Spatial analysis and modelling of glaciogenic geochemical dispersion - Implication for mineral exploration in Finland

Spatial modelling for prospectivity mapping involves the integration of various geoscientific digital map data. It is essential that the quality of data is high class and that the geological processes involved are well understood. Effects of glacial dynamics and glaciogenic geochemical dispersion need to be taken into consideration when using till geochemistry as one of such input dataset for prospectivity modelling. This paper investigates this issue by developing a fuzzy logic prospectivity model that integrates airborne geophysical data with two different till geochemical datasets. First we use the original geochemical sample set and secondly a spatially corrected dataset that is based on the knowledge of glacial dynamics on the regional scale within the study area. The effect of this correction is tested by comparing the modelling results of both cases using the receiver operating characteristics (ROC) technique to validate the models by using the location of known gold deposits represented by exploration drilling. This study confirms that by taking into consideration the transport caused by the glaciation we can significantly improve the performance of a prospectivity model using till geochemical data.