Influence of surface geology and mineral deposits on the spatial distributions of elemental concentrations in the stream sediments of Hokkaido, Japan

The watersheds with mineral deposits relate to the high concentrations of certain elements such as Zn, As, and Hg. The geochemically anomalous pattern, which is a map of the regional anomalies, and a scatter diagram were applied to examine the contribution of mineral deposits to MnO, T-Fe2O3, Cr, Cu, Zn, As, Cd, Sb, Hg, Pb, and Bi concentrations. Consequently, they were grouped into four types: 1) Mineral deposits with no outliers resulting from mineralization (MnO, T-Fe2O3, and Cr), 2) sediments supplied from watersheds without metal deposits conceal high metal inputs from known mineral deposits (Cu), 3) deposits from a geochemically anomalous area that closely relates to the presence of mineral deposits (As, Sb, and Hg), and 4) deposits from the widely altered zone associated with the Kuroko as well as hydrothermal deposits corresponding to geochemically anomalous patterns (Zn, Cd, and Pb). This study provides an important regional geochemical database for a young island-arc setting and interpretational problems, such as complicated geology and active erosion, that are unique to Japan.