MAIS imaging spectrometer data analysis for Ni-Cu prospecting in ultramafic rocks of the Jinchuan group, China

Abstract

The Jinchuan intrusion, situated in the Gansu province of China some 30 km NE of Yongcang city is an ultramafic dyke-like body emplaced in the Longshoushan uplifted terrain on the southwest margin of the Sino-Korea platform. The intrusion is 6 km long, 35 m wide and hosts a major Ni-Cu sulfide deposit. The main stratigraphic units include the highly metamorphosed Lower Proterozoic Longshoushan group and the less extensively metamorphosed Dongzigou and Hanmushan groups of Middle and Upper Proterozoic age. The Longshoushan group consists of serpentine marble, schist, gneiss and plagioclase amphibolite. The Dongzigou group comprises schists and granitic rocks. The Hanmushan group basically is represented by a large variety of volcanics. Small mafic-ultramafic intrusions are located along faults in the Jinchuan terrain. These ultramafic rock bodies show a concentric zoning with a core of dunites and olivine pyroxenites forming the margins of the bodies. Hydrothermal alteration (mainly serpentinization) has affected the rocks of the ultramafic bodies to a variable extent; the dunites are extensively altered whereas the pyroxene rich units are relatively fresh. Field spectroscopy is used to spectrally characterize the major rock units. Imaging spectrometer data was flown during the end of July until beginning of August of 1993 with a Chinese imaging spectrometer instrument called MAIS: the Modular Airborne Imaging Spectrometer. Feature characterization permits lithologic mapping from MAIS data. This aids in mineral potential mapping in the Jinchuan region and permits the identification of areas of possible Ni-Cu deposits.