Geochemical anomaly and mineral prospectivity mapping in GIS / Геохимические аномалии и прогнозное картирование в ГИС

In this volume John Carranza not only offers a comprehensive review of the current state-of-the-art of processing geochemical data, their integration with complementary geodata sets and multivariate data analysis using spatial statistics to create maps enhanced for mineral exploration, but also brings the Handbook series to something of a milestone. This marks the first volume in which the topic of an earlier volume (Vol. 2) is in effect revisited and updated; though the approach and format are – appropriately – entirely fresh.

Part I of the volume (chapters 1-2) introduces the concepts and methods of handling spatial data in a geographical information system for the purpose of predictive modeling for mineral exploration. Part II (chapters 3-5) looks in detail at geochemical data and how they are analyzed, classified, synthesized and attributed to catchment basins prior to their application in predictive modeling. Part III (chapters 6-8) begins by emphasising the importance of additional relevant spatial information and culminates in predictive modeling of mineral prospectivity by means of a range of knowledge-driven and datadriven methods. Throughout the volume there is a wealth of well-illustrated real-world examples. The author admirably demonstrates modern approaches to data analysis and interpretation in mineral exploration in ways which exploration professionals can appreciate and adapt to their exploration programmes.

This volume is the first in the series to go to press after the death in 2007 of John S Webb, whose achievements and influence in exploration and environmental geochemistry did much to lay the foundations for the series. In the 1950s he established the Geochemical Prospecting Research Centre at Imperial College, London, where his pioneering work in exploration geochemistry was soon extended to regional geochemical mapping and environmental geochemistry (leading to the centre being renamed the Applied Geochemistry Research Group). Many destined later to be closely associated with the Handbook series were Webb’s PhD students or colleagues at Imperial College: K Fletcher (Vol. 1); Richard Howarth (Vol. 2); Gerry Govett (Vol. 3, series founder and series editor Vols. 1-7); Charles Butt (Vol. 4); Martin Hale (Vols. 6-7 and series editor Vols. 8-11); and Colin Dunn (Vol. 9). In authoring Volume 11, John Carranza, being a former PhD student (and now professional colleague) of Martin Hale, has extended this tradition into the third generation <...>