This volume describes the use of till geochemical and indicator mineral methods for mineral exploration in the glaciated terrain of Canada. The principles and examples described in this volume will have direct applications for exploration companies looking for diamonds, precious and base metals and uranium in glaciated parts of North America, northern Europe and Asia and mountainous regions of South America.

Significant refinements of biogeochemical methods applied to mineral exploration have been made during more than twenty years since the last major publication on this technique. This innovative, practical and comprehensive text is designed as a field handbook and an office reference volume. It outlines the historical development of biogeochemical methods applied to mineral exploration, and provides details of what, how, why and when to collect samples from all major climatic environments with examples from around the world. Recent commercialization of sophisticated analytical technology permits immensely more insight into the multi-element composition of plants. In particular, precise determination of ultra-trace levels of 'pathfinder' elements in dry tissues and recognition of element distribution patterns with respect to concealed mineralization. Data handling and interpretation are discussed in context of a wealth of previously unpublished information, including a section on plant mineralogy, much of which has been classified as confidential until recently. Data are provided on the biogeochemistry of more than 60 elements and, by case history examples, their roles discussed in assisting in the discovery of concealed mineral deposits. A look to the future includes the potential role of bacteria to provide new focus for mineral exploration. - Describes the practical aspects of plant selection and collection in different environments around the world, and how to process and analyze them - Discusses more than 60 elements in plants, with data interpretation and case history results that include exploration for Au, PGEs, U, base metals and kimberlites

This book provides a wealth of geomathematical case history studies performed by the author during his career at the Ministry of Natural Resources Canada, Geological Survey of Canada (NRCan-GSC). Several of the techniques newly developed by the author and colleagues that are described in this book have become widely adopted, not only for further research by geomathematical colleagues, but by government organizations and industry worldwide. These include Weights-of-Evidence modelling, mineral resource estimation technology, trend surface analysis, automatic stratigraphic correlation and nonlinear geochemical exploration methods. The author has developed maximum likelihood methodology and spline-fitting techniques for the construction of the international numerical geologic timescale. He has introduced the application of new theory of fractals and multi fractals in the geostatistical evaluation of regional mineral resources and ore reserves and to study the spatial distribution of metals in rocks. The book also contains sections deemed important by the author but that have not been widely adopted because they require further research. These include the geometry of preferred orientations of contours and edge effects on maps, time series analysis of Quaternary retreating ice sheet related sedimentary data, estimation of first and last appearances of fossil taxa from frequency distributions of their observed first and last occurrences, tectonic reactivation along pre-existing schistosity planes in fold belts, use of the grouped jackknife method for bias reduction in geometrical extrapolations and new applications of the theory of permanent, volume-independent frequency distributions.

The Encyclopedia of Mathematical Geosciences is a complete and authoritative reference work. It provides concise explanation on each term that is related to Mathematical Geosciences. Over 300 international scientists, each expert in their specialties, have written around 350 separate articles on different topics of mathematical geosciences including contributions on Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, Compositional Data Analysis, Geomathematics, Geostatistics, Geographical Information Science, Mathematical Morphology, Mathematical Petrology, Multifractals, Multiple Point Statistics, Spatial Data Science, Spatial Statistics, and Stochastic Process Modeling. Each topic incorporates cross-referencing to related articles, and also has its own reference list to lead the reader to essential articles within the published literature. The entries are arranged alphabetically, for easy access, and the subject and author indices are comprehensive and extensive.

The investigation summarized in this report was designed as a case study regarding the frequency & chemistry of kimberlite indicator minerals in Pleistocene glacial sediments from a kimberlite field and a vertical profile of data that could be compared to surface till data. The study site was located near Smeaton in central Saskatchewan underlain by Lower Cretaceous sedimentary rocks interbedded with extrusive kimberlitic debris. Cores were obtained from the upper part of the Cretaceous sequence and from the overlying Quaternary sequence, and laboratory studies were carried out on the core lithology, matrix carbonate content, mineralogy, and geochemistry. Results are presented regarding sediment unit descriptions, bulk mineralogy of sediment-derived concentrates, kimberlite indicator minerals, visible gold, geochemistry, and borehole logging. The provenance of the sedimentary sequences is discussed along with the implications for diamond exploration.