Introducing a new approach of geochemical anomaly intensity index (GAII) for increasing the probability of exploration of shear zone gold mineralization

Increasing the prediction rate in the identification of mineralization zones using the stream sediment geochemical data is an essential issue in the regional exploration stage. The various univariate (such as fractal and probability plot (PP) methods) and multivariate methods (such as principal component analysis (PCA)) have been performed for interpreting the geochemical data and detecting the mineralization areas. In this study, a new geochemical criterion named geochemical anomaly intensity index (GAII) was proposed for geochemical anomaly mapping. This approach was developed based on the PCA method and the catchment basin coefficient (CBC). The GAII as a weighted geochemical index is calculated using the mineralization principal component (MPC) scores and CBC. GAII can be mapped and utilized for geochemical anomaly mapping and detecting the mineralization areas. Besides, GAII can identify paragenesis elements better than the current methods. In this research, GAII was successfully used to generate geochemical anomaly maps on shear zone gold mineralization in the southwest of Saqqez, NW Iran. The geochemical data have been divided into three groups based on catchment basins and the host rock type. Then the MPCs and paragenesis elements of Au mineralization have been obtained individually using PCA. Three mineralization paragenesis groups consisting of (Au, Sn), (Au, W), and (Au, As, Sb and Ba) have been recognized for different catchment basins of the southwest of Saqqez district using PCA. GAII was calculated and mapped based on the CBC (Au, Sn), CBC (Au, W), CBC (Au, As, Sb, Ba), and their MPC scores. GAII accurately detected the Au mineralization zones and improved the geochemical anomaly map in this area compared to the PP method, concentration-area fractal model, and U-spatial statistics method. The results demonstrated that GAII was successfully used for (a) identifying the mineralization paragenesis elements, (b) intensifying the geochemical anomaly, and (c) increasing the prediction rate of mineralization zones. The shear zone gold mineralization areas in the southwest of Saqqez district were effectively detected using this new data analysis approach. GAII has provided better results than the current PP method, concentration-area fractal model, and U-spatial statistics method.