DEVELOPMENT OF AN OPERATIONAL SYSTEM FOR MINERAL EXPLORATION BASED ON MULTIDATA CORRELATION AND REMOTE SENSING IMAGERIES.
The data derives from two areas, one in south central Spain and the other in central Ireland. At the outset, certain geological hypotheses were suggested as having promise for statistical analysis. The basic idea is that hydrothermal mineralisation in the two test areas is known to be related to certain tectonic events associated with particular directions of faulting. The suggestion was that these directions should be apparent both in the locations of known hydrothermal mineral deposits considered alone, and more probably in some form of proximity relationship between deposits and lineaments of appropriate directions. A variety of approaches have been developed and applied as part of this statistical investigation. These include both formal, model based, analyses and novel techniques for the informal exploratory analysis of such data. These have been applied to the twin problems of searching for and, more problematically, testing for evidence of linear structure in the locations of the known hydrothermal mineralisations, as well as evidence for their relationship to the lineaments. The research makes available new methodologies for the analysis of such data as well as new insights into the specific problem posed.

Research was carried out to investigate the possibility of recycling increasing amounts of byproducts and residues of the blast furnaces used in pyrometallurgical lead and zinc primary smelters (lead Water-Jacket and zinc Imperial Smelting furnaces (ISF)).

The main objective of the study has been to investigate statistically the structure of mineralization locations (as reflected either by sampling or by old workings), and their relationship to geological structure (as reflected in lineaments manually interpreted from satellite imagery, and in gravity data) for 2 areas in central Ireland and south central Spain.

The methods used inexpensive microcomputer systems to produce a range of new software for statistical analysis and new statistical methods were developed for analysing relationships between points (mineral deposits) and lines (lineaments) to aid the prediction of dilation zones.

The new interactive graphics software for Macintosh microcomputers is a valuable aid to mineral exploration.
The results of the statistical analyses, indicated that the small tonnage Spanish deposits are distributed at many minor bends along a series of dominantly east northeast trending dextral shear zones. In contrast, the large tonnage Irish deposits are not distributed along shear zones but are concentrated at major bends or terminations of shear zones.
The new sites of high probability of mineralization in Spain and in Ireland merit further geological evaluation.
The results of the statistical analyses should be accepted with caution. However they gain credibility from the fact that they are compatible with the 2 very different models for the structural control of mineralization in Spain an Ireland respectively.
The results of the field mapping programme showed that the previous multidata correlation methods were successful in identifying the main data fault and shear zone pattern in a poorly exposed and structurally complex inlier of Lower Palaeozoic rocks.
The sense of apparent horizontal shear predicted from the multidata studies agreed with the later phases of movements which were found on these structures in the field.
THE TRINITY COLLEGE WILL AIM TO:

- DETERMINE THE EXISTENCE AND NATURE OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE POSITION OF THE KNOWN MINERALIZATION AND LINEAMENTS DERIVED FROM ANALYSIS OF GEOLOGICAL, REMOTELY SENSED, GEOPHYSICAL AND GEOCHEMICAL DATA. THE RELATIONSHIP WILL INVOLVE PARAMETERS SUCH AS DISTANCE BETWEEN A DEPOSIT OR CLUSTER OF DEPOSITS TO A LINEAMENT OR A SELECTED NUMBER OF LINEAMENT DIRECTION OF TYPES. THE SELECTION WILL BE BASED UPON GEOLOGICAL MODELS FOR THE STRUCTURAL CONTROL OF THE MINERALIZATION IN QUESTION.

- DESCRIBE IN A QUANTITATIVE MANNER THE ABOVE RELATIONSHIP AND EVALUATE IT STATISTICALLY. THE FINAL OBJECTIVE IS TO DEFINE THE EXISTENCE OF MINERAL DEPOSITS AS A FUNCTION OF THEIR POSITION TO VARIOUS TYPES OF LINEAMENTS.

THIS ANALYSIS WILL BE APPLIED TO TEST AREAS IN IRELAND AND ALMADEN.