Geochemical investigation for gold, silver and base metals in stream sediments, panned concentrates and talus deposits of District Tank, KP, Pakistan
Keywords:
Tank; Geostatistical; GIS; Economic potential; Placer goldAbstract
The Tank district lies to the north-west of river Indus. Tectonically, Tank area is a part of Sulaiman basin in which the dominant sediments are of Quaternary alluvium type. The Nagri and Dhok Pathan formations of the Siwalik Group are also present in the study area. In this research work, geochemical studies of stream sediments, panned concentrates and talus deposits were carried out for gold, silver and base metals. A total of 96 samples comprised of fifty four stream sediments (SS), twenty three panned concentrates (PC) and nineteen talus samples (TS) were collected and analyzed for gold, silver and base metals using atomic absorption spectrometer. Geo-statistical analyses such as Pearson correlation and Factor analyses were carried out in order to determine correlation among the elements. Histograms were plotted in IBM SPSS Statistics 21 software in order to find out the threshold value for each element. The geochemical data were overlaid in Arc GIS 10.1 to get information about the anomalous concentration of gold, silver and base metals in different sampling media. Results indicate that the Au (up to 6 ppm) and base metals are in higher concentration in panned concentrates as compared to stream sediments and talus deposits. Whereas Ag and Cd are relatively higher in stream sediments and talus deposits. Interpretation of geochemical, geo-statistical and geo-spatial data of panned concentrates, stream sediments and talus deposits reveal that the area is having low economic potential for placer gold, while no economic potential for base metals.
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