the same analysis for Masahim.
Field and microscopic images of the mentioned lithologies are
observable in Figs. 6 and 7, respectively.
3. Results
3.1. Field/microscopic/experimental studies
Main faults and alterations of central facies of Bidkhan-volcano
were taken during wide various surveys and later recorded, in form
of vector information, in geographic information systems. In order
to further investigate and classify different alterations of the area,
308 H. Moeinzadeh, B. Bahrambeygi / Egypt. J. Remote Sensing Space Sci. 22 (2019) 305–313

Fig. 3. Mostly serisite-alterations of Bidkhan lithologies in microscopic scale (xpl), Bidkhan Samples with the mostly serisite background, and phenocrysts including zoning
plagioclase.

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2-Theta - Scale
Demo sample text - File: dr-esmaili-910501-sam B3.raw - Type: 2Th/Th locked - Start: 20.000 ° - End: 80 Muscovite, vanadian barian - (K,Ba,Na)0.75(Al,Mg,Cr,V)2(Si,Al,V)4O10(OH,O)2 - a 5.20990 - b 9.07290
Operations: Y Scale Mul 0.875 | Strip kAlpha2 0.500 | Background 0.000,1.000 | Import
Quartz, syn - SiO2 - a 4.91344 - b 4.91344 - c 5.40524 - alpha 90.000 - beta 90.000 - gamma 120.000 -
Albite, calcian, ordered - (Na,Ca)Al(Si,Al)3O8 - a 8.16100 - b 12.85800 - c 7.11200 - alpha 93.680 - beta
Anorthite, ordered - CaAl2Si2O8 - a 8.17560 - b 12.87200 - c 14.18270 - alpha 93.172 - beta 115.911 - g
Albite, disordered - NaAlSi3O8 - a 8.14900 - b 12.88000 - c 7.10600 - alpha 93.370 - beta 116.300 - gam
Anorthite, sodian, disordered - (Ca,Na)(Si,Al)4O8 - a 8.18130 - b 12.87400 - c 7.09700 - alpha 93.378 - b
Albite, ordered - NaAlSi3O8 - a 8.13800 - b 12.79000 - c 7.16100 - alpha 94.270 - beta 116.600 - gamma

Fig. 4. XRD results for Bidkhan altered stones (blue peaks for quartz and albite minerals; red peaks for serisite and muscovite).

some of the altered lithologies of the area were taken away and intensity in this area when compared with those of Masahim cal-
studied under handheld and microscopic scales. The studies are dera. Peaks related to albite and anorthites are observable near
suggestive of the common presence of phylic and argillic alteration the clear serisite (muscovite) peaks which are signs of hypogene-
across this area (Figs. 2 and 3). alterations. In microscopic images also it is detectable that less-
Extensive field studies were as well carried out in Masahim cal- altered plagioclases are at times perfectly preserved. Fig. 5 shows
dera, sampling was done in the previously designed net, and sam- a picture of analyses of Masahim lithologies; here we see that
ples were petrographically studied. Location of main faults was intensity is higher, in comparison to those of Bidkhan, and highest
obtained through the same process as that of Bidkhan. Handheld peaks are related to particular angles of the mineral kaolin. Micro-
and microscopic studies of these altered samples alongside with scopic images of the samples included clay and serisite back-
XRD (X-Ray Diffraction) studies are suggestive of the fact that grounds where highly altered plagioclases are later formed. Due
moderate argillic alterations are the most common alterations in to the younger age of this caldera, the lithologies have resulted
the area (Figs. 4–6). Results of XRD for some Bidkhan lithologies from surface faces and although are primarily formed by
are represented in Fig. 4.Bidkhan lithologies are associated with hypogenic-alterations are as well affected by supergenic
deeper facies and the alterations seem to be of weaker alteration hydrothermal fluids.
 H. Moeinzadeh, B. Bahrambeygi / Egypt. J. Remote Sensing Space Sci. 22 (2019) 305–313 309

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2-Theta - Scale
Demo sample text - File: dr-esmaili-910501-sam 11.raw - Type: 2Th/Th locked - Start: 20.000 ° - End: 80.000 °
Operations: Y Scale Mul 0.792 | Y Scale Mul 1.208 | Y Scale Mul 0.750 | Y Scale Mul 0.667 | Strip kAlpha2 0.500 | Background 0.000,1.00
Quartz, syn - SiO2 - a 4.91344 - b 4.91344 - c 5.40524 - alpha 90.000 - beta 90.000 - gamma 120.000 - P3221 (154) - Primitive
Gismondine - CaAl2Si2O8·4H2O - a 10.02400 - b 10.61400 - c 9.84100 - alpha 90.000 - beta 92.480 - gamma 90.000 - P21/c (14) - Primitive
Ajoite - (K,Na)Cu7AlSi9O24(OH)6·3H2O - a 15.21800 - b 24.71200 - c 13.63200 - alpha 90.000 - beta 92.900 - gamma 90.000 - P21/* (11) - Primitive
Kaolinite-1 ITA RG - Al2Si2O5(OH)4 - a 5.15500 - b 8.95900 - c 7.40700 - alpha 91.680 - beta 104.900 - gamma 89.940 - C1 (0) - Base-centred
Muscovite-2 ITM RG, ammonian - (K,NH4,Na)Al2(Si,Al)4O10(OH)2 - a 5.16000 - b 8.99000 - c 20.06000 - alpha 90.000 - beta 95.100 - gamma 90.000 -

Fig. 5. XRD results for Masahim altered stones (red peaks for kaolinite mineral).

Fig. 6. Altered argillic lithologies found in central parts of Masahim caldera.

Fig. 7. Microscopic images of mostly clay alterations within Masahim altered samples (xpl), Backgrounds formed of argillic minerals; just some plagioclase shapes are
preserved.
310 H. Moeinzadeh, B. Bahrambeygi / Egypt. J. Remote Sensing Space Sci. 22 (2019) 305–313

Comparison of altered samples of study sites was another proof infrared wavelengths as well as some field studies were used.
to the mostly endogenous origin of altering hydrothermal fluids in At this stage, results of field studies were gathered and put, in
Bidkhan and mostly exogenous origin of altering hydrothermal flu- form of vector information, into geographic information systems.
ids in Masahim lithologies; the average LOI for 8 Bidkhan samples Study regions spectrum was considered as the didactic informa-
was assessed to be 3% and an average amount of volatile sub- tion; after pre-processing and preparation of satellite data
stances was over 4% for 12 Masahim samples. Higher amounts of through application of spectral angle mapping method as a con-
potassium in Bidkhan altered lithologies and lower amounts of alu- trolled dividing method for satellite images, regions with clay
minum, in comparison with altered lithologies of Masahim caldera, alterations were separated from those with serisite-alterations
are suggestive of the common presence of serisite-alterations in within Bidkhan and Masahim.
Bidkhan (Table 1). Therefore, based on petrographic studies, geo- Evaluation of performed processing was done through random
chemical documents, as well as some previous studies (Shafiei points; a map for alterations was finally obtained with 90% confi-
et al., 2009b; Aminian and Moradian, 2010; Bahrambeygi et al., dence and in the form of vector information (Figs. 8 and 9).
2012; Bahrambeygi et al., 2015), most alterations in Masahim are
formed in connection with supergenic hydrothermal fluids while
those of Bidkhan are mostly related to Hypogenic hydrothermal 3.3. Map measurements of Lineament-index
fluids.
Field studies, satellite images, and information from regional
3.2. Preparing the map for surface alterations of study sites maps of Shahr-e-Babak (Masahim caldera) and Bardsir (Bidkhan
caldera), as a move toward identification of main faults of each
In order to prepare the map for surface alterations of study study site, were used in the preparation of lineament-index
sites, Aster sensor multispectral images within visible and short maps (Figs. 10 and 11). After being extracted, faults were put
into geographic information with their exact coordinates in
Table 1 the form of vector information. Faults’ intersections, number,
Geochemical comparison of Masahim and Bidkhan area’s major Oxides. and lengths were measured for each cell and then ascribed to
– BIDKHAN MASAHIM a point in the center of each cell. Based on Castel method
– Oxid (%) Oxid (%) (Hardcastle, 1995), faults’ intersections, number, and lengths
SiO2 64/04 60 calculated for each cell and combine to a quantitative factor
TiO2 0/48 0/47 of Photo-lineament Factor with following formula: Pf = (a/A) +
Al2O3 16/36 16/65 (b/B) + (c/C).
Fe2O3 2/28 4/1 Where a is length of faults within each cell, A is the overall aver-
FeO 2/4 –
MnO 0/08 0/07
age of lengths of all faults, b stands for number of cells within each
MgO 1/6 2/2 cell, and B is the overall average of number of all present faults of
CaO 4/49 4/4 the area, c stands for number of faults intersections within each
Na2O 3/98 3/5 cell, and C for overall average of intersections of all cells within
K2O 2/66 2/1
the area. After measuring lineament-index for each cell,
P2O5 0/17 0/18
L.O.I 3 4/1 interpolation was done for central points and zoning map of
lineament-index was obtained for each area.

Fig. 8. The map for argillic and phylic alterations resulted from processing of Aster sensor spectral data and extensive field studies in Bidkhan.
 H. Moeinzadeh, B. Bahrambeygi / Egypt. J. Remote Sensing Space Sci. 22 (2019) 305–313 311

Fig. 9. The map for argillic and phylic alterations resulted from processing of electromagnetic data and extensive field studies in Masahim caldera.

Fig. 10. (Left) A picture of each cell’s net and central point’s alongside with faults of Bidkhan-volcano, (Right) digital map for lineament-index.

4. Discussion lineament-index was investigated at the center of the two calderas.

4.1. Conformity of Lineament-index and Phylic-Argillic alterations
After preparing maps for main faults and alterations in Bidkhan
and Masahim calderas, conformity of alterations intensity with
Eventually, for extracting reference alteration maps, according to
Van Genderen et al. (1978) in the histogram of output images,
those pixels which their whiteness values laying on the lower
bound average plus two times of standard deviations, were
selected as favorable pixels and presented as alteration vector data.
312 H. Moeinzadeh, B. Bahrambeygi / Egypt. J. Remote Sensing Space Sci. 22 (2019) 305–313

Fig. 11. (Left) A picture of each cell’s net and central point’s alongside with faults of Masahim-volcano, (Right) digital map for lineament-index.

To do so, vectors obtained from lineament factor map and alter-
ations of each site were applied to study grounds through a com-
pressed net of digital pixels (Fig. 12A & B). In order to provide a
quantitative comparison factor, we create confusion matrixes
between alteration map levels and photo-lineament map levels.
In this approaches as it used by Van Genderen et al. (1978),
Alavipanah (2004), Bahrambeygi et al. (2015), and Bahrambeygi
and Moeinzadeh (2017), we can obtain conformity indexes by fac-
tors such as user accuracy rates. Conformity indexes of the pixels in
the argillic alterations map and upper bound of lineament factor in
Masahim and Bidkhan central calderas illustrate values of 37.8%
and 29.4%, respectively. Hence, high conformity is found between
argillic alteration and lineament-index within the two sites: out
of the 3000 revealed pixels in upper bound of the lineament factor
map, more than 1100 pixels of Masahim and 850 pixels of Bidkhan
are located within argillic alterations regions (Table 2A and B). This
conformity can be due to downward waters which, alongside with
bowl-like morphology of calderas, causes developed supergenic-
alterations. Furthermore, conformity index for phylic alterations
and upper bound of lineament factor in central parts of Masahim
caldera is 1.1%; the same value is 10.7% for Bidkhan-volcano
(Fig. 3), both of which are very low values: out of the 3000 revealed
pixels in upper bound of lineament Factor, only 33 pixels are in
phylic regions; the same number is 320 for Bidkhan site which,

Fig. 12. Zoning map of lineament Factor and phylic and argillic alterations in Bidkhan (A) and Masahim (B) volcano.

Table 2
Results of matrix-pixel processing and correlation coefficient for lineament factor in Masahim and Bidkhan alterations.

A phylic Argillic unclassified sum B phylic Argillic unclassified sum

PF 321 871 1808 3000 PF 33 1134 1833 3000
correlation 10.7 29.0333333 correlation 1.1 37.8
 H. Moeinzadeh, B. Bahrambeygi / Egypt. J. Remote Sensing Space Sci. 22 (2019) 305–313
although lower than that of argillic, is strongly bigger than phylic
conformity of Masahim area. Phylic alterations which are mostly
caused by operation of hypogenic hydrothermal fluids are, there-
fore, in a weak negligible relationship with main faults of Masahim
and Bidkhan area. One, however, should remember that this con-
formity increases with increased depths so that this conformity
is more favored for phylic alterations in deeper areas from under-
ground waters. More evident presence of phylic alterations in Bid-
khan area, as compared with that of Masahim, can be due to the
volcano’s age as well as the rate of erosion in altering surface
lithologies; as investigated by Hassanzadeh (1993), the volcano’s
age measured through Ar method in analsim mineral equals 28
million years for Bidkhan, and in biotite mineral equals 6.8 million
years for Masahim. Younger lithologies of Masahim have been sub-
ject to less erosion in comparison with those of Bidkhan caldera.
Surface outcrops of Bidkhan-volcano are, therefore, signs of deeper
facies and more endogenous-related relations. As is seen, the gen-
eral relationship between faulting intensity and argillic surface
alterations is more correlated than that of phylic alterations. This
is also true about the general alteration regime of the two sites:
in Bidkhan area, due to the mostly-endogenous origin of alter-
ations (mostly serisite), the relationship is again weaker in com-
parison with Masahim. XRD studies along with petrography and
geochemical investigations on altered samples of the two areas
revealed a general lack of developed argillic minerals; this could
be considered as another proof to the mostly-exogenous origin of
argillic zones in Masahim and Bidkhan.
5. Conclusions
Photo-lineament-factor (PF) is a suitable quantity index to illus-
trating controlling structures within the different potential of ore-
bearing deposits, hydrothermal fluids behavior, and Genesis. The
PF provides us a good pattern of relationship between alteration
zones and their genesis and related structures.
In the present study and in order to structurally investigation of
relationship between faulting intensity and alterations’ origin
within central parts of the two large stratovolcanos of Masahim
and Bidkhan, lineament factor map was prepared for central cal-
dera of the two sites and compared with the map for argillic and
phylic alterations’ intensity, which was obtained through Aster
sensor multispectral image processing as well as extensive field
studies. Conformity matrix of argillic alteration and upper bound
of lineament-index in the two areas show higher correlations when
compared with that of phylic alterations.
Although argillic alterations result from operation of both
endogenous and exogenous hydrothermal fluids, but lack of dycite
and pyrophyllite minerals, investigation of geochemical pattern of
main elements, and petrographic study of altering samples, are all
suggestive of mostly-exogenous origin of argillic alteration in the
two study sites while it had always been stated that origin of the
phylic alterations of the study sites are endogenous.
Conformity index for argillic alteration with lineament factor in
both sites is higher than that of phylic alterations; this reveals the
intensity of exogenous hydrothermal fluids operation within sur-
face facies of central parts of the two calderas.
As endogenous alterations are highlighted with increased
depth, and as Bidkhan-volcano is older and more eroded, thus dee-
per facies are seen in surface outcrops and phylic alterations are
more evident in Bidkhan area than Masahim caldera.
Acknowledgments
The authors are grateful to Dr. Gholamreza Fotoohi-Rad for her
kindly scientific cooperation to petrogenetic interpretation.
313
Particular thanks also to Dr. Tayebeh Shamspour to scientific helps
in needed processing.
Conflict of interest
None.
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