Fractal and Multifractal Modeling of Hydrothermal Mineral Deposit Spectrum: Application to Gold Deposits in Abitibi Area, Ontario, Canada

摘要

A number of fractal/multifractal methods are introduced for quantifying the mineral deposit spectrum which include a number-size model, grade-tonnage model, power spectrum model, multifractal model and an eigenvalue spectrum model. The first two models characterize mineral deposits spectra based on relationships among the measures of mineral deposits. These include the number of deposits, size of deposits, concentration and volume of mineral deposits. The last three methods that deal with the spatial-temporal spectra of mineral deposit studies are all expected to be popularized in near future. A case study of hydrothermal gold deposits from the Abitibi area, a world-class mineral district, is used to demonstrate the principle as well as the applications of methods proposed in this paper. It has been shown that fractal and multifractal models are generally applicable to modeling of mineral deposits and occurrences. Clusters of mineral deposits were identified by several methods including the power spectral analysis, singularity analysis and the eigenvalue analysis. These clusters contain most of the known mineral deposits in the Timmins and Kirkland Lake camps.