Radial Basis Functional Link Nets Used as a Prospectivity Mapping Tool for Orogenic Gold Deposits Within the Central Lapland Greenstone Belt, Northern Fennoscandian Shield

Among the more popular spatial modeling techniques, artificial neural networks (ANN) are tools that can deal with non-linear relationships, can classify unknown data into categories by using known examples for training, and can deal with uncertainty; characteristics that provide new possibilities for data exploration. Radial basis functional link nets (RBFLN), a form of ANN, are applied to generate a series of prospectivity maps for orogenic gold deposits within the Paleoproterozoic Central Lapland Greenstone Belt, Northern Fennoscandian Shield, Finland, which is considered highly prospective yet clearly under explored. The supervised RBFLN performs better than previously applied statistical weights-of-evidence or conceptual fuzzy logic methods, and equal to logistic regression method, when applied to the same geophysical and geochemical data layers that are proxies for conceptual geological controls. By weighting the training feature vectors in terms of the size of the gold deposits, the classification of the neural network results provides an improved prediction of the distribution of the more important deposits/occurrences. Thus, ANN, more specifically RBFLN, potentially provide a better tool to other methodologies in the development of prospectivity maps for mineral deposits, hence aiding conceptual exploration.     

Peat extraction, conservation and the rural economy in Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland has a tradition of peat cutting; 78 per cent by area of remaining lowland bogs and 46 per cent of blanket bogs have been cut in the past. Since the early 1980s, machine peat extraction for fuel and horticulture has increased, against a background of changing economic support for agriculture, high rural unemployment and agricultural underemployment. Cutting fuel peat can reduce household fuel costs and some peat fuel is sold to gain income. Horticultural peat is cut mainly for sale. Expansion of machine extraction, with possible environmental impacts, occurred as interest in peatland conservation increased. Potential conflict arises between local economic needs and conservation. Machine cutting for fuel is widespread, but affects only 2.6 per cent of the blanket peat area; horticultural extraction is more localized and is only one-fifth of the extent of fuel extraction. Altitude, distance from roads, land ownership and rights, turbary, religious affiliation, local economic needs and the role of government departments all contribute to explaining the distribution and extent of extraction.     

Modeling-Based Multiscale Deep Prospectivity Mapping: A Case Study of the Haoyaoerhudong Gold Deposit,Inner Mongolia,China

The mineral system modeling approach for prospectivity mapping is an efficient and economic method to assess undiscovered mineral potential quantitatively. It is a procedure of modeling, acquiring, and coupling the proxies of footprints of mineral systems at multiple scales (e.g., regional, district, and deposit scales). In this approach, the critical issue from multiple scales is that the data collected are asymmetrical from the superficial to the deep or from mine to its brown fields, so that it is hard to employ and integrate them. To complete this study, firstly, multi-tactic 3D geological modeling methods, including the explicit, the implicit, and inversion, were used to build geological models in the condition of asymmetrical datasets at the deposit and district scales. Secondly, indicators acquired in drill-intensive fields among multisource datasets composed of geology, geochemistry, geophysics and alteration data were transferred to studies in deep and brown fields. Finally, deep (~?1,100 m) and circumjacent potentials of mine were targeted in the Haoyaoerhudong gold deposit situated in the Urad Middle Banner area, Inner Mongolia, which is one of the largest black-rock-series-type gold mines in China. This proposed procedure is more visual, clear, intuitive, and transferable to drive mineral system approach to exploration discovery than previous GIS-based studies.

     

An Improved Prediction-Area Plot for Prospectivity Analysis of Mineral Deposits

Natural Resources Research - In this paper an improved prediction-area plot has been developed. This type of plot includes performance measures similar to other existing methods (receiver operating...     

Spatial Analysis Techniques as Successful Mineral-Potential Mapping Tools for Orogenic Gold Deposits in the Northern Fennoscandian Shield,Finland

Geoscientific Information Systems (GIS) provide tools to quantitatively analyze and integrate spatially referenced information from geological, geophysical, and geochemical surveys for decision-making processes. Excellent coverage of well-documented, precise and good quality data enables testing of variable exploration models in an efficient and cost effective way with GIS tools. Digital geoscientific data from the Geological Survey of Finland (GTK) are being used widely as spatial evidence in exploration targeting, that is ranking areas based on their exploration importance. In the last few years, spatial analysis techniques including weights-of-evidence, logistic regression, and fuzzy logic, have been increasingly used in GTK’s mineral exploration and geological mapping projects. Special emphasis has been put into the exploration for gold because of the excellent data coverage within the prospective volcanic belts and because of the increased activity in gold exploration in Finland during recent years. In this paper, we describe some successful case histories of using the weights-of-evidence method for the Au-potential mapping. These projects have shown that, by using spatial modeling techniques, exploration targets can be generated by quantitatively analyzing extensive amounts of data from various sources and to rank these target areas based on their exploration potential.     

Gold Prospectivity Mapping in the Sonakhan Greenstone Belt,Central India: A Knowledge-Driven Guide for Target Delineation in a Region of Low Exploration Maturity

Natural Resources Research - The Sonakhan greenstone belt in Central India is under-explored with respect to gold in spite of its similarity to auriferous greenstone belts in general, which...     

From 2D to 3D Modeling of Mineral Prospectivity Using Multi-source Geoscience Datasets,Wulong Gold District,China

Natural Resources Research - The Wulong gold district (WGD) is located at the northeastern margin of the North China Carton (NCC) on the Liaodong Peninsula, China. The results of early mineral...     

Ethnic identities and language in Northern Ireland

Summary This paper considers the relationship between the Irish language and ethnic identities in Northern Ireland. It suggests that the language is more than a relic feature of the cultural landscape, that it transcends traditional religious and political divisions, and is a vital component of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement. However, it is a shared inheritance that needs careful nurturing, through a more comprehensive and integrated approach to language planning and policy formulation.     

Spatial Association Between Orogenic Gold Mineralization and Structures Revealed by 3D Prospectivity Modeling: A Case Study of the Xiadian Gold Deposit,Jiaodong Peninsula,China

Natural Resources Research - The Xiadian orogenic deposit with?~?100 t of gold resources, located in the Jiaodong Peninsula, Eastern China, shows an economically attractive gold...     

Comparison of the Data-Driven Random Forests Model and a Knowledge-Driven Method for Mineral Prospectivity Mapping: A Case Study for Gold Deposits Around the Huritz Group and Nueltin Suite,Nunavut, Canada

This paper outlines the process taken to create two separate gold prospectivity maps. The first was created using a combination of several knowledge-driven (KD) techniques. The second was created using a relatively new classification method called random forests (RF). The purpose of this study was to examine the results of the RF technique and to compare the results to that of the KD model. The datasets used for the creation of evidence maps for the gold prospectivity mapping include a comprehensive lake sediment geochemical dataset, interpreted geological structures (form lines), mapped and interpreted faults, lithology, topographic features (lakes), and known Au occurrences. The RF method performed well in that the gold prospectivity map created was a better predictor of the known Au occurrences than the KD gold prospectivity map. This was further validated by a fivefold repetition using a subset of the input training areas. Several advantages to the use of RF include (1) the ability to take both continuous and/or categorical data as variable inputs, (2) an internal, unbiased estimation of the mapping error (out-of-bag error) removing the need for a cross-validation of the final outputs to determine accuracy, and (3) the estimation of importance of each input variable. Efficiency of prediction curves illustrates that the RF method performs better than the KD method. The success rate is significantly higher for the RF method than for the KD method.     

Particle Swarm Optimization Algorithm for Neuro-Fuzzy Prospectivity Analysis Using Continuously Weighted Spatial Exploration Data

Natural Resources Research - Classification of spatial exploration data for exploration targeting using neuro-fuzzy models means that the many spatial values have to be simplified and assigned to a...     

公元六世纪初期鄂尔多斯沙漠图图说——南北朝、北魏夏州境内沙漠

编绘本图的主要文献依据是成书于公元六世纪初期的郦道元著《水经注》,故本图的时限定为公元六世纪。从自然地物、人文地物了解该时期的自然景观,为分析历史时期沙漠化过程提供依据。     

An elusive agenda: the development of a middle ground in Northern Ireland

Summary Any potential resolution to the conflict in Northern Ireland depends on the deconstruction of the stereotypical ethnic distinction between Catholic/Nationalist/ Republican and Protestant/Unionist/British and associated notions of zero-sum territorialty. This paper discusses some of the evidence for more diverse, pluralist and inclusive conceptualizations of identity, which might be reflected in accommodationist political alignments. Particular attention is given to the influence of class and to the fracturing of identity into its constituents of political allegiance, citizenship, cultural or ethnic nationalism and constitutional preference, all of which are not necessarily expressed coherently or consistently within any one individual's socio-political behaviour. The paper concludes that there are indications–albeit very diverse–of accommodationism, but that these are not yet reflected in any coherent political form.     

Mineral Systems Analysis and Artificial Neural Network Modeling of Chromite Prospectivity in the Western Limb of the Bushveld Complex,South Africa

Radial basis function link neural network (RBFLN) and fuzzy-weights of evidence (fuzzy-WofE) methods were used to assess regional-scale prospectivity for chromite deposits in the Western Limb and the Nietverdiend layered mafic intrusion of the Bushveld Complex in South Africa. Five predictor maps derived from geological, geochemical and geophysical data were processed in a GIS environment and used as spatial proxy for critical processes that were most probably responsible for the formation of the chromite deposits in the study area. The RBFLN was trained using input feature vectors that correspond to known deposits, prospects and non-deposits. The training was initiated by varying the number of radial basis functions (RBFs) and iterations. The results of training the RBFLN provided optimum number of RBFs and iterations that were used for classification of the input feature vectors. The results show that the network classified 73% of the validation deposits into highly prospective areas for chromite deposit, covering 6.5% of the study area. The RBFLN entirely classified all the non-deposit validation points into low prospectivity areas, occupying 86.6% of the study area. In general, the efficiency of the RBFLN in classifying the validation deposits and non-deposits indicates the degree of spatial relationship between the input feature vectors and the training points, which represent chrome mines and prospects. The RBFLN and fuzzy-WofE analyses used in this study are important in guiding identification of regional-scale prospect areas where further chromite exploration can be carried out.     

Southern Suburb/Northern City: Black Entrepreneurship in Segregated Arlington County,Virginia

Most scholarship on racial segregation in U.S. cities retraces the Great Migration, from the rural South to the urbanizing, industrializing North. Arlington County, Virginia, adjacent to the large, prosperous black community of Washington, D.C., provides a unique opportunity to study processes that transcended this dichotomy. During segregation blacks were limited to living and doing business in three of the County's 38 census tracts. Using census data, telephone records, and interviews with black residents, this paper explores the black-owned businesses that grew in Arlington during segregation and the fate of those businesses following integration, concluding that the nature of the businesses was largely determined by the County's unique context. The black neighborhoods were dispersed, lacking public transportation, with insufficient residents to support the self-contained business infrastructure found in many segregated cities of similar size. Conversely Arlington's black residents were welcomed in the extensive black-owned business infrastructure of nearby Washington, D.C.     

Machine Learning-Based 3D Modeling of Mineral Prospectivity Mapping in the Anqing Orefield,Eastern China

Natural Resources Research - Successful delineation of high potential targets for exploration in maturely-explored orefields is still a tough challenge. A reliable prediction model achieved by...     

Application of Data-Driven Evidential Belief Functions to Prospectivity Mapping for Aquamarine-Bearing Pegmatites,Lundazi District,Zambia

A case application of data-driven estimation of evidential belief functions (EBFs) is demonstrated to prospectivity mapping in Lundazi district (eastern Zambia). Spatial data used to represent recognition criteria of prospectivity for aquamarine-bearing pegmatites include mapped granites, mapped faults/fractures, mapped shear zones, and radioelement concentration ratios derived from gridded airborne radiometric data. Data-driven estimates EBFs take into account not only (a) spatial association between an evidential map layer and target deposits but also (b) spatial relationships between classes of evidences in an evidential map layer. Data-driven estimates of EBFs can indicate which spatial data provide positive or negative evidence of prospectivity. Data-driven estimates of EBFs of only spatial data providing positive evidence of prospectivity were integrated according to Dempster’s rule of combination. Map of integrated degrees of belief was used to delineate zones of relative degress of prospectivity for aquamarine-bearing pegmatites. The predictive map has at least 85% prediction rate and at least 79% success rate of delineating training and validation deposits, respectively. The results illustrate usefulness of data-driven estimation of EBFs in GIS-based predictive mapping of mineral prospectivity. The results also show usefulness of EBFs in managing uncertainties associated with evidential maps.     

天山山区与南、北疆近40a来的年温度变化特征比较研究

分析天山山区近40 a来年温度变化的基本特征,并与南疆、北疆进行比较,其结果是:(1)天山山区年平均温度在冷暖变化阶段上与北疆的相似性强于南疆。(2)新疆三大区域年平均温度的最主要空间分布特征均是同步变化,但同步性的程度北疆较好,南疆及天山山区较差;而空间分布的反向变化性,南疆及天山山区较好,北疆较差。(3)三大区域年平均温度的年代际变化趋势是不同的,但均以20世纪90年代为最暖。(4)近40 a的显著线性增温趋势以年平均最低温度及年平均温度表现得空间范围最广,年平均最高温度最差;年平均温度的长期增温率以北疆最大,天山山区和南疆较小;年平均最低温度的10 a增温率变化在0.34~0.37℃之间。(5)三大区域最佳升温趋势出现的时段比较一致,增温率以北疆为最大,天山山区和南疆相同。(6)北疆与南疆年平均温度分别在1960年和1978年发生了由低向高的突变。     

Geochemical Anomaly and Mineral Prospectivity Mapping for Vein-Type Copper Mineralization,Kuhsiah-e-Urmak Area,Iran: Application of Sequential Gaussian Simulation and Multivariate Regression Analysis

Natural Resources Research - In this paper, sequential Gaussian simulation (SGS) and number–size (N–S) fractal modeling were used for copper geochemical anomaly mapping in the western...