Comparison of subjective and objective methods for the spatial estimation of the porphyry Cu potential in Ahar-Arasbaran area, north-western Iran

Geographic Information System (GIS) are very useful tools for managing, checking, and organizing spatial information from many sources and of many types in thematic layers. In this paper, using GIS, we describe and compare different models for the estimation of porphyry copper potential maps in Ahar-Arasbaran zone, north-western Iran. Final potential mapping of the study area was assessed according to the advantages and disadvantages of each method and a combination of them. The results demonstrate that the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) method provides the best output with the lowest potential area and the highest point validation coverage, and highlights a new potential area of porphyry copper mineralization con rmed by eld check.