International Symposium on Eastern Mediterranean Geology
Abstract
This paper presents the results of pilot mineral potential mapping project undertaken for cu-priferous volcanic-hosted massive sulphide (VHMS) mineralisation in Cyprus. Mineral poten-tial or prospectivity maps are a digital extension to traditional geochemical, geophysical and geological exploration methodologies. They are constructed using statistical modelling tech-niques (e.g. weights of evidence, fuzzy logic) and use mineral deposit models and spatial digi-tal data. Mineral deposit models can be empirically based, comprising a catalogue of charac-teristic features, such as host-rock lithology, deposit form (vein, stockwork), alteration, ore mineralogy etc. Deposit models may also be genetic or conceptual. Here, they describe min-eralisation in terms of formation processes such as fluid chemistry, temperature and metal precipitation mechanisms. The best are, however, an amalgamation of empirical information and genetic concepts—a typical example would be that developed by Hedenquist et al. (1996) for epithermal mineralisation. The mineral deposit model aids in selecting the most appropriate input data themes and the statistical methods are used to integrate the various data layers to produce the mineral potential map. This study focuses on Cu-bearing VHMS mineralisation in one of its type localities - the Troodos ophiolite - and utilises digital geologi-cal, structural and geophysical maps, along with mineral alteration maps derived from ASTER satellite data, to produce a prospectivity map that identifies new exploration targets
