Application of fuzzy AHP method to integrate geophysical data in a prospect scale, a case study: Seridune copper deposit

This paper describes the usage of fuzzy knowledge based method to integrate various geophysical data in order to prepare Mineral Prospectivity Map (MPM). Different geophysical layers which are derived from magnetic and electrical surveys are used to evaluate Seridune copper deposit located in the Kerman province of Iran. Since, electrical layers involving resistivity, induced polarization and metal factor, in comparison with layers derived from magnetic survey, are more important in porphyry copper exploration, fuzzy Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) is used to determine the weights belonged to each of them. Four layers which are derived from magnetic data involving upward continuation, analytic signal, reduced to pole and pseudo gravity are considered in this study. Three geoscientists who are expert in geophysical prospecting are used to implement fuzzy AHP. After determination of the normalized weights of the seven evidential layers as main criteria, fuzzy operators are applied to integrate different layers. To evaluate the result of the approach, drilled boreholes are used to validate final MPM. By considering a borehole which is belonged to the suggested area for drilling, a satisfactory result was obtained. The proposed method can be a useful approach for integrating various geodata sets for MPM.