Cluster and R-mode factor analyses on soil geochemical data of Masjed-Daghi exploration area, northwestern Iran

Abstract

Masjed-Daghi is located in Julfa sheet (1:100,000 series) in the northwest of Iran. The area consists of a very likely gold mineralization bearing epithermal mineralization which appears to be associated with a porphyry Cu–Mo system at deeper levels. Ninety-three soil samples were collected and analyzed for 13 elements (Au, Mo, Cu, Pb, Sn, Ag, Zn, Cr, Mn, Ba, Be, Ni, Co) by using emission spectrometry and atomic absorption spectrophotometry. The data were processed and interpreted using univariate and multivariate statistical analyses. The distribution of the majority of variables is slightly to moderately positively skewed which can be interpreted by log-normal model. Only Ni, Be, and Mn show normal distribution. Based on cluster analysis, the variables can be classified into two main groups. The first group consists of the main ore forming elements such as Au, Ag, and Ba which belong to epithermal system and Mo, Sn, and Cu which have more affiliation to porphyry mineralization. The principal component analysis extracted three factors. These factors calculated using varimax rotated R-mode factor loading matrix account for more than 65 % of the total variance. The first factor represents the main constituents of the epithermal system (Au, Ag, Ba) and its geochemical halo at the northeast of the study area. The second factor represents the main constituents of the porphyry system (Cu, Mo, Sn) and its geochemical halo in the western part of the study area which is overlapped with the volcanic rocks affected by local intrusions with higher alteration overprint. The third factor, however with less significance, represents Pb and Zn which are not the main ore constituents but can be considered as pathfinder elements. The results have been used to locate hidden orebodies using presented factor score mapping.