A Novel Approach for Enhancing Geologically Aligned Fusion of Multiple Geophysical Inverse Models in the Porphyry-Cu Deposit of Zaftak, Kerman, Iran

Abstract

The simultaneous interpretation of multiple geophysical data through their inverted models of various physical properties of subsurface geological structures and formations related to mineral deposits is a challenging task in mineral exploration. In this paper, a three-dimensional fusion algorithm based on the use of a two-dimensional contourlet transform for concurrent interpretation of multiple geophysical models is proposed. To achieve this, initially, a synthetic model based on a general structure simulating the spatial distribution of physical and geological properties of typical porphyry-Cu deposits using a mineral exploration database is generated, and the results of applying the proposed algorithm to this model are presented. Subsequently, the proposed algorithm is implemented on the Zaftak porphyry-Cu deposit in the southern part of Kerman Province in southern Iran. For this purpose, two fusion models with different contourlet decomposition levels are compared through their consistency with the geological settings of the study area to select the best fusion model using two well-known consistency analyses known as Jensen–Shannon divergence index and BLOB Analysis score. Moreover, the fusion models with 2 and 3 contourlet decomposition levels are compared based on available exploratory data. Finally, based on the validation and conformity of the fused model with the available exploratory borehole data and the geology of the study area, a suitable match for the three-dimensional fused model using two-dimensional contourlet transform with the Jensen–Shannon divergence index of 95.13% and a BLOB Analysis score of 4.68 was found.