Scientific Quarterly Journal of Geosciences

Scientific Quarterly Journal of Geosciences

Identifying promising areas of the Sonajil porphyry copper-gold zone using weighted overlap and fuzzy logic methods and comparing their results with the output of the Gustafson-Kessel algorithm

Document Type : Original Research Paper

Authors
Majid Mahboubiaghdam 1
Moharram Jahangiri 2
Aynur Nasseri 3
1 Faculty of Mining Engineering, Sahand University of Technology, Tabriz, Iran
2 Department of Mining Exploration, Faculty of Mining, Petroleum and Geophysics Engineering, Shahrood University of Technology, Shahrood, Iran
3 Department of Mining Engineering, Ahar Branch, Islamic Azad University, Ahar, Iran
10.22071/gsj.2025.529519.2204
Abstract
This article aims to improve the accuracy, reliability, and obtain optimal results in identifying the mineral potential of the Sonajil copper-gold deposit using the exploration layer integration approach and the use of appropriate clustering algorithms. In this regard, various exploration layers have been used. Using integration methods such as weighted overlay and fuzzy logic as well as Gustafson's clustering algorithm, certain zones with a high probability of mineralization were identified based on several criteria such as accuracy indices, sensitivity analysis, and visual interpretation of mineral potential maps. The results showed that the performance of the weighted overlap method and fuzzy logic can detect mineralization zones with appropriate accuracy but have more complications in the interference zones between barren and mineralization. While the application of Gustafson's clustering method has shown better performance in detecting promising zones and has the capability of discriminating mineralization patterns more accurately with higher reliability. In order to validate the proposed models, samples obtained from promising zones shown by the target map of these methods and analyzes were investigated. Overall results indicate the optimal performance of Gustafson's clustering method in detecting mineralization zones and improving mineral potential map patterns compared to other methods.
Keywords
Promising areas
Gustafson- Kessel clustering algorithm
Weighted overlap
Fuzzy
Sonajil
East Azerbaijan

Subjects

 
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Scientific Quarterly Journal of Geosciences
Volume 35, Issue 4 - Serial Number 138
Winter 2025, vol. 35, Issue 4, Serial no. 138
Autumn 2025
Pages 85-102