Prospecting of gold mineralization in Saqez area (NW Iran) using geochemical, geophysical and geological studies based on multifractal modelling and principal component analysis

The aim of this study is to find gold prospecting areas based on geological, geochemical and geophysical data in Saqez area, NW of Iran. In order to achieve this task data, the analysis of 448 stream sediment samples are used to determine elemental correlations using bivariate and multivariate correlation methods, such as Spearman and principal component analysis (PCA). Afterwards, concentration-number multifractal model is used to delineate anomaly thresholds from the background for Au, As, Bi, Hg and first factor of the PCA. Moreover, for studying structures such as faults, fractures, and lithological contacts and their relationship with Au anomalies, the edges of magnetic anomalies are detected from aeromagnetic data based on an enhanced multilevel edge detection method. Subsequently, the geochemical anomalies and the extracted lineaments are correlated with geological particulars which are located in the catchment basins of anomalous areas to specify favourable host rocks and to study possible types of gold mineralization.