A study of faults in the Superior province of Ontario and Quebec using the random forest machine learning algorithm: Spatial relationship to gold mines

Abstract

This paper uses the random forest (RF) algorithm to produce two maps of orogenic gold prospectivity (MPM) across the entire Superior geologic province of Ontario and Quebec, Canada. One MPM of this entire study area is based on a compilation of mapped faults while the other is based on a manual interpretation of lineaments from airborne magnetic data. In addition, we have created four MPMs over the Abitibi region as the MPM map of the entire Superior is characterized by a mapping bias due to more intense mapping of faults over the Abitibi portion of the study area with respect to the rest of the Superior province. There are three RF maps generated over the Abitibi region based on faults, fault density and fault intersection density, faults + magnetic data and faults + gravity + magnetic data. To reduce the effect of the fault mapping bias, we developed a fourth map based on a knowledge driven (weighted sum technique). Statistically the best MPM is based on the faults, gravity and magnetic data. The major predictors of gold are NW-SE, NE-SW, EW trending faults, fault intersection density between EW and NW trending faults and to a lesser extent fault density and a magnetic vertical gradient image. In addition, we compare two greenstone belts in three dimensions with respect to their potential for gold exploration. We conclude that the Larder Lake greenstone belt is more fertile with respect to gold mineralization than the Swayze greenstone belt due to deeper penetrating faults which have greater potential for tapping gold mineralized fluid from the mantle or lower crust. Our final MPM map has identified prospective areas that contain known gold mines as well as areas that do not contain any known gold mines. These prospective areas may be prime for orogenic gold exploration.