Predicting Gold–Silver Mineralization within the Pepenveemskii Ore Zone of the Chukchi Peninsula Based on Resurs, Kanopus, and ASTER Space Imagery

Abstract

When decoding space sensing materials of the eastern part of the Chukchi Peninsula on a scale of 1 : 50 000, structural elements of tectonic–volcanogenic genesis are identified, represented by linear, arc, ring, zonal–concentric structural elements of various ranks. Ring structures up to 2 km in diameter and the faults cutting them, predominantly of northeastern and submeridional strike, control the localization of gold mineralization in the Pepenveemskii ore–placer zone. Based on the computer processing of ASTER IR space surveys in the Pepenveemskii zone, areas of development of hydrothermally altered rocks (berezites, secondary quartzites, and sericite–hydromica–quartz metasomatites) genetically associated with mineralization are identified. The use of high-resolution satellite imaging in combination with geophysical data has made it possible, on a scale of 1 : 10 000, to identify gold-prospective areas associated with volcano–dome structures, which are characterized by an increased density of lineaments and are associated with the formation of subvolcanic rhyolites.