Quantifying favorableness for occurrence of a mineral deposit type using fuzzy logic; an example from Arizona

Abstract

An application of possibility theory from fuzzy logic to the quantification of favorableness for quartz-carbonate vein deposits in the southern Santa Rita Mountains of southeastern Arizona is described. Three necessary but probably not sufficient conditions for the formation of these deposits were defined as the occurrence of carbonate berain rocks within hypabyssal depths, significant fracturing of the rocks, and proximity to a felsic intrusive. The quality of data available to evaluate these conditions is variable over the study area. The possibility of each condition was represented as a fuzzy set enumerated over the area. The intersection of the sets measures the degree of simultaneous occurrence of hte necessary factors and provides a measure of the possibility of deposit occurrence. Using fuzzy set technicques, the effect of one or more fuzzy sets relative to the others in the intersection can be controlled and logical combinations of the sets can be used to impose a time sequential constraint on the necessary conditions. Other necessary conditions, and supplementary conditions such as variable data quality or intensity of exploration can be included in the analysis by their proper representation as fuzzy sets.