Tectonic–geochemical exploration modeling for characterizing geo-anomalies in southeastern Yunnan district, China

Abstract

In this paper, a tectonic–geochemical exploration model is constructed to support mineral exploration in the southeastern Yunnan mineral district, China. Fault systems are significant to mineralization in this district because faulting activities have confined magmatic activities into certain spatial scales and temporal stages, which provide both hydrothermal fluids and heat for mineralization within fracture zones. Analysis of fault density using the singularity theory to characterize development of fault systems suggests that spaces produced by faulting activities favored the migration of hydrothermal fluids and mineralization. In addition, the singularity theory is applied to examine singular distributed ore-forming elements. Principal component analysis was used to model the spatial distribution of enrichment of the association of ore-forming elements, which suggests that geochemical haloes are linked with characteristic hydrothermal mineralization in the study area. For modeling mineral prospectivity, student's t-values were estimated by weights of evidence method to depict patterns of fault density and geochemical anomalies that are highly correlated with known mineral deposit occurrences in the study area. By overlaying these patterns, distributions of enrichments of associated ore-forming elements and spaces due to faulting that favored mineralization can be modeled and areas prospective for mineral exploration can be delineated. The consistency of the results with information from published documents demonstrates that the exploration model discussed in this paper is useful and effective for investigating geological issues related with faulting activities.