Abstract

The elemental concentration variations in mineralization processes in the nature are mainly influenced by the syngenetic and epigenetic processes. By neutralizing the syngenetic effects, the epigenetic effects may delineate the mineralization of the interest elements. In the present study, two methods which were carried out in detecting the potential areas across the study area are compared; a) the method of separation of the lithological units comprising the determination of the median of every element in the relevant rock unit and calculating the enrichment index and using the X+2S for anomaly detection. b) Application of fuzzy c-means clustering (FCMC) which leads to the determination of the residual components of the geochemical signals. These two methods were applied to the results of a geochemical exploration project where 175 stream sediment samples were analyzed for 20 elements, using x-ray fluorescence spectrometry (XRFS). The comparison of the two sets of maps which were prepared by these methods indicated that, for most of the elements, there are very good coincidence in anomaly detection. The differences between two sets of maps lay in the intensity of the anomalies and there are no differences in anomaly locations.

Key words: Geochemical data, syngentic effect, fuzzy logic, rock unit separation.