Wide-spaced sampling for delineation of geochemical provinces in desert terrains, northwestern China

摘要

Desert terrains are widely distributed in northwestern and northern China, but remain largely unexplored or under-explored. In the past, lag materials (coarse fraction of regolith) have been sampled for regional geochemical surveys. This sampling method was successful in mountainous and hilly regions, but it failed in areas of lower relief, such as slopes, plains, alluvial valleys and basins.